Taken For A Ride

I drove to New York yesterday. Having this week off from work, and Jeff heading to Houston for the Final Four, I figured I would spend a few days visiting family. That is what I was looking forward to the most during my seven hour drive.

Today, I had a few errands to run before starting I intended to be short, but sweet, visits. It started off just that way when I went to visit my great aunts. Aunt Gina and Aunt Mary couldn't have been happier to see me. Aunt Gina immediately pulled me near to feel my ever-so-growing baby bump. She had lots of questions and lots to talk about. She then paraded me through her floor, showing me off to anyone around, on the way to Aunt Mary's room. For the past three years or so, Aunt Mary cries tears of joy anytime someone visits her. I like to attribute this visit's tears to the pure joy of seeing my face and the anticipation of having a new great-great nephew. Either way, she was certainly happy. They wanted nothing more than to converse with me.

It seemed how it should be. Certainly makes me miss living close and being able to visit much more often. I left happy though, enjoying my time with the aunts.

Then, I picked up my main dog Shea and headed to visit my grandmother. Unlike her sisters, my grandmother had no real interest in seeing me, my belly, or Shea. She wanted to go to CVS to get what she called, "very important items that she really needed." She was eager to get to CVS as whatever it was she was buying, she hasn't bought in a really long time. Being the courteous granddaughter that I am, I brought here there.

Shea and I hung out in the parking lot while she did what she needed to do. When she got back in the car, I helped her get her purse in the car, as I always do. Then, I went to help her with the CVS bag, as I always do. However, this time she wasn't willing to hand me the bag, as she always does. She instead told me that she could just throw it on the floor, and did so. This behavior certainly caught my interest. My grandmother is never one to turn down an extra helping hand. I knew she was hiding something.

I needed to know what was in that bag! Since I couldn't just straight out ask, she would lie, I concentrated solely on that bag, with driving as an afterthought. I took a few sharp turns to try and tip the bag over to no avail. So, when my poor, old grandmother climbed out of the car, I took complete advantage of the 88 years that have slowed her down a bit and peeked into that bag.

The emergency trip to CVS was for candy. Like a little kid, she needed her candy. Other than a ride, she needed nothing more of me, therefore, no real need for me. She grabbed her bag of candy and was off. From here, I left confused, yet realizing, I may have moved away, but some things never do change.