WHOA! They went all out!

I knew I left a lasting impression on Omaha!!! This is how they celebrate my birthday!!!

After Christmas Wrap Up, January is Here.......

Okay, it's been a while (like when isn't it? Seriously).  It was Thanksgiving when last I sat down and blogged my heart out, and while I have 'meant' to....it's sorta like the Road to Hell...it's paved with good intentions that never go anywhere.  

Christmas came and went here.  With the little trolls all going to different grandparents and relatives' houses on Christmas day, it was decided that we would 'put it off'.  In years past, I have always done the big Polish do on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day itself was always low key. Jamie was in another state, unable to make it home, and the grands had other commitments, so it was just the four of us.   Unfortunately, it ends up being too far to travel for some, other plans for others (a divorce in the family makes 'sharing' holidays real fun for those of us not directly involved) and others won't give you a straight up answer 'yes or no'.  I have said in the past, I know I will say so again, if you don't want to come, SAY SO.  I would rather you risk you thinking you hurt my feelings to have an adequate head count for dinner.....with the price of food, I don't want to plan to feed four extra people and not have anyone show up.  This year, we did 'Little Christmas with Lucas and Brennan, and believe me, it was a lot less stressful for me (not for them, but that's another story).  

Part of the reason I wanted to 'do' Little Christmas, or the Feast of the Epiphany, is that Christmas is soooo commercialized and trees and decorations are in the stores on Labor Day, and by the 25th you are so sick of hearing 'if you REALLY loved someone, you would go into hock for a car, a house, a ring that could knock out Mike Tyson, etc.' and sad to say it, you are GLAD that Christmas is over.  Whatever happened to Advent? Christmas Eve? Christmas being a HOLY day not a day to grab and plunder and complain you 'didn't get what you really wanted, wah, wah, wah'.....besides, not to sound commercial on you, but buying AFTER Christmas is the best way NOT to break the budget.   The big plus.....I got to tell the little trolls that we would be celebrating Jesus' birthday on the day HE got presents.  I collect nativities, so I was able to show them Gaspar, Balthazar and Melchior and explain that the Feast of the Epiphany is when they gave Jesus HIS presents.  I had a tree, with their presents under it, and I would hear, 'Gramma, we get to open ours when Jesus opened his, right?'  See......I did teach them something.  I was especially proud of the two of mine left at home.....they opted, even tho I did have presents for them....to wait as well until Little Christmas. Also, by waiting, not only did I not duplicate things others bought the little ones, but if you go from place to place to place on Christmas, who can remember who bought who what and they get so tired of wanting to just play with everything, they get on a sensory overload and miss out on the whole reason for doing what we do.  

We did this whole magilla on January 5th, so I could 'have' my present on January 6th.  I am on a big 'experience' kick lately.  If I need anything, I will buy it myself, and I am trying to 'give' memories to the kids as well.  I asked of Joe, and he agreed, that I wanted to go to the Farm Show in Harrisburg for my Christmas Present.  So, off we went on Sunday morning, bright and early to a place I have been begging to go to for years......(other things always came up). I was a wonderful experience, but one, if we had to do all over again, would do on a weekday, not a weekend.  The show opened at 9:00 a.m., at 9:15 a.m. the parking lot, the whole 28 acres of it, was full and overflow was being directed to other areas in Harrisburg and the patrons were shuttle bused in.  But we had a blast.   

About this blast.  You may wonder why I posted the picture on the top of this.  Well, just Joe and I went....the kids wanted to but my Knight in Shining Armor told me 'it's just you and me, it's your present, not theirs' and we got into all sorts of mischief.  We were two 50+ year old fruit loops on a day pass.  Those who know us, me particular, know that I have a 'wee bit of a digestive issue' that makes knowing where the bathroom is at all times a REALLY good thing.  Well, of course, since we stopped for breakfast before we left, I HAD to stop on the way......Realize, also, that we pass the exit for Hershey, PA on the way out to Harrisburg from where we live.....do you see where we are going here?  On a dare, of course, I go into the quikee mart and say 'is this Hershey?' to which I get and befuzzled clerk saying 'yup' (now realize, I have a grown man giggling like a little girl behind me).  I then say 'where's the can, cause I gots the squirts'.....he bugs his eyes out, his mouth drops and he points to the generic door with the man and woman on the sign and off I go.......can this day get any better.  Oh, yeah.  

Sir Knight, when we get there, is as bug eyed as a little kid at the tractors and outdoor furnaces and all the freebies and nibbles and samples and things to touch and play with and well.........then we get to the animals. To those of you who have been to a fair, you know that the barnyard animals are usually facing towards you.  Nuh-uh, not here.  The aisles you traipsed down went between the north ends of most of the south bound animals on display.   It was all inside (this is January, you realize) and it is ripe......as there are big blowers pumping heat in the buildings to keep the patrons warm.......nothing like the smell of ripe poo on a heater to make you say 'yee haw, this if farm country!'......we look at each other, look at Ol' Bossy's butt, and I say to him....'I did not ride 1 1/2 hours to have a cow poop on me and walk around the rest of the day smelling like a cow pie!'    'Cause Lord knows, when one of those bovines cut loose, it's all over but getting hosed down......they have the aim AND the distance down pat.  So we go into the NEXT building!  Realize, there are more and more and more people and we have to go up a disabled escalator....shoulder to shoulder with about half a million other people (yep, they DID do those numbers on the weekend days)...so guess what Sir Knight does next.  That's right, peeps, he starts mooing, as we were like cattle going into a pen......he moos, and moos, and moos....then, across the room, another moo answers, then from somewhere in the middle, another moo sounds out.....I could have picked up my feet and been swept along by a bunch of grown men mooing like cattle.  A woman next to us, all dyed hair and balloon hat, says to me...'watch this' and starts bleating like a goat.  Then another bleat.....so the whole freaking convention hall with rodeo rings on one side and animal cages on the other is filled with  men mooing and women bleating.......shoulder to shoulder....and the animals in the pens looking at each other and thanking their makers they are in cages and not in the midst of all these crazy people.

this is the shrine to Paula Deen  1000 lbs of butter

Joe's new friend, the Nittany Lion (bite it, Richie!)

he really really really wanted this to drive to work!

We do as much as we can physically do, and by 3:30 we are all in.  We made three trips back to the car to dump off all the handouts, gimmes and whatnot that we picked up along the way and our final trek had us looking like a couple of ancients trying to climb the Himalayas....I was a cold day, but we were hot, tired and hungry.  Heading back home, we stopped at Cracker Barrel.  Now Cracker Barrel is as fake Southern as you can get, but we needed food and somehow, that chicken fried steak with milk gravy, mashed potatoes and collard greens chased by a Mason jar of iced tea hit the spot.  We were home, dead tired by 6:30 p.m. and happy as a couple of clams.  This was one Christmas present that I am GLAD I asked for.  

