Traveling mercies

Today's the day we start converging on the mountains for the fiftieth birthday celebration. We have people coming from Jacksonville FL, Orlando FL, Huntingtown MD, New York, Wilmington, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Greensboro, Asheville, and Charlotte. I am picking up pennies with the face up (and turning over the ones that are face down for later gatherings), crossing fingers/toes/eyes, and just plain old praying that the weekend goes well.

One thing that has come up as we prepared is that a large number of those involved contend with sensory integration issues and NOBODY wants to sleep with anyone because they don't like to touch when they sleep. This means that with three bedrooms and thirteen of us, there are going to be a number of air beds strewn around. My family is large, and we're used to clustering up, but this is all women. No men to pooh pooh our issues and divert our attention.

Should be interesting. Good thing we're going to spend Saturday at the spa, each person getting two good relaxing treatments and able to use the rest of the day in the sauna, pool, hiking, or just resting. There's Blowing Rock for retail therapy, and if we get really bad, one sister is a therapist and can take us in the back room for a good listening-to.

Banner Elk, get ready.