When I need refuge.

After bringing Abby to the Jacksonville airport, my husband and I decided to go to Orlando to visit with my best friend. We stayed for two days. It was much needed therapy after the deep sadness that I felt after leaving my family. 

The day we left had been incredibly sad. Somehow, it felt like a funeral to me. I knew that many of these people, including my own mother, I wouldn't get to see again. So, it was with a heavy heart, that we departed.

When I got to my friend's house, she naturally wanted to know how the reunion went. 

The truth was, I couldn't speak. It felt like a truck was on my intestines. Well, for one, several people had gotten ill the day after the reunion. Some people were hinting at food poisoning (I read that there was an outbreak of E.Coli in several states, including Georgia).

With my stomach twirling from leaving my mom and Abby, with knowing that I would miss my brother, my sister, and all of my extended family, with driving such long distances within just a couple of days, with the excitement of not seeing my best friend for years, and with a strange sickness that had made me incredibly weak, I had no energy or emotion left to speak.

As my friend asked me questions, I just answered that I couldn't speak. That I had no energy, no will, to speak. I asked her if I could just finish the delicious piña colada that she'd given me, and relax by her pool . 

The next day, Abby called me. I asked her how she felt about the reunion. I told her that I had some misgivings about some of the events that had transpired at the reunion.

What I didn't know was that the proverbial 'stuff' was just about to hit the fan.