Well the day we were scheduled to leave (Sat morning) I got a phone call on my cell phone. I woke up to Robin calling from the lab and she asked me if we have workman’s comp insurance? I responded by saying yes we have it, it comes out of my pocket-why? Then between Robin & Kim talking on speakerphone to me I was unsure what they were trying to tell me. Then Robin explained to me that there had been such a loud sound around 4:07 AM that they thought a car had crashed into the lab and in fact Kim says that it scared her so bad she almost cried! Evidentially there had been an earthquake that was rated as 2.8-3.0 on the Richter scale. The Roanoke Times reports: The Roanoke Valley was shaken early Saturday by a magnitude 3 earthquake that rattled buildings from Vinton to Salem and prompted people to flood emergency dispatch offices with dozens of calls. There were no reports of injuries or property damage. The epicenter of the quake, which struck at 4:08 a.m., was in the Cave Spring area near Garst Mill Road, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. According to researchers, similar incidents are recorded about once a year in Virginia, but most are hardly noticed because they typically happen in sparsely populated areas. "These earthquakes are fairly ordinary," said Martin Chapman, a research assistant professor of geophysics at Virginia Tech. "There's nothing remarkable about it, other than the center being in a populated area." The USGS initially reported the quake registered at 2.6, and throughout the day upgraded it to 2.8 and then 3. John Bellini, an USGS geophysicist, confirmed quakes are not "common everyday occurrences" in Virginia, though they might be on the West Coast.
With all the excitement I decided to go ahead and finish packing/loading the pickup. We had decided to take a car and the pickup so on the days that Thomas and I are in class Caitlynn and Douglas can have transportation. It’s an exciting day as Douglas Mitchell (my black child I affectionately refer to him when someone inquisitive asks who he is when he’s with our family) will be flying into Richmond today at 12:30 PM. Douglas has been a part of our family since he was in 2nd grade when he and Brandon became friends shortly after we moved from Hale Center, Tx. to Anton, Tx. when we bought our house with land there. Douglas and Brandon were inseparable and his mom refers to us as his white family and we all get a kick out of it. His birthday was yesterday and he turned 27 yrs old. He is 30 days older than Brandon would be. I’ll never forget the first time Douglas came to spend the night and was getting ready for bed and pulled out a plastic bag that he slept over his hair. Our type of hair has to stay clean without oil and they need oil for theirs to grow and be healthy. It was hilarious when the boys were in the bathroom getting ready and I walked by and heard Brandon tell him “well I hope it doesn’t fall over your head and you suffocate during the night!” Out of the mouths of Babes. Those 2 boys would make me laugh all the time. There was a time when the boys were in the 4th grade and Douglas’s family moved to Levelland, Tx. (which is 45 minutes from Anton). I told his mother Frances that I was claiming stepparent rights and we would have to come get him every other weekend and we did. We would pick him up on Friday afternoons and we would take him back after church on Sunday afternoons so he has been a part of our family truly. He took trips with us and one of his fondest memories was the trip we took to Austin to see my family for a few days. Lynn (Caitlynn and Brandon’s dad) and I took both of them to a sporting good store and bought the boys Dallas Cowboy helmets and gear, they loved all of it! The minute we got back to my mom’s they were outside throwing their new football and testing out all of their gear! Douglas dug many post holes with Brandon, even in the scorching hot summer sun and there were days that they walked all over our acreage picking up any piece of glass that may have been there for years because Lynn didn’t want them sitting around with nothing to do. The boys would spend nights out at the hay barn roping of the roping head with their music going and they’d talk about horses, hunting, castrating pigmy goats, stacking hay, planting wheat, and chickens-Brandon loved his chickens and loved talking to his PaPa Miller (my dad who got him started)about it all. One of my Nana Miller’s favorite stories to tell was when my dad was a young boy (about 2nd grade she recalled) and she got a phone call from the postmaster. The postmaster said, “Catherine, your chickens are here and you can come pick them up now.” Nana’s reply was “ I DID NOT order any chickens, what makes you think they are mine?” He told her because Art came here and mailed the order after I told him he couldn’t mail cash. She said “Art ordered chickens without telling me?” He assured her he did not of those details but they needed water/feeding so she needed to pick them up! So that’s when my dad’s love of agriculture began-the rest is history or should I say family history.
There would be nights that they’d stay up almost all night but regardless they were never inside. They were the best of friends for the duration of Brandon’s life and he will always be special to me for the duration of my life.
Thomas and I had decided to drive separately so we’d have 2 vehicles so Tracy and I had decided to go early this morning to shop at the outlet mall in Williamsburg while Thomas and Caitlynn left a little later so they could pick Douglas up at the Richmond airport and we’d all meet at the condo in Colonial Crossings which is where we’re staying for the week. So after answering my cell phone this morning I tried to let Thomas sleep so I went ahead and put the Rat dogs in the compound as Sam Booth would be caring for them during our absence. If Val stays in our bedroom she protects Thomas by letting him know everything going on around her so he is not able to sleep in usually if she’s on guard in our bedroom. I took care of all the clothes and Thomas/Caitlynn would load groceries from the house to bring with them. Tracy met me at the house around 7:30 AM and off we were for shopping. As Tracy likes to call it “sole therapy”. She will spend the night with us and then drive back to Roanoke on Sunday. Our hope is to go to the beach for the daytime on Sunday if the weather holds out for us. We left for our trip on I-81-North with just my music and the beautiful day ahead of us. At 8:15 AM we passed Buchanan, VA and it’s always such a beautiful drive through the mountains-no matter when we come this way. Below the draw there are cattle standing in the stream that I believe actually feeds into the James River in this area. The weather was great with a few scattered clouds and 68 degrees outside so I drove with my windows down and sang to myself. Just call me a “child of the wind” which is a very funny story that Caitlynn shared with me after she and Kati Hurt made their first overnight stay away from home-in Pigeon Forge, TN-by themselves. They went on the last weekend of April for Kati’s 17th birthday; I purchased the hotel suite for them as Kati’s birthday gift since she wanted to go to this area of TN. The story as Caitlynn told us was great as she describes herself as being a “bigger girl that her body was built with vegetables and smart water” and Kati has to take a deep breath to create a shadow. So as Caitlynn tells the story, “it was hot and Kati decides that she doesn’t want to run the A/C so she rolled all the windows down”. “As sweat is rolling down my back”, Caitlynn reports “Kati decides we need to be children of the wind with our hair blowing everywhere!” They made it home safe and sound along with a lot of funny stories to tell us from their first overnight trip alone.
