The Visit

We just returned from a great visit with dear MIL and FIL in lovely Tennessee. The drive was great, the weather, well, was ok, could have been worse. The folks were wonderful, so happy to see us, as we were happy to see them. Little Dog was spoiled only a wee bit less than Little One was and we all were so, so, content to be with each other.

No one knows how to decorate for Christmas like MIL. It's truly worthy of a spread in Southern Living. She has such a touch! to add this bit here, and that bit there. Even the ram statue on the sofa table in the family room has a French horn about his neck with just a bit of holly.

Alas, our visit was short due to DH's very inconvenient but very much appreciated job. We buzzed in, ate the parents out of house and home, exchanged gifts, hugs and tears, and buzzed out again.

We made use of a rental car as our own aging cars need to save their miles for about town. I requested a car with an iPod jack and downloaded lots of stories to my iPod for us to listen to. It's 6 hours each way, so we had plenty of time to converse, tire of each other, and then get lost in the stories drifting to us in the dark.

LO had watched one of the Harry Potter movies on the way up. I must say I by far prefer the audio stories. There is something so magical, and so old-fashioned, about listening to the spoken word. I appreciate the writing more. I appreciate the sounds more. And I understand nuances more.

The stories were wonderful. They are all podcasts, free, that I downloaded from iTunes. Here are a few of our favorites.

1. The Moth. This is a highly-rated podcast that features non-professionals sharing 5 minute-long stories from their lives. I only got one of these, a story called, "Elna Baker: The Funny One." As I said, it's only 5 minutes long. We laughed out loud on this one. I will definitely subscribe to the Moth.

2. Hearing Voices. This podcast spins non-fiction stories that always include the recorded voices of the people featured; hence the name. We listened to two of these. One is called, "Paintbrush." It is a mini-biography and features the voice of his second wife reading from her book, "Living with Picasso." The second is called, "Soapbox," and includes recordings of presidents' inaugural addresses, from Coolidge to W. This was great. Not to be missed is the song entitled, "WMD Waltz."

3. Youth Radio. These are shorties -- 3 to 5 minutes each. We listened to several of these. Always interesting.

4. PRI: Selected Shorts. For the uninitiated, it's Public Radio International. By far and away, these were our favorites. We listened to them late in the trip, as we returned to Little Town, NC. The sun was setting over the mountains and then it was dark. We sat wordlessly as the stories wound from the speakers. We smiled, we frowned, we laughed, as each of us sat with our thoughts and the magical stories in the air. Each is about an hour long. Here are the ones we heard tonight.

Tales? Short, long, folk, fairy and fierce. Included the following stories: "A Pair of Silk Stockings," by Kate Chopin, "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveros County," by Mark Twain, the classic fairy tale called, "Pudducky," two funny letters from Truman Capote, and a dark tale called, "Soul Murder," by David Mamet.

Afterglow: More Christmas Memories. This selection included three stories: "One Christmas," written by Truman Capote, George Shephard's "Occurrence on the Six-Seventeen," and "Homecoming," by William Maxwell. The Capote story made us laugh out loud. Poignant, angry, wistful, and heartbreakingly real. LO enjoyed them all and we dare not tell her they are literature.

The trip was highly anticipated and I sometimes fear that it can never meet our expectations. It always does, though, and as always it was hard to leave. DH has promised he will not wait so long to visit again.