It's All Relative - A Whirlwind Trip Through The Midwest

Just arrived home last evening, so perhaps it is an odd time to start a month of blogging about travel, but that is what I am doing.  I have a buzillion blog posts started, notes on things that need something written down about them, and well over a dozen voice notes of various lengths on my phone - that are  travel and driving observations.  I did not always have time on the road to put together a coherent post.  And sometimes I was too tired at the end of the day to put a coherent sentence together.

This month the writing theme over at BlogHer's Nablopomo is "Relative" so I added myself and this blog as a Travel Blog.  Traveling through time and space has always been my thing.  I wonder if my rather wry sense of humor comes through?  Oh well.

Anyway... relative is a good topic for me for this month as this whirlwind tour through the Midwestern U.S. that took about 2 weeks was a relative experience in oh so many ways.  The baseline reason for the trip was moving my daughter to Minneapolis.  She is most certainly a relative.  Family is a relative term.  I visited a few friends with whom I feel a bond that is just as close as family and closer, for me, than with many family members. I visited my brothers.  They are most certainly my relatives.  And all the experiences of the last weeks have shown me once again that most certainly everything is relative.

It is going to be an interesting month for me to see how I make sense of all the things I thought and did while making my way from Tucson, AZ to Minneapolis, MN, and back to Tucson with a quick loop through Chicago and Northern and Eastern Indiana.  That is the backdrop for this month's posts.

I hope you can join me this month as I document what was for me a very significant trip.

My Daughter's First Home With Her Guy

I'm in Minneapolis.  Made it here yesterday after driving from Tucson.  I drove our SUV and Zilla drove her Jetta.  Everything is unpacked from the vehicle and she is setting up house.  She and Tree Boy found a great little house in a great neighborhood.  The only downside is from the sad situation that led to this great little home becoming a rental.  Upside-down house mortgage to house value ratio is involved here as it is with half the homes in the country. 

The dogs are slowly getting used to each other.  Zilla has her French Mastiff and Tree Boy has his Labrador. The problem comes from the Labrador thinking that Zilla is his "Mom" from knowing her in Tucson when Zilla and Tree Boy were dating.  He's jealous and the mastiff doesn't take any guff off of anyone.  The mastiff is wearing a muzzle in the house as if she bites the Lab back she will hurt him.  He bit her ear this a.m. but he has a soft bite and does not really hurt her.  She is really still honked off at him biting her.  On walks the situation changes, they both get along unmuzzled, just fine.  

Went with Zilla to the grocery today and helped her stock up on some basics for the kitchen and helped her step through the process of cooking a roast.  My baby's first meal cooked in her new home with her honey.  Makes me get teary eyed a little bit.  But when I tried to write earlier today, the Hubby called and Zilla walked in after a dog walk and wanted me to go grocery shopping with her.  I'm still looking forward to Eventually I will be able to write without interruption.  I know I will.  I know I will.  It will happen.  I will be done nesting.  Not done mothering, but done nesting. 

I'm helping Zilla set up her nest.  Fun, joyous, sad and frustrating, all bundled together.