8:30 AM I called to see how Douglas’s flights were going for him and he had just landed in Dallas to change planes after his layover then it would be direct to Richmond from there. He flew one time to Houston and met us as we were flying in from Belize and then we all (including Douglas) drove from Houston, Tx. to VA. He had never been to a casino so on that trip as we alternated driving shifts home we usually slept but Thomas asked Douglas if he had ever been to casino and he had not. So with Thomas’s usual nature, we stopped in Louisiana and dropped Douglas and him off to go in and “try it out” as a first life experience for Douglas. Caitlynn and I slept in the pickup because we could stretch out while they were gone and when they were ready to go they called my cell phone and we drove around to pick them up and we were back on the road for the 23-24 hour trip to VA. Douglas says since that trip he will never drive to VA again, he will always fly (but he never complained). We laughed at the memories as he and Caitlynn rode most of the way on that trip in the back seat and they acted like brother and sister (most of you parents I’m SURE have experienced road trips with your kids). Nothing but love!
Tracy and I stopped at McDonalds to get a bite of breakfast. As we pulled up to park I heard Steven Tyler’s song and the line in it that song I love states: Life’s a journey, not a destination, I agree and the fun part is the journey with your friends and family every chance you get….Our route from I-81 north took us to I-64 east to Richmond then we took the loop around Richmond onto 295 south where it begins the VA Civil War Trails, we resumed I-64 east to take us to the Williamsburg Prime Outlet Mall-our destination for now. We were approximately 4-5 miles from our arrival point to shop when I was in the right lane while Tracy was ahead of me about ½ block in the left lane. She started to change lanes after looking but didn’t see a car in her blind spot. I saw it coming so I laid down on the horn to alert her and she did swerve and the car in the lane she was trying to move into also swerved. Then the car pulled up next to Tracy and gave her the universal sign language with one finger that indicated to her the driver’s anger….my poor wife!
Off to the shops we went, looking for good deals is our mission. We had a good time and enjoyed our therapy but we were not able to truly call it sole therapy since we realized neither of us had bought a shoe one for the entire day…what the heck? We went to the condo and no one was there since Thomas, Caitlynn, and Douglas had gone to get groceries for the week. I took Tracy into the front room where Douglas must have placed his luggage when he arrived since there was a big red Fireman bag; she had to see his starched clothes. He’s worn them since we met and all cowboys in Texas starch all their clothes. There was a time when he was younger and he’d starch all of his things but since adulthood he now takes it all to the cleaners but trust me-they could stand without a body in them due to the starch! I pulled a pair of pants out and showed them to Tracy and she just laughed. They arrived with “the goods” and we helped put it all away. Douglas looks great and has become such a nice young man. I love watching him and Caitlynn together as he has always treated her like the brother she wishes she had, she states. Yes, I mean he wrestles with her and reminds her that he can still “whoop you; you’re not too big for me to whoop”. Thomas enlightened us that the forecast for tomorrow was not looking good as they are predicting rain and colder temperatures throughout the day as a front is moving through so we altered our plans. Tracy and I went to the pool and laid out in the glorious bright sunshine for about an hour and a half-felt great with good conversation and company. Caitlynn and Thomas started getting the stuff ready to prepare dinner so Tracy and I joined them at the grill after we ran to get charcoal to cook with from Wal-Mart. Thomas was told the grills were gas but they were not so we had to make a quick trip to the ‘saving store’. Brandon used to say; Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart that’s our store, we shop there because we’re poor”. We all set the table, blessed the food provided and ate our dinner together as we laughed and shared stories of the past and enjoyed each others company. Thomas had several beers by this time (if you know what I mean) and we talked about running as Tracy and I would like to do the race in San Francisco next year in May as it is called Bay-to-Breakers that Dr. Killeen had told me about. He said it looks like a blast as every walk of life runs it-it is an 8 or 10K I believe. Thomas informed us that he ran a 5 minute mile as a teenager so he had “no doubt that I can run a 10 minute mile now, that should be very easy”. Oh my gosh, I can not believe he said that so I tried to clarify his time quantity as Tracy and I told him with our regular running we do 12-13 minute miles as an average on a 5K and he confirmed that he could still currently do a 10 minute mile---are you kidding me? I told everyone at the table that he had told Caitlynn and I a couple of months ago that he thinks he’s the most physically fit person in our house-what? We still laugh about that since I run 3-5 times a week and he plays seasonal hockey as a goalie. I believe that means he stands in the net until a puck comes toward him then he moves, right? I’m Texan not Canadian like my handsome husband but I have watched him play hockey a few times in the last 7 years…..Anyway everything in life is perception I guess but regardless, he agreed that he can run a 10 minute mile at any time currently and he’d prove it to me so I agreed to hold him to that! We all laughed except him…. The rest of the evening was spent with Caitlynn and Douglas watching cooking shows as this is her favorite, Tracy and I talked as we sat outside on the deck in rocking chairs, and Thomas rested in the big whirlpool Jacuzzi tub in our bathroom. The kids finished off the evening as they watched bull riding since Douglas had confiscated the remote control after watching enough Paula Deen (www.pauladeen.com) “Remember when I said springtime makes the whole world a fresh green salad? Now it’s time to grab a fork and dive right in! Happy spring, and remember, this season and every season, I send you love and best dishes, from my kitchen to yours”. To float a boat made out of butter, Douglas said he was done with that! Do people who cook really have “Butter Rangers” that assist them in the kitchen? I mean I’ve never had big buff young men wearing “Butter Rangers” on their t-shirts come waltzing in my kitchen (or any of my friends that I know of?) to assit me in preparing my food with butter-I guess just Paula Deen has them. It’s been a good day with a good ending.
