Big Weekend Plans!!!

                           

Well, I've been back at work for two full weeks, so it seems fitting that we get an extra day off this weekend to celebrate.  I've worked very hard these past two weeks, and it's time for a break.  It's going to be awhile before I get another "extra" day off, so I plan on enjoying this weekend.

Normally for Labor Day weekend, I'd be sitting at home, relaxing, doing some work, cleaning house, and all the other stuff I usually do on the weekends...but just for an extra day.  But NOT THIS LABOR DAY WEEKEND!

This time, I'm taking a mini-vacation.  Well, Peanut and I are taking a mini-vacation.  

At about 3:30AM tomorrow morning, Peanut and I will be loading up the car and taking a nine hour drive to Tennessee.  A state neither Peanut or I have ever visited.  We will be staying until Monday morning, and then driving the nine hours back, ready to go back to work/school on Tuesday.  And, I'm sure that Tuesday morning I'll be utterly and completely EXHAUSTED.

Peanut and I are making the trek to Tennessee so that she can meet her grandparents, and hopefully her dad.  It's the first time in her life she'll be meeting any of them.  I am both excited and extremely nervous.  

I am very excited we get to make this trip, and that we get to see her grandparents.  I'm very nervous about how things will go with meeting her dad, and pray to all things holy that Peanut has a good experience and enjoys the time with him.  

Since C (Peanut's dad) got back with his psycho ex (PE), there has been no communication made between him and Peanut.  Not that I'm surprised, he told us what happens when they are together and how she destroys the relationships he has with friends and family.  Why he puts up with that is something that still baffles me, but I know he has his reasons...and he's shared them with me.  I guess I can understand them in a warped kind of way, but unfortunately for PE, she has no idea what Peanut is like when she has her heart set on something.

This trip has been planned since before C and PE got back together.  I really thought that Peanut would want to cancel the trip after they got back together, but she didn't.  As she said, there are other people in Tennessee that she has her heart set on meeting, and if PE thinks she'll keep Peanut away from her dad she has another thing coming.

One thing I'm very proud that my daughter inherited from me is my strong will.  There's not a weak bone in her body.  Like her mother, when she has her eye on something, she goes for it full force whether the outcome is good or bad.  She fights for what she believes in, she fights for what she wants, and she doesn't give up until she has it.  That's definitely my blood coursing through her veins, that's for sure.  

But as proud as I am of her strong will and desire to finally meet her biological father, I'm scared to death that she's going to somehow get hurt from the whole ordeal.  I know that she will absolutely ADORE her grandparents.  They are good, loving people.  They will cherish the time they get to spend with their granddaughter, and both grandparents have told me how crazy excited they are to finally get to meet her.  I know they will also do everything in their power to make sure things go smoothly between Peanut and C.  That he shows up to meet her, and that he gets to spend a little time with her.  I think both Peanut and C need that time face to face.  He needs to see what an amazing, beautiful, strong, smart, and loving daughter he has.  She needs to see the man she's dreamed about since she was old enough to know that she'd never met her biological father.  I know that both of them want the same outcome, but whether or not that will happen only time and this trip will tell.

All I know is that after work today, I get to take the kids to part of the home football game and hopefully get home before 9PM so that I can get some sleep before I have to get up at 3AM.  I'd much rather us not go to the game, but I promised Peanut and Butter that we could go at least for a little while.  I know that Peanut wants to go, because coming home from school and having to sit around for a few hours will just make her antsy, and it'll drive her nuts having to wait to go to bed before getting up for the trip.  It's OK for her, though, at least she can sleep in the car.  HA!  But, I'm quite used to getting about 6 hours of sleep each night, so I'm not too worried about driving for so long after not getting much sleep.  The only way to really enjoy our mini-vacation, though, is to get on the road as early as possible so that we can at least enjoy part of our Saturday in Tennessee.

Despite all the nervousness I have about the trip, I can't wait to see C's mom and step-dad.  I've only met them once in my life, but I got to spend a whole week with them when I did meet them.  It was back when C and I were together, and they lived in Cocoa Beach, Florida.  It was my first trip outside the state of Arkansas, and my first and only time I've ever been to Florida in my life.  I remember that trip like it happened a few weeks ago. I remember the condo they lived in, I remember going to the beach, I remember visiting NASA, I remember seeing alligators walking up and down the road, I remember singing karaoke in a small restaurant, I remember hearing the space shuttle come back in to the atmosphere during the middle of the night and thinking that a bomb had gone off down the road.  I also remember how wonderful both C's mom and step-dad were to me, and how much I enjoyed spending time with them.  And, now I get to do it again some 15 years later in a different state.  

I've spoken to C's mom and step-dad quite a bit in the last couple of weeks, and they talk to me like there is no 15 year gap since the last time we saw each other.  Not that I'm surprised.  That just goes to show how amazingly awesome they are.  Family is important to them, and they have shown that with every phone call, text message, and Facebook message I've received from them.  Regardless what happens with C, I know the time with C's mom and step-dad will be amazing, and Peanut will come home having two grandparents she absolutely adores.  That I know without a shadow of doubt.  

So, today I plan on getting through all that needs to be done, going to the football game for a while, and then coming home and preparing for the adventure that awaits.  

I'm excited.  I'm ready.  It's going to be a GREAT three-day weekend.

Have a great Friday, everyone!!