Now, into the new year, I am approached by someone I used to work for when I worked for First Student asking 'why' I didn't come back to driving school bus.  To tell you the truth, I thought I had been black balled by the company when they handed over the reins to the new company.  For those who know about my history with FS, I was let go and denied my unemployement compensation.  The union said fight, and you know me.....if I can I will fight for what is right, so off I go.  I fought them, over and over and over before I finally got a ruling in my favor.....I explained this to the new people and they said 'come on over'....so, the middle of January found me back in driver's training classes learning all over again, how to drive a school bus.  Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying I didn't need this class as I found out some of the issues I faced working for the first company would never happen with the new one.....that and I learned new techniques for old situations and found it a whole different dynamic.

Now I sit and wait, as they wait for my clearances to come back from the state and the feds saying I'm not a danger to myself or anyone else.  Once that is done, we will see what the next step is.  Hopefully, that will be my birthday present......if all the clearances are in by Tuesday, I'm golden.  THEN I go take the test to get my permit to drive one of those behemoths again.  Wouldn't that be a hoot, taking the test on my birthday! I can break out all my holiday tshirts and weird headbands and have the kids going 'what in the world is that woman wearing today!'

Hopefully, it won't take me nearly two months to get back and update this blog, but if it does, please know that I am at least 'thinking' about doing it!!!!

Til Niagra Falls,

Ginny

I've HAD allz I can standz and I CAN'T stand no mo' - from "Popeye's Famous Quotes"

***************WARNING: Terms and words maybe quoted that you may find offensive. **********
*************These were quotes taken from actual conversations and necessary to content.**********



I posted on Facebook a while back that I had 'HAD IT' and that I would blog about it later. Much later now, I have had a chance to cool down and think thru what I wanted to write and how to put it down without sounding as hateful and ignorant as those who pushed the final button that sent me 'round the bend.  And believe me, there have been A LOT of button pushing around here lately.

From my earlier post, you can see that I have done a lot of soul-searching lately and decided that instead of just marking time on planet earth, that I should go out and make a difference.  I made some calls and, to tell you the truth, am a bit frustrated, as I want to finish school, but when I called my alma mater to get info on finishing they said 'we'll have to check or archives to get your records and get back to you'....Now look, I know to some of you 1983 WAS an entire lifetime ago, but really?  You can't find my records, or if you can't, why can't you just call and say so! I mean, really! Did you lose them in catastrophic fire of 'aught three' that never happened?

Then there was the lead up to the election. Now I have never shied away from the fact that I am a Democrat and I am proud of that fact.  I campaigned for my candidates, put out signs, bumper stickers, etc.  But this year, it got UGGG-LEEEEEEE around here.  The saddest part about the whole thing...is what my 'christian' friends and family said and did.  I did not capitalize the word 'christian' here, as I don't think a damn thing that passed from these people could even vaguely resemble anything that Christ advocated. I have dropped people not only from my 'friends' list on Facebook, but actually out of my life entirely, as that type of ugly has no room in my life.  The whole disheartening thing, a number of these people have 'prominent' positions in their local churches, from pastor, to deacon, to elder, to deaconess.  A good thing came out of it, as well, in that I have had some SERIOUS differences of opinion with a number of people, but they acknowledged that politics were only a segment of our friendship and we could agree to disagree.......unfortunately, these people were in the minority.  To them, I would like to say thank you....they are what friends are supposed to be.

I have intentionally dropped a few relatives and intend to keep them out of my life as there was too much polluting going on.  There was one relative who stated they were a founding member of their state's Tea Party and would send me soliticitations to fundraisers to 'put the Obama's back in the fields where 'there type' belonged' or 'to tell James Dobson we support the death penalty for homosexuality' and a few links to people who advocated assassinating the president, bragged on the fact that they had two black cats named N*gger and J*gaboo, but it "wasn't about race".  Yup, this one is on the church board.  Another, went on and on about the president 'spending their money' on 'welfare n*ggers' the whole time bemoaning the fact that Hurricane Sandy didn't do enough damage in their area of central Pennsylvania to qualify them for them for a FEMA handout.  You have to admit, people who you have grown up with, who have ALWAYS been in your life in some form or another, when they let it all hang out, it can be a shocker.  I know, looking back, that there were always 'little signs' that they were like this, but for some reason, after this election campaign, they have decided to get their Confederate flags out of the attic, grab their 'squirrel huntin' guns and hole up saying 'we is gonna secede and I need to find me a n*gger to lynch.'  People we ALL (the relatives and I) all grew up in the South of the '60's......I like to think I grew up to see that 'the good ol' days' weren't all that good and I don't want to revisit them EVER again.  I remember Jim Crow laws that mandated a feeble black man having to step in the street, if not cross it entirely, to allow a white woman to pass, when in reality we should be approaching him and asking 'Uncle, can I help YOU get where you are going'.  I actually had to stop watching 'To Kill a Mockingbird' because all I could picture was my memories of 'being' Scout.  I have learned a lesson from a good friend from college, who is now living an openly gay lifestyle......'you can have 'family' without having a blood relationship' with them, as sometimes your family is....well.......let's just say we're better off without some of them.

Drop into the middle of this, Hurricane Sandy.  Now, to quote the evangelist of the 60's, Katherine Kuhlman, who used to say 'I BEEEEE-leive in miracles'.  We didn't lose much in the way of storm damage in the aftermath of Sandy, but we did lose the 30 foot fir outside our bedroom window.  The tree, if it fell forward, it would have ripped the electric wires out of the house, if it fell to the left, it would have destroyed our shed with all our outdoor equipment, storage, and taken down the electric wires to the neighbor's house. If it fell back, it would have landed on a hill and rolled into the sheds and they would have been no more.  Instead, it fell at a 45% angle to the house, missing it by, and hubster went out and measured, 2 FEET!  If it had fallen to the right, it would have gone straight thru the bedroom window, under which both Joe and I sleep, it deviated just enough to avoid the house and our window.  Do I believe in miracles, yes, yes I do.  Sandy left us 'powerless' for 95-6 hours straight.  We were lucky, the large chest freezer held, by not opening it, we had no loss of food stuffs....we lost some incidentals in the fridge but that was it......We had all been involved in scouting at some form or another, so being 'schtinky' in large groups and being able to  use all our lanterns and camping gear got us thru it.

Now, cut back to the time frame. We have power back.  Instead of enjoying a hot shower and refrigeration I get thrust back into the boiling pot of politics.  I have a 'pastor' tell me that he will pray for me in that 'I am going to hell, due to my political affiliation' (geez, nice to know God took the day off and left him in charge) and 'hoped that I wouldn't set foot back in *their* church as I was a polluting element'.  My youngest daughter is involved in a program at the local high school and interacts with other youth from this church, comments have been made by one young man, derogatory in nature and he had started referring to her as 'lesbian whore'.  She, being my child, did not shy away from this person, but called him on it.  His response was 'well, we discussed your family at my house and this is what my mom said you are'.  After offering to make this young man a gelding, she let me know this....realize, 'mom' is the wife of a deacon in this church I was 'asked' not to pollute.   Now a little back story here, the church in question was 'sponsoring' a specific candidate, touting him as God's choice, etc. and I had a real problem with that, said 'pastor' said it was because I was part of the 'wrong' party, but it goes farther than that, I don't believe a church should have a horse it that race...period.   Regardless of political affliliation, NO candidate should say 'I AM God's choice', and the money that goes into the plate should not be diverted to political campaign coffers...whether s/he be a white conservative or a black pentecostal'...it ain't right.