Sunday, May 17, 2009-we woke up to a drastic weather change as it is overcast and cooler with 52 degrees outside and 90% chance of rain. So Tracy and I definitely changed our plans to go to the beach and decided to make a quick visit back to the Prime Outlets again. I had only spent $34 so not too much damage yesterday and besides we needed to exchange Caitlynn’s bras since she did not like what I had selected for her yesterday. (When I asked the lady at the Maidenform store for her best 38 DD bras she looked at me strangely then I explained to her that they would be for my well-endowed daughter who is 15-not sure where those genes came from? She responded with “15?”) As I came out of our room for the morning I laughed as Caitlynn was sleeping on the floor in the living room and Douglas was sleeping on the couch, we laughed because there was another bed in the room Tracy slept in that neither of them could of used. I knew the two of them had talked until wee hours of the morning and rightfully so since it had been awhile since he had been here in VA to see us, I believe 2 yrs actually. Thomas began cooking breakfast for us and I got ready as we had an owners meeting at 9:00 AM before us girls could leave for our attempt at sole therapy again. Tracy, Thomas and I ate and I was sure to reconfirm his statement that he could run a 10 minute mile and he still acknowledges it, even after he slept??? (maybe he hit his head yesterday that I wasn’t aware of?) The kids slept off and on while Thomas and I were gone and Tracy cleaned the kitchen for us. We returned so Tracy and I headed back to the Prime Outlets for a little bit. Midway into our shopping trip it began to rain and rained for the entirety of the day. That did not seem to bother us as we had joked about not buying any shoes yesterday but then today we stumbled across a store named “Closet” and the logo was a red stiletto heel, appropriately named we thought. They had the cutest shoes and by the time we left Tracy had purchased 3 pairs of shoes and I had purchased 5 pairs, what did I just say? That’s right 5 really cute pairs of shoes, this was a weird day when I out purchase Tracy in shoes…Oh well Tracy’s weakness is the “Lucky” brand store so we returned there and she made up for my out buying her in shoes. Upon our return to the condo Tracy loaded up and headed off to Roanoke. Meanwhile the 4 of us sat around and watched TV, ate and talked-a lot. I cracked up as Caitlynn got up from sitting down and she’d have to pull her pants up as that is one of Douglas’s pet peeves. He told her to get a belt and she told him she has one so he told her to put it on then! He tells us that is a pet peeve of his with his employees. Thomas continued cooking in the kitchen as he worked on his famous spaghetti sauce and also prepared some extra hamburger meat to use later for tacos that Caitlynn will prepare. He makes me laugh when we go on a trip because it is difficult for him to relax and just do nothing. But he does enjoy cooking and he used to do all the cooking when we first met/married. He recalls when he would cook for the family when he and Sherry were married and she’d “fuss” over the way he did things or moved things around in the kitchen so rather than create friction he’d just not cook. He made a point to tell me that story shortly after we married when I would ask him if he’d like me to help him and he’d deny help each time. His love language is definitely acts of service so I’ve always joked and said our prenuptial agreement was that he cook and I clean so I fulfill my responsibilities as I would clean as he prepares the meals. For about the last year Caitlynn has taken over almost all of the food preparations at our home so I think he enjoyed the time today of just puttering in the kitchen, on no time schedule but with a goal in mind-DINNER. We sat at the dinner table, blessed the food and enjoyed talking to each other. Afterwards we watched the Stanley Cup Playoffs which was Game 1: Chicago #4 vs. Detroit #2, Detroit won. Thomas went to bed first as he was the only one who HAD to be up and out of here in the morning. I stayed up and talked with Douglas and Caitlynn until she bailed on us around 1:15 AM then I was behind her 45 minutes later. Good night….Today in history: A filly named Rachel Alexandra won the Preakness in Maryland (Preakness Stake’s results: Twelfth race at Pimlico, in Baltimore Purse: $1,100,000. Track: Dirt. Distance: 1 3/16 miles. Three-year olds.) She is the 1st filly to win in 85 years. Headline news: UPDATED STORY: May 17, 10:01 pm LOS ANGELES - An earlier reported 5.0 earthquake is now being reported as a magnitude 4.7 earthquake, which struck tonight in South Los Angeles, and minutes later a magnitude 3.1 aftershock occurred, but no major damage or injuries were reported. The "moderate'' 4.7 quake struck shortly before 8:40 p.m., a mile east of Lennox, a mile south southeast of Inglewood and 10 miles south southwest of the Los Angeles Civic Center, according to Caltech. The rumbling lasted 10 to 15 seconds and was felt throughout the Greater Los Angeles area and as far south as San Diego, according to various witnesses. It was the strongest quake to strike the Southland since the magnitude 5.5 earthquake that hit in Chino Hills last July 29. The 3.1 aftershock occurred just after 8:45 p.m. a mile north northwest of Hawthorne and 3 miles southwest of Inglewood, according to Caltech. A 2.5 "micro quake'' also struck in the area at 8:44 p.m., according to Caltech. No fires, structural damage or injuries due to the earthquake were reported in El Segundo, Inglewood, and the city of Los Angeles or Los Angeles County, fire and police department officials from various agencies said.
Monday, May 18, 2009-started out partly cloud, cleared before noon then by evening started getting cloudy again. The temperature today will have a high of 65 degrees. Thomas got up at 6:45 AM and was out the door by 7:15 to work in the Richmond office. I got up and did my devotions, read my “The One Life Solution” book that I’ve been reading. It is written by Dr. Henry Cloud. I then worked on writing my resume for the Leadership Roanoke Valley nomination that is due by June 5th. Douglas and Caitlynn are still sleeping but this time she slept in a bed, not the floor! It’s time for me to be off so I went to the gym to workout since I had not ran since Friday and I felt like I did nothing but eat yesterday due to the rainy day-it always makes me just want to snack it seems. After my hour workout I returned to the condo where Caitlynn had prepared her and Douglas “steakums” for lunch. So I was glad to make guacamole and a sandwich and they were watching a reality show about mobile home makeovers? Do people really do that since they just depreciate? Afterwards the 3 of us went back to the outlet mall since they had not seen it and we walked around and made a couple of small purchases. Caitlynn had a gift card that she used and she entertained the saleslady at the Perfumeria, the saleslady laughed and laughed as Caitlynn was in search of “her own fragrance”. We left and then returned for her purchase after she thought about it and walked around a bit. We headed back to the condo and had an afternoon snack and Douglas got comfortable and fell asleep on the couch (he is on vacation), Caitlynn went into our room and watched a cooking show and I resumed my writing on this story. We will look forward to having Thomas back with us this evening, he always livens things up. He arrived close to 8:00 PM with 2 ½ inch porterhouse cut steaks. Douglas, Caitlynn, and I laughed as she had asked me about 2 hours earlier what she should fix for dinner and I had told her to just let Thomas decide since we had eaten what we liked today since we were here all day, and it’s a good thing since it seems he already had decided and made his purchases. He said that he thought this would be the last day we could grill out due to the weather forecast so he thought we should take advantage of it. I went outside with him after he got the steaks on the grill and we chatted as we caught up on the day’s events. I love spending time with this husband of mine and watching him do the simplest things such as this, I realize he’s quite the perfectionist but makes things happen. We had the salt and pepper outside with us when Caitlynn came to retrieve it as she was preparing the side dishes in the condo while we grilled. As she began to take them, Thomas asked her to wait a minute and he opened up a paper towel he held and put a small amount of each into it and then gave the set to her to take. When the steaks became very close to ready he stood above them and rubbed his hands together to create a grinding effect to cover each of them. My thoughts go back to him telling me stories of days when he was a Boy Scout/Eagle Scout so I believe he can improvise with anything. The four of us enjoyed another nice, quiet meal together after we blessed it and thanked the Lord for providing it for us and the time to spend together.
