Our Visit To Savannah

We hadn’t seen our daughter in over a year. Before that it had been even longer. We still didn’t understand why she’d made such choices, why she had suddenly picked up and moved a thousand miles away—and with a stranger, at that! We’d been worried about her, and missed her.

But we were on our way to see her, finally. We would enjoy spending time with her, and getting to know this girl she was living with. What’s all THAT about anyway…?

It was nearly dark when we arrived, and it was cloudy and cold. Julie had been saying ever since she moved how warm the winters were in Savannah. She even talked about sitting out on the porch on Christmas Day! We needed that after the winter we’d had! Even the drive down had been full of ice and rain.

We knew they were expecting us, and had planned to just drive up, but at the last minute we had to call to get better directions because we got turned around somehow. The street numbering was strange! Our daughter and her friend were standing on their porch waving. They ran to greet us and helped us unload our car.

We had to bring more than I would’ve liked, because we didn’t know what the weather would be like, and had to be prepared for warm and cold weather, plus Ken also had to bring all kinds of things he didn’t need. We found places for everything though.

The girls acted strangely in the backseat that first night when Ken was driving us to get something to eat. In fact, they acted nervous whenever he was driving, which I don’t understand. He’s a good driver, and has never been in a serious accident, so I don’t know what they were worried about. Yes, he made a few turns from the wrong lanes, but they didn’t warn him of some turns in time. And yes, he ran a red light or two—no one was coming. It was certainly better for him to drive than for us all to try to fit into their truck. WHO has a truck, anyway? I could barely see from that jump-seat in back and it was hard to climb back there!

The girls’ house is old, which I guess is charming, but not the kind of place I’d want to live. It’s drafty and has a lot of air leaks, especially around the windows, so it was FREEZING most of the time. We even needed a blanket to cover up with while sitting on the couch! I don‘t think they keep their thermostat set high enough. It was even chilly inside when it finally got warm outside.

The doors are old too, so most of them don’t close well. We had to slam them to keep the cat out of our room—I was worried she might get into some of our medicine. We don’t keep our doors closed at home, so that was another thing to get used to and probably why our bedroom was so cold at night.

And the hazards! The doorways between many of the rooms funny, with raised thresholds, and we tripped over them for the first few days. There was also a steep, turning staircase to the second floor, with no lighting, and I was afraid Ken or I might fall. The lighting is poor in much of the house, without even any ceiling fixtures in most of the rooms.

The house is also BIG, so we were both lost half the time. We were always looking for the bathroom, the kitchen, or our room! At least they have much of it painted in bright colors so we could sometimes tell if we were on the way to the right room or not.

Those two girls have managed to completely FILL this huge house though and it’s almost like some kind of museum! There are bookcases in almost every room, hundreds of movies and CDs, knick-knacks of all kinds sitting around—some of them rather odd, I must say—a Buddha statue, a Menorah, all kinds of candles and incense burners… and of course pictures of that Roddy McDowall all over. Julie had a crush on him when she was a teenager, and I thought she’d gotten over it, but… Somehow, she managed to find someone else who felt the same. I never did quite figure that out, but I know they got to know each other on the Internet. A strange way to meet someone, if you ask me! There are British flags all over too, like Julie used to have in her room.

Both Julie and Lee get up earlier than we do and rushed us every day after we got up, when Ken and I both wanted to take our time—we were on vacation, after all. They always wanted to be up and out! We’re just not used to that. At home we usually don’t even get out of bed most days until noon when Y & R is over! At least there was a sunny, warm little room to have breakfast in, but we weren’t able to sit there and relax very long before one of them began to clean things up around us. They were always cleaning up around us! Also, they both eat too fast, and even rushed us through meals at restaurants!

Once we did go out there was a lot to see, of course. Julie helped her dad, who doesn’t walk very well anymore, and Lee went with me. There are historical markers all over downtown, and Ken insisted on reading THEM ALL, but luckily Lee wasn’t interested in that, but we were always far ahead of them.

It’s all so different from Kansas City, and I don’t think a lot of it is organized very well. I’m glad we got to go, and spend some time with the girls, but we’ll need a rest once we get home!