I almost always tell Chad and Nicole that I’m flexible. I have no set schedule so whatever we’re all doing, it can all be planned around their schedule.
Chad was leaving Detroit at 4 a.m. yesterday morning, which was 3 a.m. our time. Nicole had planned to take off work at noon so she was going to drive to my house and pick Addie up so she would be home when Chad got there.
Then Nicole called and said she wasn’t going to get off til 3 so I told her we could meet at the halfway point and exchange Addie and all her stuff.
Then yesterday about mid-morning, Chad called and said that if Nicole drove to meet me halfway, he was probably going to get home before she got back and he didn’t have any way to get in the house. I told him I would bring her back but he doesn’t want me driving after dark so he said they would come get Addie and he could surprise her because she wasn’t sure if he was coming back yesterday or today.
He said “Let’s go out to eat!” I told him no because (1) Dinner time for them is after 7. Dinner time for me is usually before 4 and (2) I’m not comfortable going out to eat now. I will do it if we go at a time when there are few people out but I knew that wasn’t going to be the case on a Friday night. Also, I can’t imagine that he wasn’t about to drop after driving a company truck for 14 hours. I told them I’d cook so I smoked two chickens. They were nice sized and the four of us didn’t even a whole chicken – not much more than half a chicken actually. I smoked two because I wanted to make gumbo sometime in the next few days.
The chickens had the packet with livers and gizzards inside (sometimes they don’t!) so I used those to make rice dressing and it was so good. Vince doesn’t like it but Chad and Nicole like it so it was good that we were able to eat it when Vince isn’t here.
Chad, Nicole and Addie are coming back for Christmas and then they’ll be back on Saturday because part of Nicole’s Christmas is a new dishwasher and they’re going to get it in Joplin. I love getting to see Chad before he has to leave town again. Poor guy . . he complains about all the traveling but I think he likes it to some degree. He’s getting to see lots of places he’s never seen but he misses Nicole and Addie and I miss him!
annie says
We are expecting a terrible rain and wind storm with gusts of 60 70 mph on Christmas day in New England! Lots of power outages on that day. I don’t expect Chad will have to go that far, but we’ll need all the help that is out there if it’s as bad as predicted.
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Judy Laquidara says
They did ask for volunteers to go to the New England area. Chad opted to come home for Christmas. I asked him if he drove a pickup or a bucket truck home and he said he drove a pickup because the guys headed up there drove all the big trucks. He’s going back to Detroit after Christmas but he could easily have to go to your area if it’s bad enough and not enough volunteers went. He doesn’t mind going but those volunteering earlier in the week are missing Christmas at home. I told him . . if it was your power out, you’d want help to come for you and he said “I don’t mind going but I need to be home at least for Christmas Day.”
I also hope it isn’t as bad as predicted. Stay safe and I hope your Christmas isn’t spoiled by the weather.
Nelle Coursey says
What a wonderful Christmas you are all going to have!!