my first solo adventure | my tennessee trip

i. My flight from Denver left at 12:59am. Aside from *almost* sitting in the wrong seat, (Really, Marcia. How hard is it to find the little sign saying "A, B, C" over the right side, and "D, E, F" on the left side.) everything else went smoothly. Flying during the night has got to one of the most gorgeous sights, it's definitely worth losing sleep over. (Hey, sleep is important, but most times we spend some of our most valuable hours sleeping instead of living.) As we started getting into Charlotte, North Carolina, we ran into a little thunderstorm. And here's the fun part... I was watching some distant lightning, when suddenly the lightning struck the wing of the plane, which I was sitting directly behind. It literally blinded me for about four seconds, and all I could see was bright electric white. Once we finally landed, I had a four hour layover, and it was quite delightful. (Pumpkin Spice Lattes and Wives and Daughters combine quite well.) My connecting flight was an adventure too. The plane I flew in was the smallest little old thing, the sound was almost deafening. But the people were amazing. I JUST LOVE THE SOUTH. My flight attendant was a really tall black guy with the coolest Southern drawl. And the flight buzzed with conversations the entire flight. I had the sweetest older gentleman sitting beside me. We talked about places we've traveled, what I was planning to do in the future, his wife and two boys, and he told me to stay in school. 

Also North Carolina mountains in October are beyond beautiful.

ii. The entire reason for my trip was to help my aunt who just had baby who was two months early. She also has a two year old with almost endless energy and spunk, so she was slightly busy. ::wink:: My dad's entire family lives in the same area, and it was so good to see family again. (All of my relatives live out of state, so it's a precious treat whenever we get to see them.) I had forgotten how much I missed hearing my Grandpa constantly crack jokes followed by that deep chuckle of his.  I got to watch my Grandma continue to try to be superwoman and do everything she possible could in a week's time. And I watched all my little cousins (who are growing up way to quickly) run around and playing in all my old haunts around the home-place. 

It's funny how things can change so much, yet still be so much the same. 

iii. One Saturday, we set up a small booth at the local flee market. I know what you are thinking, "Oh, cute vintage dresses, record players, film cameras, and antiques." Um, no. Guys, it was redneckkk. There were no hipsters there, I'm telling you. We had multiple people buy an item after standing there for two minutes saying "I really don't know what I'm going to do with this." Some of the other vendors came to our booth and bought items to resell at their own booths. (Free enterprise at it's finest.) And there were plenty of old fellows all wearing various forms of plaid and coveralls all talking about something that happened a few weeks ago. It was quite the experience! (and boy, did we ever have a lot of laughs about it later! :))

iv. It all went way to quickly, and two and a half weeks seemed like one. But it was good, really really good.

 It was a chance to test my wings, and realize I can fly, even if it's just a short distance.
But no matter how much I love travels and adventures, it's always so good to be home.

(excuse the long rambles. those were just some of the highlights of my short adventure)
xx. marcia