As the Stanley Cup Playoff continues, tonight is Game 1: Hurricanes #6 @ Penguins #4 and the Penguins take the first win. Then we all sat around and watched Spike TV (a cable channel) with the season premier of “4th and Long”-4th Quarter Training (After moving into their new home at the Cotton Bowl Stadium, Michael Irvin puts the 6 wide receivers and 6 defensive backs through a grueling set of full contact drills designed to test their ability and they will eliminate one weekly. The final one left will actually hold a place on the 80 man roster for the Dallas Cowboys this next season...) The four of us watched both together and Caitlynn would occasionally text Kati Hurt or Lindsey Page Blankenship but was mostly attentive. Thomas’s favorite NFL team has always been the Cowboys. We called it a night for Thomas and me as we headed to our room. He got in the Jacuzzi tub in our bathroom and worked on his Suduko puzzles and I resumed my writing. My reading for today from the Living Faith: Children’s lessons as we learn the song “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so……” It is a simple tune with a simple message, but within it lays the truth that gives meaning and purpose to our lives: The love of God is revealed to us through Jesus Christ and the Scriptures. From the beginning of my life as a Christian that simple song holds truth. But since then I have continued to be blessed by a seemingly never-ending series of revelations that show me over and over the full extent of God’s love-from my relationship with my husband and our 4 year marriage to our two beautiful and faith-filled children and on to the blessings of friends who never stop challenging me and affirming my faith while we share good conversation and meals around the table. In all these ways, and in so many more, God continues to reveal himself to me, and I am blessed. God, thank you for the ways you reveal yourself to me.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009-We woke up this morning and Thomas immediately ran his hot water in the Jacuzzi tub and grabbed a cup of coffee and off he went! The temperature was 52 degrees and expected to be clear with average temperature of 67 degrees. I worked on returning texts, calls, and emails then when The Today Show (http://today.msnbc.msn.com) came on I was right there enjoying it, it is really the only thing I watch on TV if it’s not football season. I like it because it gives me a good diversified view of many areas of our world (finance, beauty, investments, weather, and travel). One of the topics today were the fact that Google’s CEO spoke at the commencement exercises for University of Pennsylvania and told the graduates to “Disconnect and Log-off at least once a week”, obviously our country’s culture is cultivating our children who struggle with balance as they are in this environment that we as parents struggle in that area too. He said they will never realize what’s important to them unless they learn to do this regularly. Another newsworthy topic is: “Shuttle astronaut’s tweets are heavenly”: In space, anyone can hear you tweet. Story goes: 325,000 follow astronaut’s mission, musings via Twitter. Astronaut Michael Massimino now in orbit on space shuttle Atlantis is the first person to Twitter from space. (A Tweet is 140 or less characters) Since reaching orbit, he has tapped his tweets into the shuttle’s laptops and e-mailed them to Lemasters. She posts them to twitter.com/Astro_Mike. “The one regret that I have when I look out the window and I see how beautiful the Earth looks…is that you can’t share it with everyone,” says Astro Mike.
Then one of the topics The Today Show spoke of was: Pillow Talk Study-People taking laptops to bed has surpassed 30% (no wonder we have sleep issues…job security) and also there would be “No day at the beach” as 35% of Americans not taking vacations due to the economy this year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics: Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in April (-539,000), and the unemployment rate rose from 8.5 to 8.9 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Since the recession began in December 2007, 5.7 million jobs have been lost. In April, job losses were large and widespread across nearly all major private-sector industries. Overall, private-sector employment fell by 611,000. The number of unemployed persons increased by 563,000 to 13.7 million in April, and the unemployment rate rose to 8.9 percent. Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has risen by 6.0 million, and the unemployment rate has grown by 3.9 percentage points.
Unemployment rates rose in April for adult men (9.4 percent) and blacks (15.0 percent). The jobless rates for adult women (7.1percent), teenagers (21.5 percent), whites (8.0 percent), and Hispanics (11.3 percent) were little changed over the month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 6.6 percent in April, not seasonally adjusted, up from 3.2 percent a year earlier.7/
Thomas resumed working from his laptop and made a lot of phone calls to several of his offices, Caitlynn and Douglas were still sleeping so I ate a bowl of cereal and a banana and off to work out at the gym here on location. Upon my return Thomas decided we would go to Milano’s restaurant for a later lunch around 2 PM. I laughed as we started out the door and Douglas socked Caitlynn in the upper arm area, it was so loud I said, “uuhhh I felt that over here!” Caitlynn said “The 1st is bad but the 2nd is worse”. I replied “then why don’t you run” and she said “cause he’s gonna chase me so I might as well just stand here and take it.” We all laughed, he’s always treated her like a sister.
After our lunch with Italian food Thomas was driving with Caitlynn as co-pilot and Douglas and I sat in the back. We drove towards Busch Garden then Thomas turned into the Amheuser-Busch Distilling factory located here in Williamsburg Anheuser-Busch Cos. is a St. Louis-based, publicly-traded corporation that primarily produces and distributes more than 100 brands of beer, most notably Budweiser. In 2006 Anheuser-Busch sold 125 million barrels of beer, with gross sales of $18 billion and net income of $2 billion, making it the United States' largest brewer. Among the corporate divisions is Busch Entertainment Corp., which has 11 theme and water parks, including SeaWorld Orlando, Discovery Cove and (the soon to open) Aquatica in Orlando, and Busch Gardens and Adventure Island in Tampa. Other BEC parks are SeaWorld San Diego, SeaWorld San Antonio, Busch Gardens Europe and Water Country USA in Virginia and Sesame Place in Pennsylvania. The security guard stopped us just before we walked in and instructed us that they no longer do tours so we returned to our car and headed out to sight see. We decided to go to Williamsburg Winery (www.williamsburgwinery.com) since we have never been there and we try to go to any wineries in an area we are visiting: Williamsburg Winery is Virginia’s largest winery with an annual production of some 60,000 cases. With approximately 100 wineries in Virginia, the Williamsburg Winery accounts for almost one-quarter of all wine production in Virginia. Thomas and I did the tasting while Douglas and Caitlynn looked around at the setting we were in and after a purchase we were off to our next venture. Thomas took the Colonial Parkway drive since he has never made this drive before, so we did it together. The Parkway takes you to over the James River to Historic Jamestown, VA, Jamestown Island, Island Loop Dr, and then the Glasshouse of 1608. Along the pleasant drive we saw squirrels, geese and a deer-what a great afternoon for a drive. The trees that surround us are very tall and there are areas of water with the smell of honeysuckle from the woods as we make our drive. Initially we passed an area that had a small beach area that people were fishing and laying out in the sun. Then there was a farm area with cows standing in the small valleys and as we left that area and got more into the Colonial Parkway drive there were several cyclists riding. As we began to pass one ahead Thomas told Caitlynn to “reach your hand out and smack his booty as we go by”, we laughed and I said as we got slightly closer (and the body frame) “I believe that’s a woman” and as we passed her Thomas agreed as he said “Yeah, sports bra”. We all chuckled. So as we stopped to read the marques on the Island Loop drive, the facts written were these: The colonist arrived in 1607 to this area. Confederate troops guarded the river channel during the Civil War. Six out of seven people died out in Jamestown for the 1st 18 years they were here due to medical problems. Within 3 days of reaching the New World the 1st Jamestown colonists had assembled a small boat to explore the remaining area around them. VA vintage (wines) often spoiled during shipment so they colonists began making their own vintages. Colonists wondered of the deep/tall forests of VA. 1640 Jamestown potters were making their own pottery needed. Powhatans (Indians) traded for staples with the settlers. Jamestown imported silk from the Mediterranean and the orient. King James called smoking “a filthy novelty” but tobacco proved the salvation of his VA colony..