August 22, 2000

Hi there! My name's Shelly Hemig. You may have met me and my family in an earlier journal. We went to Disneyland this summer. It was fun, but exhausting. I'm definitely in need of more exercise.

Anyhow, that trip to Disneyland was with my husband's folks. Now we're planning a trip down to Northern California to see some of my family. My husband, Jim, is going on a business trip to Colorado, so my mom invited me and my two boys -- Bryan, 7, and Aaron, 3 1/2 -- to fly down to Sacramento where she'll pick us up. Bryan's birthday is today, and she said she'd really like to see him, and the rest of us, to celebrate.

It won't be as much of a celebration now, though. I just found out today that my great aunt, my maternal grandma's sister-in-law, passed away yesterday. I know my mom's going to want to go to the funeral, but I'm not going to subject my kids to that. We're supposed to be going to have a good time, and it won't be any fun for them to have to sit in a car for an 8-hour round trip to see a bunch of grieving adults, people they don't even know. My mom has asked me to fly down anyway. Since the funeral isn't until next Monday, it won't affect her ability to pick us up at the Sacramento airport.

Jim's not sure he wants us to go. For some reason, it's OK for him to fly off to Colorado by himself, but it's a completely different story for us to get on an airplane without him. He said he'd just feel better if he could go with us. I reminded him it's not as if he could do anything if something went wrong. He's just afraid to fly, and it made him worry about what might happen to us. I am not plagued by such fears, so I told him we'd be fine, just as he would be, and we'd all meet back at home in a week. He's so cute when he's concerned.

Since this was kind of a spur-of-the-moment trip, I have a doctor's appointment scheduled for tomorrow. I'm going to go. After Jim gets off work, we'll drive up to Portland to stay in a motel on the airport grounds. His plane leaves at 7:50 the next morning, so that will save him, and us, a 6:00 a.m. drive to the airport. Plus, they'll let us keep our car in the motel parking lot while we're gone -- no extra charge. What a deal!

Tomorrow, it's off to the motel. See you then!