Sweet Home Alabama

I meant to write about this earlier, but got distracted on another message board discussing the two thing I know I shouldn't: politics and religion. But now we're back on track.

We recently went to a wedding in Alabama. My nephew finally managed to find someone to marry him. Now that there are five of us, and given the fact the wedding was on the Saturday before New Years, plane tickets were an expense we decided were out of the question. So we drove, two days down, two days home. Most people would think the aggravation of driving with three kids would far outweigh the price of plane tickets, but not us. We don't think like other people (obviously) and just as importantly, we're cheap.

Our biggest worry, and this is where the tie in to our upcoming adoption takes place, was that we had to carry cash on this trip. People who've been through international adoption know that some countries insist on fees being paid in cash-- new, American money-- once you get in country. And since you can never tell when you'll be called to go, or how much time you have to prepare once the invitation comes in, you have to start gathering up "new money" fairly early on.

So here we were, having to drive with a bunch of currency. Normally, this would't be a problem. But my husband likes to drive fast. He thinks, for example, that the red, white, and blue signs with the number "95" on them all the way up and down I-95 mean speed limit 95, rather than being route markers. All I could picture was getting pulled over- and then having the officer notice the bulge from the neck pouch. In my imagination the scene would have gone something like this:

Officer: "Sir, I'm going to have to pat you down."
Husband: "Sure officer."
Officer upon finding money: "What are you doing with all this cash?"
Husband: "We're adopting."
Officer: "Adopting what?"
Husband: "A little boy from Kazakhstan."
Officer: "Mmm, yeah, right. Is this that Borat show? You Borat?"
Husband: "No, really."
Officer: "Well this is looking mighty suspicious, you coming up the crystal meth corridor with all this cash. We're going to have to take you in."
Me: "Do you have cells where no children are allowed? Because I could really use a vacation after being in the car all day..."

But since everyone else was driving at least as fast as we were, we had a smooth trip.

And we really liked Alabama. If we win the lottery, maybe we'll buy a land and build a cool log house (like Wilderness Lodge at Disney World) near Wedowee.

Of course there aren't any Orthodox churches nearby, but I know the OCA and the Antiochians love to start missions...