I was born in Arizona and was delighted to take my oldest son there, although it was a sad occasion. My Grandma passed away just a few of days after 9/11 and my Aunt Pat asked if we would officiate the funeral. Of course, we would! But - all flights were grounded so we had to make a grueling drive from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Phoenix, Arizona. Justin was having some problems with his ADHD medication and he was so sad we were going to be gone for 10 days or more he could only sit at his desk with crocodile tears streaming down his face. His teacher called us. He'd hardly spoken at all, very out of character for him. He hadn't made a scene, wasn't crying hysterically, making no noise at all. She had never seen a child so profoundly sad. So, her solution was to ask if we wanted to take him with us. His brother was only 2 and loved his two nannies so it was no problem for him to stay behind. The trip would have been miserable for him. But we had a small TV with a VCR tape player in it, a stand John had made to put it on, plenty of movies, and Justin's class work for 2 weeks.

We had a 15-passenger van that we took the middle seats out of, popped in a queen mattress, quilts and pillows and set out. Going there we went as quickly as possible but coming back we made it an educational trip. Justin had finished all his school work on the way out so we followed old Route 66 where we could, visiting The Painted Desert, The Petrified Forest, The Grand Canyon (on the way there, a MOOSE got in our way and Justin laughed about the "moose butt" in our way for hours!), and the Navajo. We took back little souvenirs for his classmates and he gave a little presentation about the wildfire we'd seen across the canyon. Even though I was sad about Grandma, I knew she wasn't in pain any more, so I was able to relax and enjoy our trip.