It was like a dream...

Rouse and I pulled up in front of a log house, similar to my mom's house in Big Cove but much bigger. We knocked, but no one came to the door. We walked in. Rouse called out, "Hello! Anybody home?" My sister, Jennifer - who I haven't seen in five years since she moved to Newfoundland - sat up from the pullout couch in the dimly lit living room. "That sounds like Rouse!" she declared. "Yea!" he answered. "Where's Laura? Is she sleeping?" "No!" we heard from the bedroom. We all went out onto the spacious, shady deck and proceeded to catch up.

After a little while, we heard voices. Laura said, "That sounds like Janet." Sure enough, our sister Janet, her son Yarri, and our mom Granny came through the house to join us on the deck. We all took a tour of the house. Laura and hubby Paul had just moved in four days earlier, so the rooms were mostly empty with the exception of larger pieces of furniture, some in place, some still disassembled. Then Rouse disappeared to go figure out our car situation. The rest of us had some lunch, told stories, and laughed and laughed.

No sooner had we finished lunch when my brother Steve waltzed in, followed by his daughter-in-law Becca and his 11-year-old granddaughter Jaisa, who was carrying her baby brother Tres. The party moved to the front porch. Rouse called about buying a new car. "You need to fill out your part of the credit application. Our credit is frozen! Do you know our username and password? Can you get a ride back to town? How soon can you be here?" I developed a stomachache.

I had to find a way back to town. But first, Laura's daughter-in-law Fai arrived with 15-months-old Skye. He was a bit overwhelmed by the crowd, all eyes on his cuteness and his intense blue eyes. I held him for a moment, then passed him back to his Mommy. Then I said my goodbyes and Laura and I climbed into her BMW convertible, top down of course. Off we went, cruising the back roads of eastern Tennessee. She left me at the Lenoir City Chrysler Jeep dealership.

I found Rouse inside the building, well into the process of buying a new Jeep Grand Cherokee. Hours later, with all the paperwork complete, financing accomplished, transfer of all our stuff from our old Grand Cherokee and the rental car we had been driving, we finally hitched our Little Guy Max travel trailer (which had been parked next to the dumpster in the parking lot adjacent to the dealership) to our new car and drove off the lot.

We were starving. With a dark threatening thunderstorm approaching, we took outside seats at The Burgers restaurant. The rains never came. I'll take that as a good omen!