Cityscapes

Savannah arrived home last week drained from the semester. My attempt to pick her up was pretty awful.  I was just under halfway through the 1.5 hour drive to her dorm when I stopped for gas.  I realized as soon as I shut the car door that I had just locked my phone and keys inside. I asked to use the phone in the gas station and called Andy.  I got his voicemail, so I had no idea if he was coming or not.  It had been a tough day for him.  He was working from home because Julia was sick, and he took her to the doctor around 1:30.  He still needed to finish his workday, so I knew my mistake would cost him.  The gas station employees were very helpful.  They pulled mechanics who tried to use tools to open my car.  In the end Andy arrived and insisted that he would make the drive to get Savannah.  He said we could park my car, and I could get in his car or I could go home, but he was pretty adamant that I would not be driving. (In hindsight I wish I had quipped "you're not the boss of me!")  I was going on very little sleep as the dog had kept me up the whole night before.  A friend of mine referred to my mistake as grief brain.  Very few people know that that was not my first mistake in the last few weeks.  One morning when moving cars to go to work, I put Zach's car in reverse instead of park and then watched in horror as it rolled down the street and into our neighbor's tree.  Fortunately, there was no damage to the car or the tree, and disaster was avoided.  It could have hit the neighbors' cars that are always parked on the street behind my driveway or a person out for a morning walk.  

Since she arrived at home Savannah has baked with friends on two different occasions.  After a particularly rough day for me, we opted for some Tuesday (cheap movie day) distraction, and saw Rogue One. After seeing the movie, Savannah pulled out the old Star Wars series and started re-watching them all.

While watching the movies, she drew, and when I saw what she was doing, I knew I had to share.

St. Louis skyline

On the very day that she finished her St. Louis skyline, this picture from two years ago popped up on my FB memories.

I am sad that Dad is not here to see her this Christmas.  He has not seen her since July, and I know he would give her a hard time about her boyfriend- asking all kinds of questions about him.  I believe that he would have already gotten those answers on Thanksgiving and would have rehashed them.  I know he would also ask about her best friend Emily.  Emily and Dad really took to each other, so he always checked up on her whenever I saw him after they met.  Christmas is so different this year.  There is no way to even try to have normal.

I hoped to go to Nashville over the break and see the Opryland Hotel all decorated, but life changed dramatically a few weeks ago.  I spent the first three days of my break sleeping.  It takes a lot to catch up from a whole semester, so I don't know if I have it in me to drive to Nashville alone as Andy cannot take off work.  I doubt that my second week plans of painting three bedrooms will happen.  I feel like I am wasting a lot of time, but I don't really have the energy to care.

P.S. Did I mention that Savannah finished her first semester of college with one B, and the rest of her grades are As?  One of those As happens to be in a chemistry class designed to weed students out of science heavy programs.  She's not a girl who squanders that gifts God has given her.