Nothing says "Happy Birthday" more than being on the road

[Ccook50]

I turned 51 two Fridays back, September 21. I got the day off from work and had planned to spend it relaxing.

Well, it didn't turn out that way. Seems the weekend prior, my uncle in Baltimore passed away from complications of pneumonia topped onto Alzheimer's Disease (he was 79), so that Wednesday I had to drive mom (unc's sister) for the funeral which was Thursday (the viewing was Wednesday night). Getting around Washington D.C. was a test of endurance in itself (if you've never been on the outer loop of I-95/495 on the east side at rush hour, you haven't truly died) but we got through intact.

So mom and I left Owings Mills (NW suburb of Baltimore) late that Thursday afternoon following a luncheon at a volunteer fire station and then a visit with uncle Bill's widow, Aunt Pat, and stopped for the night in Richmond. Next morning before leaving for the 10-hour trip home, mom wished me happy birthday, then my two sisters called on the cell phone. Mom apologized for the circumstances but I told her not to worry about it--it was unusual to say the least and nobody could forsee uncle Bill dying when he did.

We made it home around 5, and my prized nephew Kevin took me out to dinner that evening. So, worse things could have happened, and I got to touch bases with some relatives I haven't seen in ages.