Covid Style Road Trip
I didn't think, even about a month and a half ago, that I would be road tripping it half-way across the country to Florida in the summer of 2020. Mid-June, my grandfather, who has had cancer for 8 years had a change in his condition. The initial diagnoses, much like 8 years ago, made it seem like there was no hope, but there is an infusion that would that was going to be worth a shot. Great, except it ruined any plans that 202 hadn't already pretty much taken away. My extended family that would all be there for infusions had already made plans for their summer trips, so my mom offered to go for a couple infusions (which meant at least 3 weeks).
Since 2020 has totally changed everyone's plans and thoughts on travel, my mom forgot that she wouldn't be able to just fly to Florida. I mean, she could have, but would then need to quarantine, which wouldn't really help in the situation needed. So I was asked if I could request to work from home, but from another home. I knew that I had to ask because not only the computer isn't my personal property but also, I respect my bosses too much to just make the decision without asking, and I knew it was asking for special treatment. I just needed to get my mom to Florida.
I was approved to work from another home for the 3 weeks that I requested. In less than a week, I had to get everything packed and make lists to just make sure that I didn't forget anything (specifically work related). Took 2 days off work, packed up the car, and drove 18 hours overnight on the way out; there was a lot of conversation over whether to drive overnight and if I would be able to make the drive straight through. Well, I did it, despite my brother and dad pointing out that I am older than I was when I used to drive across the country in college.
Since 2020 has totally changed everyone's plans and thoughts on travel, my mom forgot that she wouldn't be able to just fly to Florida. I mean, she could have, but would then need to quarantine, which wouldn't really help in the situation needed. So I was asked if I could request to work from home, but from another home. I knew that I had to ask because not only the computer isn't my personal property but also, I respect my bosses too much to just make the decision without asking, and I knew it was asking for special treatment. I just needed to get my mom to Florida.
I was approved to work from another home for the 3 weeks that I requested. In less than a week, I had to get everything packed and make lists to just make sure that I didn't forget anything (specifically work related). Took 2 days off work, packed up the car, and drove 18 hours overnight on the way out; there was a lot of conversation over whether to drive overnight and if I would be able to make the drive straight through. Well, I did it, despite my brother and dad pointing out that I am older than I was when I used to drive across the country in college.
While driving out, it was brought to my attention that my mom wanted to paint cabinets in the guest bathroom and kitchen at my grandparents. I didn't realize that this trip became a painting project, but for some reason, she had it in her head that needed to happen. So to appease, we went to get some paint chips to see if my grandmother approved or liked any of the colors. It was easy to pick the Derbyshire Sherwin Williams color for the bathroom cabinet, but the kitchen cabinets were a little bit of a different story. It was narrowed down to two colors and we suggested that maybe we paint the cabinets two different colors, which is usually done with 2 very different colors that were highly contrasting, but Gram picked 2 darker colors; one more green and one more green-gray. We bought Vogue Green & Rockwood Shutter Green.
We decided to ground the cabinets by using the Rockwood Shutter color on the bottom of the cabinets on Sunday, after finishing the bathroom cabinet on Saturday night. Note: I never have spent a Saturday night on the floor of a bathroom, and I think it was a very different way then most people in their 20's. Gramp stopped by at one point to see the progress prior to going to bed, and said "I don't get you." "Don't worry, Gramp, no one really does!" But I don't know what there was to get; I enjoy painting, and would prefer to paint canvas, or I guess prints, however, if you give me paint & a paint brush, I will paint just about anything. That college education has served me so well with the ability to paint walls & cabinets.
As I painted the bottom cabinets, Gram started to look at colors to paint the wall. She started to get excited about changing the whole kitchen. I got all the bottom cabinets painted, and Gram was thinking about new appliances, so this might have started a whole process and created a mini-monster. By Tuesday night, I was getting the last of the top cabinets painted, so then it was hardware decision to be made. My mom and I went to Home Depot and got about 10 different sets of hardware to have Gram pick from. While we were at Home Depot, she must have received a phone call from a friend and suggested they come over to see what was happening in the kitchen. Their timing was perfect in that we had narrowed down to a couple of hardware choices, and they could give their opinion in real time.
When we went to pick up the Brushed Champagne hardware, we got samples for the wall color and painted swatches in 3 different spots in the kitchen so that decision could further be made, however, we would not be painting the walls. After the colors sitting for about a week on the walls, it was determined that Gram was gonna go with her original pick from the paint chips of Shiitake. The walls were painted the following week to my mom and I heading back to Texas.
Upon completion of the cabinets, we did go out for dinner on Saturday night. It was a lovely place on the coast with outdoor seating and a view. It was lovely. Don't worry, it was socially distanced and everyone was wearing masks until sitting with food. As we were walking out, I snapped this pic as Gramp was helping Gram walk out.
On the last Friday, I shut down my computer & started to "clean up" my mess of stuff for working from home, and realized that I had not really seen the beach in the three weeks that I had been in Florida. Because of the location of where my grandparents live it isn't the ocean front, but a large river front. It still is salt water, so the smell that is known when you get to Florida is still present. While the sun was setting, my mom and I were headed to run a couple last minute errands to get ready to get on the road early on Saturday for our trip back to Texas. Though Titusville isn't known for being ocean front it is known for rocket/space launches. No, really, it is. While I was there, though I missed the man mission launch by about a month and a half, there were two launches. One was around 6 pm one evening, and the other was around 7 am one morning. So you can sit across the river and watch the launches, and though that would have been fun, it wasn't known by me that it was happening. It did shake the house which was when I asked "what is that? Should we be concerned?" You can't really see the launch site in the images below, but I promise it is there and there was a pretty full moon that evening so the bright white spot in the sky is the moon in the images.