……We headed toward the condo when Thomas saw “Trader Joe’s” and we had seen this store in CA but had never stopped so he and Caitlynn (the 2 shoppers in the car) went in to see what it was all about while Douglas and I sat in the car talking. They returned with 2 bags and they were both excited over their discovery. Now we’re en route as we’ve completed our drive and came back to the condo to relax for the rest of the late afternoon. After we got back to the condo for a bit Douglas began talking about going to get beer and Caitlynn told him the two of them could run up to Wal-Mart and get it. He seemed to think that they wouldn’t sell it to him if she was with him because of her age, we laughed as I said yes because you have an ID and she doesn’t but she looks older than you. Caitlynn said, “I will just say that we’re married. I went to Africa and brought Jesus to your colony, saved your soul, stole your heart, and brought you home”. The three of us cracked up! I decided to take a quick nap and when I woke-up I smelled food being cooked. Thomas, Douglas and Caitlynn had gone to the outlet mall to get a wok for Caitlynn as she would begin another chapter of her cooking class and will need one so she’s been looking around for one. Caitlynn had prepared dinner so we all ate together in the dining room, we thanked the Lord for our time together and the food provided. Afterwards we watched the next Stanley Cup Playoff game came on at 7:30 PM (EST): Game 2-Chicago vs. Detroit which went into overtime for a final score of 2-3 with Detroit winning. I had to wake my husband as he had dozed off and I didn’t want him to miss the replay of the winning goal…now he’s off to hit the Jacuzzi before bed. Caitlynn came in the living area after talking to Lindsay Paige and Douglas was watching TV when there was a strong smell of marijuana before Caitlynn came back in the room. I confirmed it with Thomas and Douglas (he’s a fireman and runs rescue in addition to his job). So when Caitlynn came back in Douglas asked her if she’d been smoking marijuana outside? She said “NO why?” and we both responded because we both smelled it. I shared with them that I smelled it yesterday when I came back from working out and walked up the stairs. Caitlynn said “how do you know what it is?” and Douglas asked her if she really didn’t know what it smelled like and she said “No, I have never smelled it that I am aware of”. Douglas said “well you really need to know in case anyone ever tried to give it to you to be safe”. She replied, “Well, how do you propose I do that? You got a scratch ‘n sniff?” We both just laughed, she is crazy. Her cell phone rang and she stepped outside briefly to talk to Lindsey then returned and told us as she came in she had found the marijuana culprit. I said “what, how do you know?” She replied, “because he asked me if I wanted any and I told him I’m trying to cutback since my husband has me on a budget”, Douglas and I cracked up. They watched Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and laughed as the show was about a lady having twins and Tyler had to deliver them. Caitlynn said “I don’t know why anyone would want to have a baby” Douglas and I snickered as we both remember what a handful she was as a small kid….She prepared me a strawberry shortcake to snack before I went off to bed since I was trying to eat up all the strawberries that Thomas had gotten (when he and Caitlynn came down as they stopped on the side of the road and purchased them-just for me since neither of them eat anything with ‘berry’ in its name). But after she fixed it up for me I had to wait until the Cool Whip defrosted since Douglas told us when they bought it the first day we arrived that the container reads “Keep Frozen” so everyone’s been putting it back in the freezer after each use-I tried to explain to them that it means if it’s not going to be eaten within a 2-3 day span, not after each use……..Good night!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009-VSRC Conference begins today @ 7:30 AM so we all drove into VA Beach. Douglas and Caitlynn were ecstatic about getting up so early-haha. Needless to say they both slept the entire trip. The conference has been held at the Hilton which is on the boardwalk ever since I can remember and it makes for a great meeting place (Caitlynn & Jason always seemed to enjoy the frozen grapes and the mint smelling chilled wash towels that they bring to you at poolside to wipe the sweat from your brows during your visit to the pool sitting on the top of the building-and I love both of this amenities here!). Caitlynn and Douglas went through the vendor booths with Thomas and I and they usually came back around with me since Thomas knows so many people and with his curious nature he’d ask detailed questions about 90% of the products, if they were hanging out with him entirely, they would have to hear all the sales pitches also so they meandered through. I mostly asked questions with sleep related products only. Douglas was interested in a lot of it since were booths that represented companies with oxygen supplies, etc., he was curious due to his time spent with the fire/rescue in Anton, Tx. Caitlynn has always had a fascination with the healthcare field in general since that’s all she’s ever been around from birth to now so she learned things also as she too interest (yes, she’s full of questions). The morning started out at 52 degrees and the sun was nice bringing warmth but the wind coming off the Atlantic Ocean was cool, to the point that even sitting directly in the sun as we ate lunch it was still chilly. We ate on the outside area of Catch 31 (one of the restaurants here at the Hilton) that is on the boardwalk/oceanview where they have several large fire pits, so as we sat outside to eat we were around the fire pit which made things nice and warm for today. They are setting up the 31st Street amphitheatre (which is directly across a walk from us) for a free outdoor concert tonight here by Toad the Wet Sprocket, we would have to miss but we got to listen as they did the sound checks after setting up. We allowed Caitlynn to go shop on her own as long as she checked in by text periodically for a couple of hours in the afternoon while we finished the conference. Caitlynn still believes that we have tickets to go to the Richmond Art Museum (I love museums and she’s aware that since I am a Docent for the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, I love to try to visit as many when traveling as possible so that wasn’t awkward to her when I told her about the tickets) for tonight so we drove back to Williamsburg so that we could all change to go to Richmond for the supposed Museum event, now we have a 45 minute drive from the condo. As we got close to our destination there were a lot of people everywhere and the police were directing traffic, Caitlynn said, “there must be something else big going on around the museum”. We kept searching for parking and she told me to ask the lady taking money for parking what is going on here. As we got up to the lady I handed her the $3 to park and didn’t give Caitlynn time to ask her anything (well actually she did ask but the lady didn’t have time to respond) before we started driving back to our spot. Caitlynn said, “I don’t know why there are so many girls with Daisy Dukes on and cowboy hats but it looks like a concert to me.” Then she was getting frustrated with me because she said we didn’t give her time to get her hair done, etc. and she “looks like white trash” she said. At this point she still had no idea why or because of who we were here to see or do. We had Douglas and Caitlynn go ahead and get in line to enter the Innsbrook After Hours amphitheatre (http://innsbrookafterhours.com) while Thomas and I went to the “Will Call” window to pickup the tickets I had purchased online. As we returned Douglas told us he told her who we’d be seeing tonight and she was very excited. She had bought Jason Aldean’s newest CD just a couple of weeks ago and his “green tractor” song is her ringback tone for her cell phone. She was sure to “let me listen” to the new CD one afternoon while we were driving to do somewhere in Roanoke, so I knew she liked him as a country artist. Now we are in the mix of over 3,000 + people, country people waiting to see new country star Jason Aldean (www.jasonaldean.com) with guests Marna and Macy. Douglas fit right in as he wears nothing but John Deere t-shirts and tonight he chose his brown t-shirt with green writing that read: Friends don’t let friends drive red tractors. So he was amongst the rednecks with us-I wondered if even 10% of these people have ever even ridden a horse in their life or been on a tractor? And there were a lot of young fans it seemed but all of them are definitely country fans. I’ve never seen so many John Deere tractor shirts in one place in my life-my black child fit right in as he’s got his t-shirt on and yes he had been on many horses and John Deere tractors (the first time for both was with my family)! I guess he’s been on ‘other tractors’ but prefers the ‘green ones’, maybe because he works on them at home and that’s mostly what he’s been around his whole life so to him, there is NO other tractor. The concert was good (even though I am not a country music fan) and Thomas even enjoyed it. He left to go get Caitlynn a concert t-shirt and a license place cover that read “Hick Town” with origination of Georgia since Jason Aldean is a Georgia peach. The band did play some good guitar music (‘licks’ as Jason would say) and threw in a little Lynard Skynard then told a story to the crowd about an episode of Country Crossroads (Caitlynn tells me it is a current music show on TV where they match artists up with other artists from another genre to do an episode with them) that they just finished filming. Jason Aldean told the crowd that they never could really relate to any of the music artists the program offered them until “a guy named Bryan Adams came along and they worked perfectly well together so we got us a story now that will come on in June”. After the concert we worked our way thru the loads of people to get to our vehicle and then we waited, waited, and waited until we could make it out of the parking lots. I’m a people watcher and trust me, there were a lot of interesting people to watch as we waited! I drove as Thomas and Douglas had partaken in beverages with all the rednecks around us at the concert so off we go in search of dinner. Since it was almost 11 PM we had a hard time (except for fast food) finding a restaurant opened so we settled for a FGI Friday’s. Douglas decided on BBQ ribs, typical Texan I’d say. We ended our meal and made our next hour drive back to the condo. Since both of the guys slept, Caitlynn and I sang (to the radio) and talked. Shortly before 2 AM we were back at the condo for our much needed rest-it had been a long day with a few hours drive time…night!
Thursday, May 21, 2009- Thomas and I were up and gone nice and EARLY as we had a conference day. Douglas and Caitlynn had decided the night before that they would hang out at the condo and not be needing to get up early today. The drive wasn’t too bad going into VA Beach except for the backup through the tunnel to get to VA Beach, which is normal for this area (and without the tunnels, you do not get to the beach area). Thomas & I had lunch with 2 of the Fisher-Paykel reps and then finished up our conference day and quickly made our way to the pool area at the top of the Hilton where the conference is being held for a couple hours to enjoy some vitamin D (that we all need a little of-I feel I need more than a little!). The Hilton is Oceanside and from the top you can see the entire boardwalk and all the activities below. It’s a great view as there is an indoor pool and the outdoor pool is an infinity pool, so as you are looking at it you never see the edge of it-just the Atlantic Ocean. The weather held out for us topping out at 82 degrees and we enjoyed every drop of sunshine. Afterwards we left and returned to Williamsburg early evening and retrieved the “kids” for dinner. We decided (as our tradition-we make 1 visit to Capt. George’s during our beach stays) to make this our Captain George’s meal night since Thomas and I had a salad for lunch and a very light breakfast. We felt like we would make Captain George’s worth it since we’d be good and hungry by the time we ate. Douglas had never been to a place like this and his favorite is crawfish (trivia I learned watching a cooking show with Caitlynn-there are crawfish as large as lobster in Australia) and they had that along with almost 50 other options on their buffet before the dessert options. We took pictures outside the restaurant as Caitlynn and Douglas “pick on each other” they raced to the truck afterwards….Caitlynn told Douglas that she “let him win”. We drove back to the condo and settled in for the close of the day. The guys guys turned on the TV to watch the Stanley Cup Playoff, Caitlynn & I joined them shortly after the 2nd period. Game #2: Carolina vs. Pittsburgh with Pittsburgh winning in OT. Caitlynn and Douglas stayed up talking to each other and to Vanessa (Douglas’s girlfriend in Tx.). They always enjoy spending time together-doing nothing or whatever, doesn’t really matter to them. I would say this was the best weather day during the week so far-but I’m prejudice because I love the sun. As I jokingly tell my family-it’s the only bad habit I have….
Friday, May 22, 2009-The morning brought on a nice sunny day with initial temperatures of 60-62 degrees and the day ended at the warmest point with 82 degrees. I worked out and Thomas prepared breakfast for all of us to eat together. Afterwards Thomas and I enjoyed the sun at the pool for an hour and a half before we had an appointment. Thomas and I left for our appointment and “the kids” stayed hanging out-I think they both wanted to nap actually! We returned by 6:15 PM and Caitlynn had prepared us dinner-Mexican food with tacos and burrito makings, Douglas helped set the table. Of course I had to make guacamole to complete all the makings and we blessed the food and had a good time talking and reminiscing. It’s good to be here together and I love seeing what a nice, responsible young man Douglas has become and seeing him bond with Thomas. Afterwards we all cleaned up the kitchen and sat down to watch the Stanley Cup Playoff Game 3: Detroit vs. Chicago with Chicago winning in OT. Detroit stills remains up 2-1 though. Douglas and Caitlynn gathered their things and I began packing our stuff up as we would be leaving to go back to Roanoke in the morning. We had been undecided whether to stay longer since Douglas would be flying out on Monday (Memorial Day holiday) or just come back for his flight that morning. Thomas had talked to Jason and the duplexes had not been mowed since we were in the truck, so we thought it best to go home so he could do that and then drive back Sunday evening and stay in a hotel close to the airport in Richmond (3 hour drive from Roanoke) as Douglas’s flight was for 7 AM and he’d need to be there at least an hour and half before time. We would check out in the morning and head back to Roanoke. It’s been a good week!
