We're back!

We are back from our trip to Columbia for Ian's writer's conference. Actually, we've been back since yesterday afternoon. We drove down Friday night, leaving around 6:15pm. We drove through a little rain, but all in all the drive was pleasant and relatively quick, only about an hour and 15 minutes. There were storms headed in our direction and I was nervous about having to drive through anything severe so I was glad we got there before anything turned ugly.

We checked into the hotel and then headed back out for a late dinner at Sticky Fingers (Ian's choice). As we were eating, I was getting phone calls from Susie and Mom about how the weather at home was turning ugly. As we were returning to the hotel, Mom called to say they had a tornado warning and that she was in the bathroom with Harrison. Taryn was at Rob's parents and when I called them, they were oblivious of the warning. I said, "get in the basement!" We spent about 20 nervous minutes constantly checking the radar at weather.com on Rob's laptop and then called Mom to tell her the radar showed the worst was past her. The next day there was nothing at all on the news about damage or confirmed tornadoes so I think maybe they just saw rotation and nothing actually touched down.

I finally fell asleep around midnight sharing a bed with bedhog Ian. We got up at 7:30am, took showers, and headed to breakfast at the Cracker Barrel where they were very slow. We then followed the directions to the school where the conference was located and registered Ian. He was assigned to a certain classroom and looked forlorn and lost as we were leaving the room since he didn't know anyone. However, as I walked out the door, I heard him yell, "Dylan!" I stuck my head back in to see a little boy, grinning from ear to ear, running over to sit with Ian. He had someone he knew...whew! We sat through a parent meeting for about a half hour and then head back to the hotel to check out, drove around a mall area for awhile, stopping at Best Buy and McDonald's, and then went back to sit in the parking lot at the school reading for about two hours. Ian got out at 2pm and then we drove home.

Ian said he had a good time and had a few stories to tell. I hope this experience helps encourage him to keep writing. Maybe he'll go back next year.