Alyssa's coming home part 2

It seemed like forever but we finally left the state of Utah.  Can I tell you how much I hate that state?  My ancestors came to Utah to settle there.  I always felt like it was a second home when I was younger.  But now with this adoption fiasco with the laws written so horribly, I hate it.  The state where fathers have no rights for their own children.  Another state that keeps OBC sealed from the people that should have it.  The state that adoption agencies love.  It is the state that my daughter's adopters ran to when there oldest adoptee came of age.  In Utah I see so much hate if you do not follow "the rules" of how everyone is supposed to dress, talk, act.  If you go away from the rules you are less than, you are undeserving even of your own flesh and blood.  i was so happy to leave and have my oldest with me.  I felt more myself than I ever have, I felt free.

i was prepared for the long drive with 5 hour energy drinks and my drug of choice - diet coke.  i figured driving would not be a problem.  I should be very alert. I was so wrong.  My body was ready to crash by 9pm.  We stopped every few hours for potty breaks and gas refills.  We were both getting very tired and there was no moon that night and very few cars on the road.  We finally arrived in Tahoe around 1am.  We brought in the necessities and immediately went to sleep.  We were both crazy exhausted. 

We woke up by 6am and were ready to hit the road by 7am.  Only 4 more hours of driving and we would be home.  We stopped twice on the way home once for diet coke and the other time for a bathroom break.  My husband planned to get the family together to welcome us home about noon but that got changed to meeting at my sisters house and everyone arriving about 2or a little after.  By that time I was in no mood for socialization but I did socialize anyway.  I really wanted to go home and go to sleep. 

Cassie and Alyssa asked to go home around 5pm so I dropped them off and gave them some time to be alone for about an hour or so.  The 6 of us finally all got home together around 6:30 or 7.  It is  so nice to have all my kids living under one roof and not trying to squeeze in a year of catching up into a few days of visiting.

Bringing Alyssa home has been the best gift I could ever have, not just for me but for all 4 of my kids, for my husband, and for our extended family.