Epilogue

Reality abruptly thrust itself upon me this morning when my alarm screamed into my not deaf enough ears signaling that it was time to rise and shine. Gone was the sleep until you wake and Homer chirping in the shower (ok that was the first day, after that the hearing aids stayed out until any danger of Homer caterwauling was safely over). No more chicken fried steak with sausage gravy at the local Mom and Pop diner for breakfast. Served up in its place was a 7 a.m. arrival at the jail to interview the previous evening’s misbehavers before their arraignment in Syracuse City Court at 9:30 a.m. Instead of chatting up the waitress about local sights and the river levels, it was chatting with ne’er-do-wells about their chances of release. Instead of picturesque vistas, it was the garbage burning steam plant on Rock Cut Road and I-81 construction (no missed photo ops there). Instead of text messages saying, “sounds like your having a great trip”, it was an email with distressing news about a dear friend (although a follow-up to that same email contained something that brought great joy to my heart—thanks Jillian). Yet memories of my trip with Homer are still fresh in my mind and help me realize that this is why we travel, to get a break from our day to day routines and help us remember how precious our time with one another is and how lucky we are to live in a time when technology allows us to take our loved ones along.

I hope you all got as much enjoyment out of reading our blogs as Homer and I did in writing them, our hotel room taking on the air of a newspaper cityroom trying to make deadline, and after posting, immediately checking to see what the other wrote. The Dickson Family Reunion is coming up on June 25 at Gettysburg (both of Lil’s great, great, grandfathers fought there, Campbell Dickson with the 9th NY Cavalry and Benjamin Abbott with the 20th Georgia). I will post at least one report on the weekend’s events.

In the meantime I leave you with this small bit of philosophy offered by a gnarly, young dude and his posse.

Oh and this, totally awesome.