While this is going on, I get contacted by a 'cousin' who is a 'deacon' in his church, and apparently from other sources, has some major sway on what happens there.....seems he feels that I have stepped outside the will of God, and that 'God has instructed me to tell you he hopes that my daughters are murdered by their (inset racial epithet here) boy friends over the use of their Obamaphones while trying to contact their rape baby-daddies' and that 'a good man needs to beat me til I repent'.....This was the straw that broke the camel's back.....E-freakin' Nuff.  All because I was registered as a Democrat?  At this point, I start getting emails from this 'deacon' calling me a 'f*cking cunt' 'a whoring lesbian' (apparently this is the term to use to any woman who doesn't fall in line with their ideal of fundamentalist christianity- see the above commentary) and calling my daughters 'whoring lesbians' (my only solice is this wing nut doesn't know my daughters - or how many I have or where they are at) and these show up daily in my inbox and Facebook feed.  I had him blocked and reported him to Facebook - last email was 'I had BETTER not report him to ANYONE'....ooooh, Imma skeert.  Some of my southern based friends tell me this person was contacting them telling them what I needed to have happen to me after I blocked him.  Then another cousin contacts me to give me the current 411 on this clown.  He was always a bully in school and liked to kick the crutch out from under the crippled kid, seems now he has 'taken in a man recently 'paroled' for killing two women 'because they deserved it' and is trying to get his case re-evaluated as there are women who 'deserve killin'....and this same person has been arrested for 'inflicting his opinion' on women in the past so for me to 'be careful' where he is concerned'.  Okay, this election just got personal.  Threaten me, whatever.  Threaten the lives of my daughters?  Yo, Larry...I grew up in the same podunk you did...where shooting rats at the dump was a hot date.  I may be a bleeding heart, liberal democrat, but I DO know how to lock and load.....and a moving target only makes it 'interesting'....I think he is probably all bluff and bluster, that and being five states away, but what just happened here? Is this the wild, wild west?

Okay.  Understand what is going on around here now?  My head and heart are swirling with all of this......the 'church' refusing me (I know there are other churches, and thanks to those friends I mentioned earlier, I know that), relatives being flaming bigots, threats to my children.......I say 'Thank you, Jesus, I'm in Pennsyltucky and most of those are down South'.....then the other shoe drops.

My husband has a relative, who, if 'forced' to give a compliment, will ALWAYS make it about them.  Joe was 'being' congratulated on his award.  But to tell you the truth, he NEVER would have won it without the influence and guidance offered by this relative (now, the blood, which was after the other BS going on is at a low simmer, is slowing starting to reach boiling point).  Now, hubby is no dummy.  When it comes to this relative, he lets 'me' talk to them, so he won't lose his cool and cause a rift between the family which this relative would try to divide into 'sides'....so I get stuck talking with 'Wonder Relative'.  Now realize, the world has crapped on this person....said person has discovered a 'cure for cancer', has the business accumen of Donald Trump, and is a gourmet chef but 'NO ONE recognizes their importance to society'. (and if you believe any of this, I got a bridge outside of Brooklyn I can get you a good price on).  Now, for almost an hour I get to hear how the 'profession' my husband has chosen is 'absolutely useless' unlike the one in which this person chose, but then lost the licence to.  How said person was involved in another 'business venture' and needed capital, blah, blah, blah......Now, about this time I am on auto pilot as I am used to this 'me, me, me, wonderful me, me, me, and don't you wish you were me, me, me' when it really turns ugly.  Realize I am mad that said person wants me to go 'yup, you are so right, my husband is a total waste of space not worthy of a paycheck' when the derision is redirected.  Now there are two other family members, both female, under 20.  One is getting married.  Rather than being happy for said person, all I hear is how this person is psychotic and has extensive psychiatric problems and shouldn't be allowed to marry, and that all the other relatives are begging this one to intercede and stop the wedding (like this is EVEN happening), oh and I'm not bothering going, but if you 'want' I can take your gift ($$$) and see that they get it (this person has been guilty of diverting funds towards their own endeavors in the past).  Oh, and instead of wishing the young couple well, is raining down curses on their union saying that 'it won't last, and they can't come running to me, as I told them so'.....then on to the next, another young girl who wants to get into art school, I hear," oh, how talented she is, but let's face it, she's not gonna go anywhere 'being as fat and ugly as she is'.....you, know, I KNOW people in business and they would never go for that...who cares how much talent she has".....I HAD to get out of this conversation.....as it devolved into 'you, know, both of these girls are going to be nothing more than hot pants hookers unless I have some input'....ARRRRGGGHHHHH!!! I had to wash my ears after this.  Then later, I hear from another relative who tells me this person said the only reason the one was marrying was she was a 'hot pants hooker' (that seems to be the descriptive term of choice) and HAD to get married.  I assured the person that the wedding being moved up had NOTHING to do with this, but with military service.....then I stopped, stepped back and wondered what this person was saying about 'my' daughters, 'my' nieces, 'my' sons, etc.  This is when I realized, this person, here in Pennsyltucky, also needs to hear the 'plonk' of deletion from my life.  Whatever happened to 'if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.......' esp. if the person is getting married, starting a new college endeavor, etc.  It's like the fat bride busting out of the dress.....'you know, she does have a lovely face, and isn't that veil impressive'....sometimes it's important just to be nice.  You can have your opinion, but when offering it will only cause harm, why offer it unless solicited.

So, there you have it.  I have toned down what I REALLY wanted to say when all this went down.  I have had all I can stand with a number of these people and I refuse to stand anymore.  To those who I have disowned in my mind, well, they probably won't read this anyway....to those who will read this and 'think' I'm talking about them, well, don't flatter yourselves, as it probably ISN'T you, but if it makes you think, so be it.  I want to thank those of you who have believed me, backed me, and loved me....even if you don't always agree with me.  I would ask of you to have patience, I am still a work in progress.

Now this the day after Thanksgiving 2012.  I would like to say 'thank you' to my readers. Thankful for my kids here and not, my friends, here and not,  family here and not, and the opportunity to share dinner with my FIL and BIL yesterday.......God is good all the time, all the time, God is good.

Til next time.  Or should I say, next vent.
-g

The Trip, The Aftermath, The Fallout

(Not the usual humor, this is serious, be prepared!)

It has taken me a while to come up with just how I want to put my thoughts down about what has happened in the last month.  Since the 15th of September, I have accompanied my spouse to an award ceremony, come home to a shit storm, done a lot of soul searching and fallen into and pulled myself out of (hopefully) a blue funk, deep depression, the umps, whatever you want to call it.  I have felt like I have been on the mountain top and the deepest valley and all points in between.......let me take you thru a tour of my fevered mind (buckle up, it's not a pretty sight, my head looks like my house, in need of a good clean out).