We decided to ground the cabinets by using the Rockwood Shutter color on the bottom of the cabinets on Sunday, after finishing the bathroom cabinet on Saturday night. Note: I never have spent a Saturday night on the floor of a bathroom, and I think it was a very different way then most people in their 20's. Gramp stopped by at one point to see the progress prior to going to bed, and said "I don't get you." "Don't worry, Gramp, no one really does!" But I don't know what there was to get; I enjoy painting, and would prefer to paint canvas, or I guess prints, however, if you give me paint & a paint brush, I will paint just about anything. That college education has served me so well with the ability to paint walls & cabinets.
As I painted the bottom cabinets, Gram started to look at colors to paint the wall. She started to get excited about changing the whole kitchen. I got all the bottom cabinets painted, and Gram was thinking about new appliances, so this might have started a whole process and created a mini-monster. By Tuesday night, I was getting the last of the top cabinets painted, so then it was hardware decision to be made. My mom and I went to Home Depot and got about 10 different sets of hardware to have Gram pick from. While we were at Home Depot, she must have received a phone call from a friend and suggested they come over to see what was happening in the kitchen. Their timing was perfect in that we had narrowed down to a couple of hardware choices, and they could give their opinion in real time.
When we went to pick up the Brushed Champagne hardware, we got samples for the wall color and painted swatches in 3 different spots in the kitchen so that decision could further be made, however, we would not be painting the walls. After the colors sitting for about a week on the walls, it was determined that Gram was gonna go with her original pick from the paint chips of Shiitake. The walls were painted the following week to my mom and I heading back to Texas.
Upon completion of the cabinets, we did go out for dinner on Saturday night. It was a lovely place on the coast with outdoor seating and a view. It was lovely. Don't worry, it was socially distanced and everyone was wearing masks until sitting with food. As we were walking out, I snapped this pic as Gramp was helping Gram walk out.
On the last Friday, I shut down my computer & started to "clean up" my mess of stuff for working from home, and realized that I had not really seen the beach in the three weeks that I had been in Florida. Because of the location of where my grandparents live it isn't the ocean front, but a large river front. It still is salt water, so the smell that is known when you get to Florida is still present. While the sun was setting, my mom and I were headed to run a couple last minute errands to get ready to get on the road early on Saturday for our trip back to Texas. Though Titusville isn't known for being ocean front it is known for rocket/space launches. No, really, it is. While I was there, though I missed the man mission launch by about a month and a half, there were two launches. One was around 6 pm one evening, and the other was around 7 am one morning. So you can sit across the river and watch the launches, and though that would have been fun, it wasn't known by me that it was happening. It did shake the house which was when I asked "what is that? Should we be concerned?" You can't really see the launch site in the images below, but I promise it is there and there was a pretty full moon that evening so the bright white spot in the sky is the moon in the images.
As my mom and I made our way across the county, we were chasing the sun in the evening . The sun was so big and watching it disappear on the horizon was the first perfect sunset that I had seen in 3 weeks. The tough part about traveling across the country during covid during the day time hours was that there were very few places that we could utilize bathrooms. When normal road trips, non-covid style, happen, we stop at Targets that are just off the highway or even Starbucks. Well, Targets are not really off the highway, and Starbucks, as we discovered, don't allow you to currently use the bathroom. Yup, we went into a Starbucks to attempt to use the bathroom, but they had it blocked off, and we want to follow the rules and not be the exception, so we ordered our drinks and continued on our way. As we waited for the drinks to be made, I do have to say that I loved the gallery wall in this Starbucks (below).
All-in-all, the trip needed to happen. The infusions, though they seemed to be working, also had some side effects, and I know that is why my mom and I were there, but getting to make the updates to the house ended up being even more good than we really thought it would be. Gramp said prior to us leaving that he might need to call a realtor to come and get a quote of what they could now get for the house. We all laughed.
We got a text the week after being in Florida that one of my uncles was checking in on my grandparents and it was stated that there was some pep in Gram's step with the changes in the cabinets, but then they had someone at the house that was painting the walls, and it was adding even more of a pep in her step. Anything to keep the pep in the step, right?
While driving, and even after arriving home, I have taken some time to reflect on everything that happened in three weeks; so many things about this year have been taken away, but those three weeks, because we are currently working from home, and because of my amazing bosses, will be three weeks I could never really get back, but also, could never put a price on how much those three weeks would mean to me, even in the far future.
All-in-all, the trip needed to happen. The infusions, though they seemed to be working, also had some side effects, and I know that is why my mom and I were there, but getting to make the updates to the house ended up being even more good than we really thought it would be. Gramp said prior to us leaving that he might need to call a realtor to come and get a quote of what they could now get for the house. We all laughed.
We got a text the week after being in Florida that one of my uncles was checking in on my grandparents and it was stated that there was some pep in Gram's step with the changes in the cabinets, but then they had someone at the house that was painting the walls, and it was adding even more of a pep in her step. Anything to keep the pep in the step, right?
While driving, and even after arriving home, I have taken some time to reflect on everything that happened in three weeks; so many things about this year have been taken away, but those three weeks, because we are currently working from home, and because of my amazing bosses, will be three weeks I could never really get back, but also, could never put a price on how much those three weeks would mean to me, even in the far future.