Have Family....Will Travel

Whew! Just got back from a nice little jaunt down south. It was a nice distraction from my endless days and nights that are my weekends now.
I went with the same 2 family members that I not too long ago, went to lunch with in Wakefield, VA. Yes. I ventured even further with them this time. My sis-in-law, Inetta, fancies herself an actress. She's actually quite good if the truth be told. She's been a part of this small ensemble, known as "Charlie T Productions", for about 3 years or so (I'm really guessing at that number). "Charlie T" is a ministry. They play small venues and grace their audiences with "in your face" gospel plays. Their want is your salvation. A unique way of getting out of the pews and reaching the lost.
We traveled to Oxford, NC for this particular production. Inetta asked me about 3 weeks ago if I would be interested in coming with her. I said sure, why not? It's a distraction from my humdrum existance and it's different and I've never been to Oxford so it should be interesting to say the least. I then find out that 1 of my nieces is also coming. This pair of folks will keep you in stitches. They compliment each other quite nicely. Her yin to her yang if you will. That makes for an often hilarious encounter. This one is no different.
Oxford, for lack of a better word, is a hick town. For anyone whose remotely familiar with NC, Oxford is about 10-12 miles south of Henderson, NC. It lies between Henderson and Durham, NC. A one horse town indeed. It actually reminds me of the small town where I grew up. Quaint, quiet and Norman Rockwell-esque. As it turns out, one of the cast members is from there which explains why we must travel the 2.5 hours to this town that time has forgotten for the most part to see a play. Life is slow there. The people are laid back. There are no sirens wailing in the middle of the night.
We left the big city at 0700 Saturday. We entered Oxford at 10:15am. We did stop in Emporia, VA for gas and sustenance. The trip there was uneventful. We didn't get lost. We saw miles and miles of trees and fields. My sis-in-law enthralled by the "quaintness" of the country life. I'd give her about 30 days to get thoroughly sick of it if she ever tried to live there. My husband could never get over the fact that there were no streetlights lining the streets in these small places. It's indeed a different way of life.
So, here we are. 3 city mice venturing into the country for an overnight stay. We all agreed that Oxford was a nice place to visit. Inetta, perhaps, would try to live there someday but not today.
It was dreary and rainy in the big city upon our exit. The clouds broke some as we got closer and the sun peeked out several times during our driving time. Spirits were high and we endlessly chatted our way south. Found the hotel, rented a room for the night and settled in. Took the sis-in-law to her assigned destination for rehearsal. We found the school after being directed by one of the hotel staff on the proper way to get there. "Follow exactly what I tell you or you're gonna get lost" is what she told us poor, pitiful city mice. I could just see her inability to understand why anyone would want to live anywhere other than Oxford, NC. But she got us there relatively easy and I'll take easy anyday.
We pulled up to the school and found that we were the only car in the parking lot. Well this was issue #1 for Inetta. "Why are we the only ones here?", she says to me as if I know the answer to that pertinent piece of information. She calls the "boss". She's told that rehearsals won't start until noon because there's no one there to open the building yet. "Thanks for letting a sista know these things", she said as we cracked up in the background. Back to the hotel. There's hair to be done and make up to be applied (which apparently is Yvette's {the niece that accompanied us} only mission here). We finally get her there and they have to sit and wait. Still no one to open the door. Yvette and myself decide that it's past lunch time and we're going to "sight see". We head to Henderson. My mission is to find a place that sells "authentic" Carolina BBQ. There's nothing like it in this whole world. If you ever have the real deal, this crap they try to pass as "carolina BBQ" here in Virginny will either make you laugh or cry. We find it in a place called Smithfield's Chicken N BBQ. OMG! It's like heaven on earth. I'm happy and Yvette and I have a real nice heart to heart about the issues in this family. It's a comical, yet true, view of the legacy of Ruth Freeman, my mother-in-law. We covered it all. We laughed. We pitied. We made ourselves feel better about the whole thing just by saying, "we just don't understand it".
The play was a smash with the approximately 50 people that attended. We liked it. We laughed at Inetta and her "lost in her role" way of getting into character. Yvette continually said during the play, "she really thinks she's a first lady!" I say, "yep..she likes it too!" I, then get asked on the way out of the school to give my thoughts on the play. It was well done, thought provoking and I enjoyed it is what I gave the fellow who was toting the video camera which he promptly shoved into the faces of us unsuspecting spectators. It was like the old "deer in the headlight" look for most of us. Back to the hotel. Sleep is a welcomed friend this night. Up at 0730. Got to take advantage of the free continental breakfast. Pack the car. Yvette's husband is coming to get her and they will go on to visit a relative of his that's down the road a piece. Inetta and I head back to VA.
It won't go without a hitch tho. A blown tire on I-85 could have been much worse than it was. I jump out of the car, automatically thinking of "A Christmas Story" and the tire changing scene where Ralphie is helping his dad by holding the hubcap with the lug nuts and the dad hits the hubcap and the lug nuts go flying into the darkness and Ralphie says, "oh fuuuuuuuuuddddggggeee" except it wasn't fudge that came out of his mouth. The dad thinks himself a pit worker in a Nascar race and times himself. My sis-in-law, thinks I'm just dandy because I actually know how to change a tire without my husband by my side. I feel like a superhero. A state trooper comes upon us and offers to lend a hand. I tell him I have things under control and that I'm glad I listened to my husband when he told me to get a 2 ton hydraulic jack and put it in the trunk. "Those piece of crap jacks that they give you in cars these days aren't worth crap." Crap isn't what came out of his mouth. The nice state trooper directed us to the nearest WalMart to buy a tire. The only tire they had in my size cost $80 the nice Wally world worker tells me as he smiles. $92 for 1 tire! $92. I know my husband rolled at least 1 time in his final resting place. I could hear his voice in my head. "Have you lost your mind? 92 bucks for 1 tire? You've got to be kidding me! Highway robbery!". Tire on, shopping done, we hit the road again. After about 2 miles, I realize we should be heading east, not west so we do a u-ey and get back on the right track. Home sweet home is what's on our minds. My sis-in-law and I have now bonded more than either of us ever thought we would. It's been nice. It's been interesting. It's been a learning experience to say the least.
Hotel room: $102/night (split in half). Gas: $37. New tire and labor: $92. Food: Approximately $30.
An overnight stay in a town far away with my niece and sister-in-law loaded with laughs and a good time: Priceless.