I started out with a certain unease about going to Omaha with Joe.  I was afraid that I would embarrass him, that I wouldn't look good enough, might talk to much, say something not acceptable....things I have been accused of doing most of my life, so why should I think this adventure would be any different.  Let me start with our trip to Omaha:

First of all,  I have always been paranoid about how I look. My mother, God rest her soul, (when I look back I think she thought she might be sparing me but little did she realize how much damage she did) always told me that I had better learn to cook or do something spectacular because I would never get anywhere on my looks. This has always sat in the back of my mind, and I always dress down (tshirt, sweats, sneakers, no make up) as I never wanted to bring attention to my looks or lack there of.  Here I had to dress up for this dinner, and to tell the truth, I was horrified that I would pop out in all the wrong places, paint my face like a clown and generally be a laughing stock and bring shame to my husband on a day when he should be the star.  I had this  so bad the night of the banquet that I sent Joe down to the lobby to wait 'while I put on my makeup' and had a complete bawl, beating the bed, crying jag before washing my face and putting on the make up, the facade, the smile, and heading downstairs.

Secondly, I talk, and talk, and talk.  When I get nervous, or feel insignificant, or think someone is looking at me critically (see #1) I usually talk faster, louder, and sometimes say things that shouldn't be said.  When we were first picked up, we went by the main headquarters of Joe's company to meet all the people he works for/with.  We go into a large office where the work stations are divided into cubicles....and I have a flash back to the mid-80's when I worked at Prudential doing medicare and medicare supplemental insurance.....I was good at it.  I had an office, a briefcase, a name plate....I was someone who made a difference.....in Omaha, here I was looking in from the outside to people who were the same age as I was when I did that, and I realized that I could be doing something like that, I should be doing something like that.....and I felt like I had been left in the dust, an afterthought.  In the years since, when I have attempted to get back into the workforce doing something similar, I don't get a nibble......while all this is going on in the back of my head, we are talking, talking, talking and I pray my prattling doesn't adversely impact their view of him, or in lieu of that, that they don't take pity on him for the ball and chain he has with him.

Thirdly, my husband decides to play with my head.  Let me go back to the very beginning with Joe.  I love my husband, I love him with all the breath I have in my body and I would do anything for him.  With that said, I have always been paranoid (again with that word) that it has always been a dream, a figment of my imagination that he loves me in return.  I have actually said to him, 'you could have done better' or'why are you still here with me'....and he brushes it off.  Now, I am going to say something that may be a surprise to some, a confirmation to others, and a 'I knew it all along so why are you bringing it up now' to a few more.  I dropped out of college with 12 credits short of a bachelors of social work to marry Joe.  I was pregnant at the time.  Although he said he never felt trapped, I always have had it in the back of my head that I trapped him into marrying me as he is an honorable man and did what was expected of him.  It has been almost 30 years since then, but still that thought lingers.  If any of you who read this have found yourself in the same situation, particularly if you are male, please PLEASE reinforce to the other party that you married them for love and not out of 'obligation'.  I wish he had reassured me more, but that is water under the bridge. 30 years and three additional children later he decides that on the night of the banquet he will dedicate his award to ME, he tells me that he loves me.  I wanted to fall apart.  I didn't know what to think, as in the back of my mind (those voices again) I was hearing 'now that he sees how much he is appreciated, and how valued he is he may realize what a drain you are on him'. So yet again, I put on the false front and made like I was mad at him for trying to make me cry and ruin the makeup it took so long for me to put on.

Finally, on this trip, I had to face my shortcomings as a mother.  We were escorted around by Joe's contract manager (see the earlier posts), a young man who is, literally, the same age as my oldest son.  We joked with him that he is my 'fifth child' or that I was going to trade my eldest for him, but inside it wasn't a joke.....it killed me to see him with his children and wife being a responsible young man and me having the thoughts that I would kill to have a child like that, then I felt overwhelming guilt for not having that type of relationship with my own son and for gauging one against the other.

We get home and I find that the dishes I left on Tuesday to be done were still in the sink on Saturday morning, the two kids still at home are at each other's throats (20 and 17, think they could co-exist, right?). I get home and find a message that my grandbabies' mom and her fiance have a bad virus and they want to know if I want the two boys overnight Saturday into Sunday.  The little one wets my bed, the bigger on is whiney and clingy.  I go to bed for three days afterwards........

I can't process everything.  I write my blog giving a blow by blow description, using the humor that has gotten me thru most all things in life.  To those in the know, we have had a rocky relationship with Joey since he got out of the Navy.  He gets wild, settles down for a while and appears to have his head on, starts raising a family, after a divorce, with a fiance and has two little boys, then 'needs to find himself' and does a runner.  His father and I do not condone his new chosen lifestyle, and he blames us for all his 'issues' and told me 'he will call the shots and will bring whatever girl he happens to be with into my home whenever' I told him no, my house my rules, and I haven't spoken with him since.  This has been two years at least (except for one time he stopped by, but I refused to do what he asked and he blew out again).  Please know that I love my son, I will always love my son.  I cannot and will not condone his behaviors tho.  After the guiltstorm I felt after our trip, I go to the place my son 'supposedly' works.  I ask after him, and I get the message that 'his current girlfriend has said he is to have no contact with me and I am to 'go to hell'.  Again, I go to bed.  I am not doing housework, I am not cooking, I shower if I remember, I just can't think straight......

So you do not think I am wallowing in the Slough of Despondency (hey literati, read the Pilgrim's Progress) I did this for almost a week straight.  Then I said to myself  "Self, get your ass out of bed and get a life".  I have friends online who are dealing with a lot more than I am, I have two friends from high school, one who is fighting cancer herself after losing her nephew/surrogate child to a brain tumor this summer and one who is dealing with the sudden death of her husband and having widowhood thrust upon her in her early 50's.  That they get up each day and go on is an inspiration to me.  I sit and think, and think and think.....I call my oldest and dearest friend from college and pour out my despair on her.  As someone who faced down death herself from breast cancer and came out on the other side, she said things to me that needed to be said.  Right now, I am a drain on Joe because I 'think I am a drain'.  I hate that I am not a contributing member of this family, and I am feeling unfulfilled as a human being as I am not 'making the difference' that I know I can.  So, I went and got my nails done again! Why? It made me feel better, human, pretty even.  Then I screwed up enough courage to talk about this with Joe.  On Sunday mornings we have 'our' time together.  We usually go to the local diner for breakfast, just us, no kids, no grandkids, just us.  I told him I want to be a contributor and not a taker anymore (he disagreed that I was a 'taker' stating I ran the house, etc., but I proceeded).  I stated that I had not completed my college degree and even tho it was only 12 credits short, I could not in all honesty state I was a college graduate and therefore ineligible for a job that I could do, but demanded proof of a college degree.  I wanted to go back to school.  Our eldest is 'out there', the oldest daughter is teaching in Arizona, the younger son is in college and the youngest girl is a junior in high school and looking at college....I want us to be able to afford to live the way we wanted to all along, I want to contribute not only to our income, but to society as a whole.  My background is in medicine/insurance so I will be looking at some form of medical administrative courses.....

