Coming off of Easter Celebration and it is the next day. We had a lovely time with family and got home about 6:00 PM. I was useless except for feeding the animals and calling my Aunt in Chicago. I thought a nap might help. It made things worse. I put a load of laundry in and washed the dirty dishes left in the sink from making my Easter dishes. I set my alarm for 1:00 and got up at 1:30.

I go into a zen flurry of motion. I run six loads of laundry, organize my piles of writing to do this week I’m away. I clean up my office, my tax pile, pay my monthly bills, scan pictures from a family album, clean cat litter boxes, wash floors & write notes to Bob who is staying at the house and taking care of our critters.

I spend time soothing my pets who know we are leaving then. I tell them I’ll be back next week. Dad will be back in July. It is dark outside, too early to give the chickens their scratch but better now than later on when Bob gets here. 

We want to leave by 5:00. We go at 5:30. I am satisfied that if I die, my house is as clean for my kids to deal with the aftermath. It also decreases my transitional stress when I get home next Monday night. Why does it look so beautiful now? I’d like to live like this, but my piles seem to collect wherever I am.

We get in Grant’s truck and leave at 5:45. Now we talk each other through the plans. He’ll drive two hours, and then I’ll do the same until we get to Butte, Montana where we’ll stay the night. We drive. Grant comments how well we work together to keep making these transitional times as simple as possible. 

We get on I-90. Next step is driving through The Cascade Mountains. We’ll take Snoqualmie Pass. We see an alert that The Pass is closed at Denny Creek, but this doesn’t register until we see the massive amounts of snow, trucks stopped alongside the road and vehicles right in front of us in a dead halt.

We tune into the traffic station to hear the pass is closed until 8:00. I drank too much coffee and had to pee. The police officer comes by at 7:15 to tell us to move and exit at North Bend. We see the KOMO Broadcaster and tune in to hear the death of a pregnant woman while her husband and two other kids are at  Harborview Trauma Center.

We exit and pull into the gas station. Grant fuels up, and I go to the bathroom. I ask Judi, the attendant, what happened because she’s been there all night. She replies that it’s been one of the worst snowfalls ever with 40-45 collisions. She said, “the wreckers have been working all night to clear the pass.  I continue to say a silent prayer for the pregnant woman and her family.

Grant starts the truck and pulls into the waiting line. It’s almost 9:00. We’re through the pass and the snow, and we’re on our way while this woman and her family don’t have a happy ending.  Some stories don’t have a happy ending and are simply sad.