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009-We woke up and began cleaning the refrigerator out and packing up the remaining items for our trip home. The guys drove the Taurus and us girls drove the pickup home. We chose interstate since we needed to get home by mid afternoon to allow Jason daylight to mow. Caitlynn took a small nap and so did Douglas in the other vehicle. It’s been a standing joke all week that all’s Douglas did was rest, watch TV, and enjoy a little beer-his response was “I’m on vacation, I’m supposed to do that!” We all laughed each time he responded with that line, Caitlynn just said “Right…”. We arrived at home and immediately I got a call on my cell phone from Robin White who works for me and she’s sick. I needed to go to the lab to look at the schedule as this is a holiday weekend, and if she calls in she is sick! Caitlynn and I had the entire truck unloaded before Thomas and Douglas arrived then they unloaded their vehicle. Douglas came with me and we went to the lab so he could see it and hang with me. I got the patients situated and we went back to the house since Reba was coming to the house to spend the night with Caitlynn and we are going to grill out. Thomas and Douglas stood out on the deck getting our meal prepared on the grill and I worked in the kitchen to prepare the other fixings. Jason had come to get the truck and mowing supplies then he came by for a bit after he finished mowing at the duplexes but did not stay for dinner with us. We made a fire in the chiminea and the kids all swam and Thomas and I sat by the fire and visited with each other. As I sit here and watch the fire I remember how small Douglas and Brandon were when they became friends and watching Caitlynn and Reba play around in the pool reminds me how fast time rolls by. In my mind’s eye I have always had landmarks with Caitlynn as she grows up since I was only privileged to have her brother thru his junior high school years. I have had other children in my life that I have been honored to be an intricate part of but none of either of my children have grownup and left my home (Jason was well on his way when I married his dad) so I have a lot of pressure on my parenting skills with her. I’m unrealistic think that I could remember all the particulars so I struggle to remember all the significant moments of each year. I sometimes ached in wanting to look into her eyes on the first day of middle school and assure her that she’s ready for the coming adventure. When she gets home from school after a day of defeat, did I notice the dejection in her eyes? Was I attentive in teaching her along the way that kindness and sincerity will always win more friends than cute shoes and or a pretty purse? I’m preparing myself to look at my girl-now in high school, then college and possibly married-and panic at the thought that the next time I blink, she and Jason will be buying their first houses. Time really goes by TOO fast. She does things for herself, catches rides with friends (a select couple that I allow her to ride with), have sleepovers that don’t require so much supervision (inserting loud laughing and loud music), and responsible for her own school projects. I know without a doubt that I want Caitlynn to make good decisions in life, the time it takes to blink is the time our kids will make their worst decisions. It’s during those times when I may turn my head that they’ll learn life’s greatest lessons. Now isn’t the time for me to rest. It’s the time to use my energy I’ve been saving to catch her before she hits the ground. As our children move from elementary school to junior high school and through high school and college, they will lose their footing every now and then. If I’m not there to catch them, who will? Maybe some parents think their friends will be there to catch them-I feel like it’s the parent’s responsibility along with a lot of praying. I could lose track of who their friends are (especially Jason in college now) and more importantly, what they are like. Suddenly I was faced with 8th grade boys needing to shave and mean girls declaring that my precious girl needs to diet (as she likes to entertain us as she claims “this body was built with vegetables and vitamin water” I am proud she is comfortable with herself). Where did these kids come from? What upbringing did they have? Who is that boy’s parents and where do they live? Who all will be in the car, and how long has the driver had their license-with or without accidents (including finderbenders!) I realize that while I’m trying not to do too much and allow them the space to make choices, I lose more than the free time I gain. I now know it was easier when I only worried about completing spelling assignments and simple math problems. It was easier when we could pull out our hair while we worked on a school project together. Time quickly fades, and suddenly our children are spending time with peers I’ve never met if I do not stay involved. Worse, I have no idea if that boy is up to no good with my girl and if his ethics and priorities are as important to him as they are to me. School fundraisers and hauling school projects back and forth seems like a walk in the park compared to sitting up waiting for car lights to come through the window before 12:01 AM. Yes, it’s true that once my children leave home and begin their lives without me, I won’t have to be bothered with school plays and fundraising drives. No more bake sales, construction projects or book reports for research papers. When life has slowed down enough for me to have the time I think I need to be involved, my children won’t be here any longer if I’m not careful. So bear with me if my life’s a little overbooked. I’ll do my best to juggle all of my commitments and not appear too rattled while doing so. That is what I have to do if I want to meet the boy that will eventually try my patience by bringing my daughter home after midnight.
It’s hard to believe that Jason is finished with his 2nd year in college (Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA) and Caitlynn’s finishing her 2nd year in high school! Later that evening as we sat outside still watching the kids in the pool and throwing the tennis balls for the 3 Rat Dogz (actually 2 of the 3 since Shugs is old and cares nothing about chasing a silly ‘ol ball but he does like to start out by barking and chasing the other 2 as they begin to run after it. It doesn’t take long for him to get tired and stop dead in his trail to return back to my lap…Shugs is 10, Gizmo is 7 and Val is 3 yrs old) Jason returned to demonstrate his newly acquired skills that he’s learned as he will be assisting someone this summer doing balloon creations at parties. He made all kinds of balloon creations to demonstrate for us, including a ‘heart hat’ (instead of a hard hat) for his dad and placed it on his head. That’s all it took for his dad’s curiosity to begin and wanted Jason’s help to learn the technique. Then a little while later Lauren (Jason’s girlfriend) joined us after she got off work, we had a nice evening with the family. Around 12:45 AM we decided to call it a day, Jason and Lauren left and we all bedded down.
Sunday, May 24, 2009-Today is Memorial Day. This is a day of reflection for all of our country’s servicemen that have given their lives to make this a better country for us all from generation to generation. For me, I also reflect on the love ones I have lost so it’s usually very sentimental to me-ironic that Douglas is here with me this year but I am proud he is, it’s always great to spend time with him. We went to our church for our service and as it began Jason and Lauren came to join us. It’s nice having the family together. After our service we went home and had lunch together (Jason and Lauren left us after the church service). Thomas & I had decided to drive to Richmond with Douglas and stay the night to take him to the airport in the morning so we would not be so rushed in the morning. Caitlynn decided to stay in Roanoke and spend the night with Reba (her mom has cancer and while we were gone to Williamsburg a nurse had taken her off her seizure medication and she had a relapse that caused her to be back in the hospital), instead of driving in the car for another 3 hours she said. Thomas, Douglas and I loaded our things and took the Blue Ridge Parkway route instead of the highway so Douglas could admire the beauty that we are blessed enough to see everyday. He rested off and on and Thomas and I enjoyed the quiet time as we have frequently done since we met-we’ve spent a lot of time driving the Parkway. It’s a slower route since the speed limit is 45 MPH but it’s worth it. When we made it to Richmond we were in search of finding Copenhagen (a whole roll) for Douglas to take back to Texas. I, of course asked Douglas how much he had used while he was here in VA and when he told me the amount. I paused, thought before I spoke then started my constructive criticism as I lectured him on the health issues (as if he’s not aware of them). I had told Douglas earlier that Thomas is a ‘provider’ and if you mention something that you feel you need, he makes it happen. I on the other hand am NOT that patient, I am resourceful but I have my limits and know when to quit. Thomas will go and go like the energy bunny with new ideas for the task at hand until he completes that task-today it is finding Douglas a whole roll of snuff for him to take with him to Texas……so-Katie bar the door, here we go! Thomas was driving and Douglas co-piloting, we literally looked high and low for snuff-from Wal-Mart, tobacco stores (that Thomas’s GPS kept sending us to bogus addresses) to Sheetz. I’m not where they actually settled for the purchase but we got it, I told you Thomas would make sure of that! Then since we had attempted Bottoms Up Pizza (located in the old downtown part of Richmond called “Shockoe Bottom-where the streets are still made of brick) earlier in the week and they were already closed, this is where we were having our dinner. Douglas needed to experience it and we all enjoyed it. You can either buy the pizza by the slice of ‘pie’ or the whole pie but I usually can’t eat more than 1 slice due to the size but oh is it good! We ordered a “whole pie” with half pepperoni (for Douglas) and half loaded with all the good stuff (Thomas & I prefer this kind) . I had a slice and the guys finished it all but 1 piece, so we took it with us for a later need maybe?.....