I am going to quote the consummate Southern woman again, Scarlett O'Hara, when, after Rhett Butler left her and slammed the door in her face....she sat on the step, had a good cry, then picked herself up and said 'Tomorrow is another day'....so for me, tomorrow IS another day.  I will NOT feel guilty for loving on another young family as I still love my child and my door is always open to him, just that I refuse to be his, or anyone else's, doormat.  I will tell my daughters that they are smart, beautiful and the most wonderful human beings in the world, correcting what my mother started with them before she passed.  I will tell ALL of my children, real and 'adopted' that they can be and do anything their hearts desire if they put forth the effort and have the will to do it......I will be the best Gramma I can be.   I 'have' accomplished much in my first 50 years on this earth (there's a lot there when I look back) and there is so much more to do in the next 50.  I am lucky that I found my ideal spouse, not necessarily 'ideal' overall, but ideal for me.  He loves me, I love him more and more each day, he has my back, like I have his.  I have some wonderful people in my life.  I may not have any 'close' friends who are in close proximity, but the friends I have who are spread around the country (hey, I forgot Diane, she's in Russia and Sharon is in Ecuador, so around the world) more than make up for it.......Is my family messed up? Parts of it. But who doesn't have the drama associated with having people in your life.  It's time for me to pick myself up by my bootstraps, brastraps, underwear elastic, what have you and get on with life.  Now I gotta call the local college and see what they can offer an 'older' student and if anything from the Class of '83 will transfer.

Addendum to the THE Trip

Although I will be posting  a wrap-up (too many thoughts still swirling in my head), I did want to give you the links to everything.  After all the backslapping and glad-handing done last Thursday (9/27), they did a nice write up in their newsletter.  Here it is:

http://www.aureusmedical.com/advisor/rehab12/vol19/index.html

Also, I missed linking some of the places we visited/services we used, so here there are:
http://www.omahazoo.com/ The Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium
http://www.durhammuseum.org/ The Durham Western Heritage Museum
http://www.flyoma.com/ Epply Airfield
http://www.ohare.com/About/Midway/Default.aspx Chicago Midway Airport
http://www.phl.org/Pages/HomePage.aspx Philadelphia International Airport
http://www.septa.org/schedules/rail/index.html Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (septa), we used the Airport Line and the Trenton Line (Cornwell's Heights station)

If you happen to get out that way, stop by these places.  Tell them Ginny sent you.  If they say 'huh'? Tell them the woman who blew into their city, wanted to know where the closest ladies room was, and blew back out and they'll say 'oh, her.  Tell her 'HI'...." !!!!!!!!

Also, any of your Aureus people reading this.  please feel free to comment and plug yourself where you need a plug (like the pictures on facebook......just 'friend' me and you can see all the pictures you might not want to see), also, if you see any mistakes or missed any links, let me know.  I'm only human, ya know.........

The Trip - Day 3 The Final Day (sob)

Again we wake up on Pennsylvania time in Omaha, but this time not as early, I guess we're slowly starting to acclimate since it is time we return to Coopersburg and life as we knew it before this whirlwind of an adventure overtook us.  Joe goes to the coffee maker and finds out that when the little coffee pods were replaced, they gave us packets for a full-sized coffee pot.  He had to wait until the breakfast buffet opened downstairs to get his coffee.  As can be seen by the pictures, he was up, dressed and waiting at 5:30 by the elevators for them to turn on the lights....yes, people, he NEEDS his coffee THAT BAD.  He was starting to twitch when they let us in.  Blessed relief....he got his mega cup of coffee....he was slowly becoming human again.

While we were eating our breakfast, the other Employee of the Year, Amy, and her family came down for breakfast.  As we were eating, we discussed all sorts of things as Amy's mom worked as a med-tech at Hackettstown Hospital (in NJ) the same time I did the same at St. Luke's in Bethlehem, we discussed unruly patients and Amy and Joe compared war stories as well.  Their 'handler/chauffeur' Justin came in and joined in the conversation.  Hopefully no one else around us was listening in, as when medical professionals/staffers get together you can be sure the topic falls to blood, guts and gore.  Justin and I even got to compare our artificial parts stories (his leg, my arm).  In this conversation, I think Justin jinxed us, but more on that later.  We, again, remarked on how weird it was that we meet in Omaha, when we both are from eastern Pennsylvania, I asked Amy's boyfriend, John, where in Allentown he was from, and he said, 'oh, I just say Allentown, as people know where that is, I am really from Emmaus'.  Well, with that, the mouth drops open on this face, as anyone who knows where we live, I often joke that our address is schizophrenic....the mailman says Coopersburg, the tax man says Upper Saucon Township and the phone company...well, Verizon says we live in (tada) Emmaus.  The man asks if we've heard of it.....well, duh.  After having a good joke on this, we say good bye as they headed out to catch their planes, Amy and John back to Maui and her parents back to Pennsylvania via La Guardia in New York.  We end it by saying maybe we'll see each other Christmas shopping at the Crossings in Tannersville, PA an outlet center midway between both our backyards.

Breakfast over, we go back upstairs to finish packing and hump all our bags and souvenirs down to the lobby to check out.  Phew! Thanks to 'behaving' and not drinking the $3 waters in the fridge or getting kinky with the 'in room movies' - we entertained ourselves, thank you -  (I just put this in to see if my kids are reading this.....if I hear 'ewwww, grosss, yuck' from the other room I know they read the blog) we escaped without any extra costs involved.  Joe thought I was being weird (when doesn't he) but I took a few more pictures of the hotel before we left.  This is something I want to remember....the experience, the place, and the feeling.  We may never pass this way again, and it is something I want to be able to recall in my dotage.

Jonathan was supposed to pick us up at 8:30, as we were to be going to the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium that opens at 9:00 before we ended our time in Omaha.  At exactly 8:30 we see him zip up in his SUV and out he hops saying 'I have the "little man" with me'.  Getting in, we see, strapped into his carseat, one of the cutest little boys I've seen.  (Now I KNOW cute little boys, all you have to do is look at Lucas and Brennan.....) Mr. Gavin falls right into the Lucas and Brennan category, big expressive eyes and a shock of blonde hair and a smile that lights up the room.  Now, the Gramma in me kicks into overdrive.  I reach into my pocketbook and pull out the bag I have been carrying around for the three days we've been in town....a bag filled with hot wheels.  Two eyes widen, and I offer a car to Gavin....I think I have made a friend for life.  Jonathan explains that he and Gavin will be escorting us to the zoo and his wife, Valerie and the Princess will meet us there after the little one is done dining at Cafe Mom.

