Bumpy Road Indeed!

My grandson, Domani, turned one year old on Oct. 11.  Today was his party.  It was held in a small town fire house hall.  

The day was filled with emotion for me.   On one hand there was the joy of celebrating Domani's first birthday.

On the other hand, my heart ached to see how fragile Joe seemed.  He has been through a lot during the last two weeks.

But he made it for his son's first birthday party.  

On the way home from the party, Ross decided that he wanted to avoid the major highways, so he took the back country roads instead.   One of the roads was blocked with a sign which read: "Road Closed" "Local Traffic Only Allowed".

Ross kept driving though, figuring we would probably be able to get through.

  

The road was bumpy because it was in the process of being re-paved.  The wheels of the car kicked up pebbles of tar and gravel. 

A woman was standing by her mail box at one of the houses we were approaching.  She was waving her arms, flagging us down.  Ross stopped and rolled the window down. 

She asked us if we lived on this street.   We said no.   She was very irate and said that Ross had no business being on that street.   She also told us that if we were stopped by a police officer it would result in a 5 point penalty on his license.

Biting my tongue, I told Ross to just go.  

But what I really wanted to do was tell this woman that we just came from my grandson's birthday party.   I wanted her to know that we were celebrating his first birthday.  I wanted her to know that my son, the father of the one year old, has stage IV colon cancer and that it is incurable.   I wanted her to know how trivial, unnecessary, unimportant, and needless her anger towards us was.   I wanted her to know that this ride down her bumpy unpaved road was nothing compared to the road my son has traveled so far.  A road that has led him to this day.  This day that he was able to see his one year old son smile as we all sang "Happy Birthday Dear Domani, Happy Birthday to you."

That's what I really wanted that woman to know.

Time For Cake

Some more photos of what's really important in life.

My granddaughter, Bella.  I kept calling her by her mother's name, Jen, because she looks just like her mother.

My Two Sons With Their Sons

My Four Grandsons
Birthday Boy With The Number 1 on his shirt