Leaping for Your Dreams

Well today was the day. We’d done everything we could to start the process for our new home. Demo started yesterday and was being carefully done so it wouldn’t impact the neighborhood as much. Now we were on the road for Windsor. The car was packed and we were nearly ready to leave. “Come on Sunshine! Time to go!”

Anna came nearly tumbling down the stairs as I called out. “I’m ready!” I laughed as she dropped her car stuff on the table. She had enough stuff to keep her occupied for days let alone hours.

“Anna, it’s not even a 5 hour drive. Do you _really_ need all of that?” I began sorting through it.

“I’m gonna be there _forever_!” She said as dramatically as she could. “I’m gonna be _bored_!”

I sighed, I knew that my folks were going to have a blast this week with her. “Sunshine, you’re gonna get to do things that are so much fun. I know it. You’re gonna get to see all the places I got to see growing up. Knowing Grandpa he’ll want to take you everywhere and show you off. Now go to the bathroom one last time before we leave.” She gave me that ‘do I have to’ look.

“Annushka, go.” Geno said from behind me. She didn’t argue with both of us. He curled around me lovingly. “She have fun, we have fun. Good for all.”

A few minutes later we were on the road. It was a nice day for the drive and took under an hour to get to the Ohio border. It had been a while since I had made this trip, since the last summer trip Aleks and I took back to Pittsburgh. About an hour after leaving the house we hit I 80. It was about 150 miles until the next highway turn off. We gassed up outside of Strongsville and grabbed some lunch as well. Burgers, not the best lunch for us, but it was good on the road food. As we drove Anna loved being on the road.

At the next rest stop/gas up, Geno and I switched who was driving. This was long enough that having two drivers would be easier on us both. It also helped that we had a GPS that Geno could follow.

45 minutes after we switched we hit I 240, Anna had zonked out by now. Of course I had to take a candid shot of her to show off. “This not bad drive. How often you do this?”

“Not often. Normally Aleks would go to her folks place and I’d go to mine in the summer. Not that her folks summer house is far from our place.” I chuckled.

“I not know they have summer house.” Geno said kind of surprised.

I smiled. “It’s the house that they grew up in, it’s not huge but it’s perfect for her folks now. They rent it out from August to the end of May. Although I think they’re thinking of finding a place further out and giving this one to Dima. He’s ready to end his tour and get out of the military, if they’ll let him. The house will give him a chance to get on his feet and not worry about a lot. Mischa has a place somewhere in town but I’m not sure where.”

We were now on I 75 and in Michigan. “Mischa good guy, Dima too. They live close and you always together, surprised they not just adopt you. How close are the houses?”

I laughed. “Oh you’ll love this. We live on the 700 block of Stanley Street, Aleks and her family on the 600 block. I wonder if she’s gonna bring The Cup back here or what.” We passed Monroe. “You did bring your passport right? We’ll need it for the bridge.”

Geno just chuckled. “I have. Not leave home without. You?” Turn about was fair play.

“Mine and Anna’s, speaking of, is she going to need a new one when we get to Russia?” I fished them out of the place I kept them in my purse. Yeah we were about 30-40 mins out from the bridge but it was safer than having to dig for them when we got there.

What I thought would take us the better part of an hour took us a lot less. Soon I was seeing very familiar scenery. “Anna, you awake back there?” I heard Ms. Grumpy britches groan. “Come on you don’t want to miss going over the Bridge do you?”

“Are we there yet?” She asked as she scrubbed her eyes.

“Almost. We have about another twenty minutes. Look you can see the bridge from here.” I hoped they couldn’t tell just how excited I was, but I was also pretty sure they knew. I heard Geno chuckle and knew I hadn’t fooled him. “You’re gonna want to fill up at Ammex Global. It’s a duty free station. It’s also where they’ll check our passports and such.”

Sure enough when we pulled into the station I saw one of the border patrol guys coming our way. I grabbed all three passports and brought Anna with me. “Mama I have to go!” She said tugging on my arm.

“Ok, see if Papa will take you. I have to talk to this man here.” She dropped my hand and ran for Geno. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s no problem ma’am. Can I see your passports?” I handed them over. He didn’t blink at Anna’s or mine but when he got to Geno’s he paused. “Is this?”

Geno came over after a few minutes with Anna in tow. “Problem?”

The officer looked up, noticed that he matched the passport and the name and smiled. “No problem sir. Just double-checking to make sure they were in order. Can I ask why you’re heading into Canada?”

I laughed. “My parents live in Windsor, where I grew up. We’re dropping this one off for the week while we go to the NHL awards.” It was Hockeytown; everyone had a clue as to where and when the Awards were.

The officer nodded. “Man I hope Nick wins. He deserves it.”

Both Geno and I chuckled. “I don’t know if he will but whoever gets it will be deserving.”

“True but Nick deserves it more. Did you see the parade the Caps had? The President crashed their party.” He stamped our passports.

I shook my head. “No we’ve been on the road. I’m sure Mal will tell us when we see her though.”

The officer gaped. “You know Mal? Oh man she’s incredible. She was a Spartan you know.”

I laughed. “I know that very well, I was too. My maiden name was Krejci. Played goal.”

“Damn, well I know you guys are no threat. Enjoy your time and the awards show.” He handed us our passports back and wandered to the next set of people.

We got back in the car and took the last 15 or so minutes of our trip. Once we pulled up outside my childhood home I couldn’t get out of the car fast enough. I hadn’t seen this place in a couple years. It looked great still. We were welcomed with open arms and took our stuff inside. It was good to be home.