As you can see by our pictures, it is an experience to visit  a zoo with a small child.  It is one I would highly recommend to anyone.....you see so much and can appreciate it so much more when you see it thru the eyes of a small child.  Did you know that penguins are Gavin's favorite at the zoo? Maybe you did, but did you know why? When penguins stand up, they are the same size as him.  Now, would you have known that?  What would  you think of the the snakes when you walked up to the glass you were eye to eye with them? What would you think of a salamander that when you looked at it, you realized it could swallow you whole? As a 'big person' those things don't pass thru your mind while you are at the zoo.

When we come out of the Desert Dome, we find that Valerie and Princess Deklynn have arrived and we arranged to meet up with them.  Now, let me digress here, when Jonathan first told me that he and Valerie were going to have a little girl, I played twenty questions with him on their color scheme and how they were decorating for her....in my devious mind, I knew I had to surreptitiously  get this info so I could make at least a baby blanket for the little one.  So when I first got to Omaha, I packaged up the goodies I had made and gave them to Jonathan to take home and open at their leisure.  When we met up with the 'girls', Deklynn was wearing the little hat I had made and was covered with the blanket.  My heart melted.  I was so worried that my meager offering would be met with a simple 'oh thanks' and would be put aside and not used only to end up in a white elephant somewhere.  I did so want to do something for this little treasure who had such a struggle to get here, and her mommy made me feel like I did.  Then my goal of coming on this trip was met.....not only did I get to see this little miracle, but I got to hold her close and snuggle her tight.

I must tell you, people, I was mightily impressed when I met Valerie.  (You my kind readers, if you follow me on Facebook, know that I had asked for prayer for her during her pregnancy and delivery) After hearing of all she went thru while she was pregnant and how she was bouncing back, I expected to meet an Amazon-like being who kept Jonathan on the straight and narrow.  The person I met was a tiny little china doll who had the same smile I saw earlier on Gavin.  I couldn't imagine being so delicate and going thru all the machinations that she did and coming out the other side unscathed.  I'm not sure I could have done it......being pregnant and knowing that just being pregnant may kill me and continue on with the pregnancy (I'm not turning this into a debate on abortion, just stating a fact).  She did this to bring this little dumpling into the world.  I have had the good fortune to know only one other person who did this, and unfortunately, she did not win that battle.....she gave birth to a healthy baby, but lost her fight in doing so.  Valerie asked me if she could hug me for the present....honey, you can hug me, and if I hugged you back a little tight, that's because I was hugging you and Doreen at the same time.  Jonathan, you got a keeper on your hands in this one.

Okay, enough with the serious (sniff, sniff)....back to the journey.

After we finished viewing the monkeys at the zoo, Gavin was so tired he was really starting to drag.  It was decided that Gavin would go home with Mommy and Deklynn and have lunch and a nap (not before Gramma Ginny slipped the remaining hot wheels in Deklynn's stroller for later...do I know how to 'rotten up' a kid or what?) and Daddy would take us to lunch and then to the airport.  Hugs were shared with Valerie and Deklynn and I got to get in an extra squeeze on Gavin as he tried to escape over the backseat into the trunk of the SUV (who does this sound like, Alyssa?)...after a good couple of squeezes and a kiss or two stolen from the squiggling mass of boy child, he was buckled in the seat and bets were made whether or not he would even make it out of the parking lot never the less home before he was asleep.

Jonathan ended up taking us to the Upstream Brewery for lunch (http://www.upstreambrewing.com) where we were able to sit and unwind a bit after our zoo experience and before we had to amp up to get on the plane.  We talked about all sorts of things, family and life, and odds and ends in general......I even asked Jonathan if we could affect a trade, I'd trade Joey and all his drama for him. Lucas and Brennan would like another little boy to play with and lord knows, after all the boys, I would love to play 'gramma' to a little girl....but that is just wishful thinking.  Ending our meal, we head out to the Omaha airport and IOWA!

We get to the airport in plenty of time to get checked in.  We pass the ticket counter with no problems...then we hit security.  Remember when I said Justin jinxed us? Well, part of his stories included how, with his artificial parts, he was pulled by the TSA and checked when he went thru security...I told him so far so good for me...well, not on the return trip.  We strip off any metal, wallets, keys, belts, shoes, etc. and pass thru the scanner.  Joe had to take apart his CPAP, unlike Philly but we didn't think anything of it until my turn came up.  I go thru the scanner, they ask me to again...then they have me put my hands over my head 'in a diamond shape' and turn around....I felt like one of those ballerina hippos in Fantasia, then they pull me aside.  Urp.  I'm in deep doodoo now. I have to assume the position and get a good frisking (Joe said they didn't even buy me dinner and flowers first before they felt me up)....it wouldn't have been so bad if the nice looking young man running the scanner had done it (I bet HIS hands would have been warm), but it was a 65ish looking little woman with cold, bird claw hands saying 'you got anything here, or here, or here'.....I told them the only metal was in my arm, and it should have shown up on the scanner, but oh no, not today, that wasn't good enough.  That should have been our first warning on the return trip....it wasn't like the outgoing trip.

We get on the plane and find out that the plane wasn't as empty as it had been going 'to' Omaha (was there a mass exodus? Maybe it was just normal Friday 'whoo hoo' get the hell outta town' sorta thing).  We ended sitting in a three seat row, the window seat already taken (no return pictures, sorry) and nothing of any consequense except for the pilot hitting every pothole between Omaha and Chicago.....it was one bumpy ride.  We get to Chicago by 5 and have an hour delay.  The boarding gate was empty at the time, but we had 'C's on our boarding passes, which did not bode well.  When they were ready to board passengers, the place was crawling, literally, with people.....There are 60 places for each alphabet, so that meant by the time they got to us, there already were 120 people on the 737.....we were 125 and 126.  The plane was packed when we got on, and I was not in a good mood.  I told Joe that how I felt on take off in Philly would be verbalized 'loudly' if we couldn't get a seat together. We get on and the only seats left are the middles of a couple of rows. Hearing that we wanted to sit together, a nice young man from Temple offered to move to another row and let us sit together.....again, thank God, as I didn't want to go all Diana Ross and risk getting tossed in Chicago.

Again, as in the trip out, we get a tailwind and make Philly 15 minutes earlier than the 8:55 arrival time.  This is good, as there are two trains leaving from the airport to center city Philly the rest of the evening, the first being 9:21 and the second 10:21.  I was afraid we would end up with the last train, meaning we would have a wait at 30th Street station for the Cornwells train, and Joe's dad would have to get us around midnight.  Our luggage came out of the shoot, we grabbed it and made a mad rush for the train platform. We called home and had Jill check the schedule for us when we were in Omaha and verified it while we in Chicago, so we hoped above hope that we would get the train.  Down the on the platform we see a sign that says 'this platform closed' and the train sitting on the next platform.....the time is 9:20.  The Keystone Cops couldn't have scripted what happened next any better.......two suitcases, a carry on bag, a pocketbook the size of Rhode Island, a CPAP bag, and a suit bag bumping beside two slightly round, very out of shape, lumps trying to get from one platform (up one elevator, across the hall, down another elevator) in one minute.  We hurtle toward the train, flop in a seat and whoosh, the door snaps closed.  We made it.

