I slept soundly on Linda's couch but at 5:37am I was awakened with loud cacophony from the birds outside. I recognized the shrill of the red-winged blackbird, the chirping of sparrows and the long whisle of the meadowlark. there were other sounds as well.
Sadie stayed in the van all night and did well, but now I had to let her out so she could pee. We walked slowly along the county road north as the rising sun's first purple rays radiated from the east.
It had been a quiet night, a still night in the country. An occassional train rumbled in the distant but there were no traffic sounds, no human sounds. Anything alive was asleep. My walk was in peaceful solitude. It wasn't until I reached a farmhouse up the road that a rooster crowed and life began to stir in the farmhouses around me. Sadie showed an interest in the chicken coop, a dog came toward us, and I opted to walk back to Linda's house.
Sadie stayed in the van all night and did well, but now I had to let her out so she could pee. We walked slowly along the county road north as the rising sun's first purple rays radiated from the east.
It had been a quiet night, a still night in the country. An occassional train rumbled in the distant but there were no traffic sounds, no human sounds. Anything alive was asleep. My walk was in peaceful solitude. It wasn't until I reached a farmhouse up the road that a rooster crowed and life began to stir in the farmhouses around me. Sadie showed an interest in the chicken coop, a dog came toward us, and I opted to walk back to Linda's house.
The sun was now rising, bringing the colors from deep purple to red and then orange. Sadie knew the way back, staying on the side of the road walking her return route. Large beer bottles were now obvious in the young corn fields.
I could live in a place like this, I thought, and pondered Mike's words from last night. Had I not been resilient enough to endure Indiana's winters? What would have happened had I stayed in Indiana? Would I be happy in Indiana now that I am older? Is there a chance I would ever return to this state as an aging grandma, volunteering my time at a state park as a camp hostess just to be closer to Ethan?
Life's unanswered questions. When I got back to the house it remained quiet and neither woke up until an hour later.
Michael made a hearty breakfast of pancakes, eggs, turkey bacon and strawberries as we shared yesterday's coffee. Linda was the last to wake up. By 9am we left the house for a quick walk around the towpaths of Delphi, built by Irish immigrants in the 1850s but then abandoned when the railroad took over towns just before the Civil War.
Delphi would make a nice backdrop to a movie about Indiana. Home to the Wabash and Erie Canal, the towpath is now part of the town's network of trails. We parked at the trailhead park and stayed along the river, turning around at the confluence of the Wabash and Deer Creek rivers and resuming our shaded walk north along the Wabash. The banks were wet from recent rains, and the bugs were out.
We made a three-mile loop around town and then separated. Linda and Michael drove back home and I went back on the interstate to get back to Carol's. The kids were coming over at 1pm for the Sunday lunch and I didn't want to be late. I was tired enough.
I got back at 12:15pm and wanted to nap, but the kids were on time and we ate a delicious chicken fetuccini meal Carol made. We stayed at the house for the rest of the day. I had my eyes on Ethan. In the last two weeks he's been keeping his eyes open longer and is slowly losing his newborn look. I fell in love with that little guy, but fears that I'll miss out on so much of his life because I live in AZ and not IN with the rest of his family haunt me. What if Erin uses that against me?
Nonetheless I was in a good mood, jokingly referring to Ethan's small stretch pants as "sansabelts" which Erin had no clue what I was referring to.
"You know, we are born wearing sansabelts and we die wearing sansabelts" I later mused. I'll be getting Ethan plenty of sansabelts in his lifetime!
Despite all my worries about how Erin will be able to provide for Ethan as a single mom (Thanks mostly to her father who's letting her live at his house rent-free), Erin is a doting and affectionate mom who loves her new role. My role is to help her out as much as possible while still making her responsible for all of Ethan's welfare. I'm relieved knowing that Ethan's dad and his family help Erin with the care and expense for The Little Guy.
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