We get to 30th Street with only minutes to spare for the next train to Cornwells Heights.  If we get it, we can have Joe's dad pick us up by 10:30 and we will be an hour and a half ahead of schedule.  We were late getting to the platform, but again, our angels were helping us, as the train itself was late.  I wanted to whip out the camera and document the final leg of our adventure, but Joe wisely reminded me, it's late, it's Philly and you don't want to look like a tourist in a metropolitan city after dark....so no documentation there, either, boys and girls.  The train was 10 minutes late, we got on, and we were on our way.  Three stops before ours, we call Dad and tell him to come and get us.  Our train stops right as he is pulling in to the parking lot.  Sweet relief, we are back to Dad's, I get to visit the little girls room (the Imodium was very, very good to me this trip) and we load up our stuff in Joe's little Hyundai and off we head for home.

On the way, we go, 'oh crap, we didn't eat anything for dinner'.....we were running on pure adrenaline and fear...him on adrenaline and me the fear that if I ate anything after lunch or while we were in the midst of traveling, I would need the airline bathroom...and after almost mooning the friendly skies between Philadelphia and Chicago on the way out, that was an experience I did not want to revisit.  So after all the wining and dining we experienced in our last few days, we end up at the local convenience store near the house and Joe gets a hot dog and I get nachos......Nachos, you may ask, when all I have been doing is popping Imodium like Chiklits....well, when the 'cheese' is synthetic and non-dairy, it doesn't have the same effect....definitely not good for me, but it did what it had to do in a pinch.  Joe backs into the driveway at 11:55 p.m. on Friday night 9/28.  We completed the whole experience in three days.

Wednesday we were in Philadelphia, not knowing what we were in for.....late Friday, we were back in Philadelphia after having a life changing experience in Omaha, Nebraska.  Did I do everything I wanted? Looking back, I would have liked to have seen more, I would have liked to have seen Boy's Town, I wanted  to visit the Mercy Sisters facility that Jamie works through.....woulda, shoulda, coulda, I know.  But to quote another great Sou'thrn woman, Scarlett O'Hara, 'tomorrow is another day'...There is always next time, right?

THE Trip - Day 2. The Banquet

Well, we woke up at our usual time.....Joe usually gets up at 4:50 to shower and then wakes me up to make coffee and his lunch.  We did on Thursday as well, only 4:50 Philly time is actually 3:50 Omaha time.  He wanders out to the living area and finds the coffee maker.  Ecstatic that there is a coffee maker, he opens the pods and makes both cups.....only to be disappointed that each makes only a 6 oz. cup....so poor thing, he only has 12 oz. of coffee and it's only 4:30 in the morning and the breakfast buffet put on my the hotel begins at 6 am.  THE HORROR!!!! Me, well, I say, it's 4:30 in the FREAKIN' MORNING.....go back to bed.  He eventually does, but keeps an eye on the clock...watching and waiting......by 5:30 he is up, dressed and heading for the elevator, with me in tow, to get that precious black liquid that makes his life complete.....the breakfast buffet smells lovely, but we are going to breakfast with Jonathan as soon as his meeting at the office is over, so it's just coffee and more coffee for us.  By 8 a.m. Joe is human again and we people watch in the lobby.

While waiting for Jonathan, we see his colleague, Justin, coming in to pick up the Radiology Division Employee of the Year.  She had flown in from Maui, but Justin told us that she came from Pennsylvania as well.  When we asked, we were told Bushkill Township and that she had attended Northampton Community College! Now Joe attended Lehigh Carbon Community, but we actually live closer to NCC!  To think, we go to Omaha from Coopersburg and she flies in from Maui only to find out that she is from no more than 40 miles from where we live.  After having an 'old home week' reunion, they leave to be on their way and Jonathan arrives and we're off......

We go to a diner for breakfast.  Geez, I am totally in awe that Omahans, Omahians, oh hell, people from Omaha....aren't the size of small city-states by the size of their meals and portions!!! Jonathan gets something called a Trucker Omelet and Joe gets an Andouille sausage omelet.  Me, I'm still stuffed from that 'petite' steak the night before (and let's be honest, all the Imodium I have been ingesting) so I get a simple chicken salad platter.  Let's start with there was 'nothing' simple about that chicken salad....chicken and celery, a few spices and mayo we expect....but this had grapes, craisins, walnuts and a few various and sundry other items in it as well....and instead of the obligatory scoop of salad, there is is two, and guess what? I get a 'side salad' to go with it!!!!  I eat, well, attempt to eat, push a bit around the plate and eat a little bit more while we discuss what we will do the rest of the day.  The guys are done and we head back out to the SUV.....I eye it hesitantly as I think we may have to call a rollback to lift me back in the vehicle.  With me finally in and relieved to find out an extension is not needed for the seat-belt  we head to downtown Omaha to take the grand tour.  

After seeing the upswing the formerly downtrodden downtown area is taking, we end up at the Durham Western Heritage Museum.  This is housed in the former Union Pacific Railway Station.  For those who are train happy (and there are more than a few of you)....this is the railhead for the Union Pacific as it's headquarters were in Omaha.  Built similar in size and style to Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, it is a huge edifice of marble and soaring ceilings and just entering it, you can see the ghosts of the millions of people whose lives intersected at this place at some wrinkle in time.  You felt if you closed your eyes, you could hear the whistles, hear the steam and chugging made by the multitudes of trains and feel the breezes made by men and women rushing to make their connections in another time. We pass thru the doors and enter a glass elevator that faces the once busy track area and you see the sister station across the expanse that housed the freight terminal.  Exiting the elevator, you see a map on the floor....all of Omaha is at your feet.....streets, highways, interstates, places of interest....it's all there..waiting for you.  The museum then beckons you.

We go thru a caboose, a pullman, and then inspect Engine #1234 of the Union Pacific.  Apparently the westward expansion began here and the railroad was primary in this.....there were displays of all the cars used by the Union Pacific, banners of all the railroads that ran thru this station and a layout that showed how the railroad affected daily life.  From there you saw Main Street America...a history of cabins, Native American homes (lodge, tipis, and hogans), one room school houses and general stores and the growth of Omaha.  Panoramas of the city from it's inception to the current time......really neat.  The most moving, however is an exhibit of the American Soldier....it traced the history of the American Soldier from the Civil War to the current time.  Unfortunately, there were no photos allowed or I would be snapping away...this was THAT moving.  There were some silly shots mixed in, to show the humanity of the soldiers, but mostly they showed the inhumanity of war.....babies, and I do mean babies, dressed up in their Union or Confederate uniforms then later shots showing the same babies laying in ditches, some in disarray, obviously dead.  The same youthful faces looked out from doughboys of the Great War then the same death stare.  I was moved to see the soldiers in Korea, and the description of just how cold it was there.  We joked to break the tension, saying we were so glad that our friend, Will, was not there to see them as he would hop in his plane and go get Christie (his daughter, currently stationed in Korea with the Army) for no other reason than to make sure she is warm.  I was moved to tears, almost, when we passed thru the Persian Gulf/Afghanistan/Iraq photos...thinking of the casualties, some not visible, of those who served there.

We had to shake it off and move on to the history of Omaha......sights and signs of the growth....wagons, hospital growth, bank histories, and the growth of department stores.....being human again, we ended our tour back in the gift shop where I HAD to get the grandbabies something (remember, this is WHY I was allowed to get on the pwane).  I had text messaged their mother and asked what they wanted....B wanted a 'bad guy' and Lucas wanted a 'gun'.  Since neither were going to get what they asked for.....we ended up getting them each a buffalo....I got our resident Civil War buff a set of playing cards with Union and Confederate generals and shot glasses for Josh and Alyssa.  From there we went to the 'old city' and ended up at the Visitors' Center.  Again, a shot from home, the gentleman at the desk wanted to ask us about Dorney Park! We saw a t-shirt that said 'Walk on Bob'.....intrigued, we asked what that meant and were told about the history of a government pork product...the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Walkway, a bridge connecting Omaha with Iowa.  It was decided, then and there, that was our next stop.  So, from the museum to the 'old city', past the rodeo that was in town, around the brand spanking new ballpark and then past the sewage treatment plant (why? why do major cities put tourist sites next to these things? We know we all need them but since when are they considered 'tour worthy'?) Finally we ended up walking up the ramp and standing in the middle of the span over the Missouri River.  We could look downriver and find the lights of the casinos and up river and see the damage from the floods of a year or so ago.  What was striking was standing there and looking at the skyline of Omaha, seeing the Woodsmen of the World tower, the Mutual of Omaha building and any number of large buildings in the forefront, then to turn and look at Iowa, and see....well, dirt.  With the exception of seeing a building in the distance that was indicated to be the casino, there was nothing else......just beach.  Looking down at the shore, there was a single pop-up tent.  Jonathan remarked that the area was not a designated recreational area so Joe remarks that since there is no other sign of life in Iowa, that must be the lone homeless person from that state.   With that, we look at the time and realized we have to be getting back, as the dinner/photo op/cocktail appointed time of 5 p.m. was fast approaching and we must be getting back.....running to avoid the fumes of the treatment plant we had to pass by to get back to the vehicle, our Day 2 touring was complete....now to the big magilla.

On the way to the hotel, I asked if we were going to pass a Target.  In my haste, I had packed the empty deodorant for Joe and I wanted to pick up a new one, and I also thought 'I'll give those nimrods another chance at those damnable cookies (remember in the Prelude I told you those cookies would come in play later).  Sure enough, there they sat.....a whole shelf of them (I did tell Target in another not so nice email, that I had to go to Omaha FREAKIN Nebraska to finally find them).  I pick up three packages, one for Jamie, one for Christie, and one for Gavin (Jonathan's little boy - I gotta grease the kid up if I'm gonna go all Gramma on him the next day, I wanna make a friend first!!!)  After this Jonathan drops us off to get ready and went home to smarten up himself and then, whoa, it was really sinking in....this was it.

Back in the hotel room, showered and primped.....Joe suited up....Black on black, his pop of color was a gecko tie....he had Jonathan sweating it whether he was going to wear neon green bobos....he shouldn't have.  He was presentable.  Now it was my turn.  Black dress, black shoes, black jade earrings (thanks to Josh who bought them on ebay for me, like I would have thought of jewelry) now comes the horror....make up.  I used to be pretty good at it, but I haven't put on make-up in a good ten years and I had to go out and buy new, I was so horrified I would look like Mimi from the old Drew Carey show that I literally shook when I put it on.  I had to send Joe down to wait for Jonathan, I was that worried that I would mess it up totally and have to scrub my face and start over...then came the hair.  Spray and curling iron, although not as foreign as the make-up,it still give me agita. So, being fashionably late, I am finally done and go down in the elevator to meet my two exceedingly handsome escorts.  (I know some will say, where are the pictures of you?.....a set was taken for the formal occassion, but otherwise I avoided that side of the camera.  I may explain later, or not)

Entering in the hall, there are two bars, a 'mingle' area and the dining/presentation area. Besides Joe, each division of C & A Industries has their own Employee of the Year, so there were to be eight presentations in all.  His was the third of the night.  We go on to chat and laugh with all the people we only knew as 'names and voices' before and we had a really good time, we had the most fun with the young ladies in the office who were *intrigued* by the names of the towns in Pennsylvania Dutch country....all you would have to to set them off was tell them you go past Virginville into Blue Ball before you get to Intercourse. They were giggling in their drinks at the thought of this.  Finally, we get to sit down and have our dinner.......we had roast beef, 'rubber' chicken (as one of the other honoree's significant others called it), au gratin potatoes, vegetable orzo, and 'mustgovian' veggies (the kind where they opened the freezer and combined all that they found that had been previously opened).  Dinner over, the festivities began.

Two were called before Joe.  Then the video started for him.  I had been asked to provide pictures of his life and they compiled a video telling everyone what makes him so special.  (Like I didn't know this, I married the lug, ya know).  Jonathan is called upon to present Joe with his award and Joe has to speak.  I expected him to say 'I'd like to thank the Academy' or some other BS, at least to thank Jonathan and Bill....but no...who does he thank.  The Big Shit thanks ME!!! He tells them I have been there thru thick and thin (duh, that's what I signed on for, I'm nothing if not loyal) and he almost, ALMOST, made me cry..called me his 'blushing bride of 29 years'...(how sappy can you get).  Then I thought about how much agita I had over putting on that make up and said to myself...'hell, no, I'm not gonna cry...I'm gonna kick his ass....that's what I'm gonna do'.  Dude really knows how to throw a curve, I'm usually the cohort tho, not the victim of said curve.  To tell you the truth, I don't remember what else was said about the others, I was too 'moved' to pay much attention, that and plotting my revenge for mortifying me.....

The dinner was done, speeches over, and the room was being broken down by 9.  We stood in the lobby for another 30 minutes or so...Networking.  Jackie Smith...call me.  Your name came up in conversation more than once, were your ears burning last Thursday?  In the end, we ascended in the same glass elevator we made our grand entrance in, and back to the room we went.  Changing into something comfortable, we head back downstairs to the bar.  Feeling flush, we order something 'different'.  Joe says to me, you know, I've never had a Bloody Mary...I want a Bloody Mary.  Me, I get something called a Citrus Sunrise....citrus vodka, lemonade and club soda.....the kind of drink that you think is a girly drink, with no kick...until you stand up.  Our celebration over, everyone from C & A having gone home to their loved ones, we go out on the patio in front of the hotel, enjoy the breeze of the 60 degree weather, and wonder whether or not this night could get any better.

Content with our state, we call it a night and go up to bed.  We will need our rest for what the morrow brings...beside having to get all our belongings together we will have a full day of baby cuddling, kid chasing and otherwise saying good-bye to Omaha and all the people we have come to know and love.