After an afternoon of driving, our bellies were full as a tick now, we were ready to bed down at the hotel-so we did. Douglas visited with Vanessa on his cell for a bit but Thomas was already sawing logs. I had told Thomas that I wanted to get up and take Douglas to the airport and we’d leave around 5:20 AM since his flight is scheduled for a 7:00 AM departure. The lab had 2 bad patients so I was texting/calling (but texting much more than calling) to Dustin and Tiffany until 4:50 AM. Actually I kept my cell phone in the pocket of my pajamas the entire night to assist the techs. I dozed off around 5 AM before my alarm went off 10 minutes later and I woke Douglas up and we were out the door shortly afterwards. It was a quiet ride as he’s not much of a talker when he wakes but it gives me time to relish in the time we’ve had together for the last 9 days and since he comes every 2 years I enjoy every minute of it!
“Count your breaths, they are a limited gift” by Lt. Cmdr. Stephen M. Lee from The Flagship-Hampton Roads Navy Family paper. Written on May 21, 2009, I happened to read it….
The vehicle was speeding when it fish tailed, over corrected and went head long into a shallow ravine in the outer bend of the two lane road. As the first and only person on the scene, I arrived at the crumbled truck and saw a young woman trapped inside. She gave no response, the eyes were pinpointed. Her heart was threatening to leap out of her chest as her lungs pumped like racing billows. I called 911. Her body temperature soared. After checking for and finding no cuts or gashes, I could do little to help her. It was obvious her head had impacted the windshield by the web shaped cracks in the glass. The seatbelts lay open. Who knew what other injuries she had suffered; perhaps she sustained neck or internal organ damage. With no response to word or touch, her non-responsive eyes stared ahead, no twitching and no movement except the pumping of her lungs and thundering heart. No emergency personnel had arrived yet. I noticed pictures, scattered all over the vehicle, of her with young children and a happy looking man. What had been her hurry? What was so important that she had to speed and take such a great chance? A thin plastic shopping bag let through the image of the happy third birthday candle and assorted party favors. Today was her child’s birthday; she had been racing to make everything perfect. Instead, her life ebbed away in rapidly increasing and labored breaths, as the emergency crew began to descend the bank of the ravine. Although it had seemed hours, it had only been a few minutes. As paramedics loaded her into the ambulance, I prayed for her and all she loved. Her family would not see their mother come through the door to start the birthday party, to make demands or give warm hugs. For her child’s third birthday she provided, tragically, only one unwanted gift-a long season of tears. There is a certain way in which we similarly hold our lives in low regard and toss it about carelessly. For instance, mindlessly cutting in and out of rush hour traffic, take unwarranted chances to achieve a quick adrenaline rush, needlessly working until exhausted, unhealthy consumption, and a hundred other specific and unwarranted risks you can name. Yet, we will rationalize our desire to fulfill our immediately perceived need out weighs the risk involved to self and to anyone else connected to us. In scripture, we’re told that our lives are like “a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes,” but, at the same time our lives are of great value. Two truths, our lives relatively short and at the same time intrinsically valuable. Our lives are too short and at the same time too valuable to pour out on needless risks. The point is not to merely avoid unnecessary risk, but to live mindfully of the great gift life is and then pour out this gift purposefully and intentionally for the greatest effect. Count your breaths; they are a limited gift on loan from God. Please, use what you have left on them wisely and invest them with due care.
I went back to the hotel to join Thomas around 8 AM, took a little nap until we go up to eat breakfast by 9:30 AM. We returned to our room and I slept for a hour, loaded our things and checked out. We had a nice leisurely day together as we made our way home-you guessed it, on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Enjoying our time together as he stopped and picked me flowers, we talked and reconnected…life is good and we are truly blessed with our family and friends.
Massanutten Ski Week-January 31-February 7, 2009
Well, here we go again-our family! Thomas & I invested in a timeshare that is located at: 1822 Resort Drive, McGaheysville, VA 22840 several years ago: www.massresort.com To be exact I believe it was the first year we were married. It is located outside of Harrisonburg, VA which is north of Roanoke-about a 2 hour drive. We felt since this all season resort was so close to our home it would definitely be utilized for us to entertain family/friends and so we are doing so this week. Our scheduled stay is the 5th week of each year which happens to fall on Superbowl Week-you all know how much I LOVE football so we thought it’d be appropriate to hold an all week celebration for our family/friends. Not really, we won’t be celebrating the end of football season all week long but it will be a sad time as the season draws to a close so we’ll have the usual 1 day celebration as all good Americans do then we’re off to the slopes, waterpark, tubing or just plain ‘ol relaxing in the mountains!
Thomas, Caitlynn and I have been planning and preparing for a week now as the day finally arrives that we do the loading/organizing and travel to our destination spot-Saturday, January 31, 2009. We got up this morning and started our preparation to depart by 10:00 AM. The temperature here at home in Roanoke is 28 degrees as we woke and began loading the vehicles. Notice I said vehicles since we always have to take 2 due to the amount of food that we take to the condo. We like to have everything we need for our meals, snacks and entertainment food and for everyone coming during our week. We were completely loaded to the brim, with only enough space in the pickup for Thomas to drive and Caitlynn to co-pilot his driving while I drove his car with enough room in the driver’s side and nothing else wasted. Off we go for our adventurous week. As I was outside of Harrisonburg I called Glen’s cell phone to check on their progress. He had called Thomas as they were having breakfast in Lexington and then they’d head to the resort also. Carla, Kristen (13 yrs old), Mileena (Kristen’s best friend), her mom-Linda, and her brother-Adam (who is 10 yrs old) were all traveling together in their van. As I entered the road to the resort they had pulled off to the side of the road and waited on me since they had never been here. I took them to the waterpark and all of then but Glen opted to stay there for fun in the water as we were going to get registered and see where we’d be staying. We had an hour and a half to wait until we could actually get into the condo (3:00 PM) so we went back to the waterpark and watched the rest of the crew and visited them for a little before we came back and unloaded our vehicles then sorted things out in both upstairs and downstairs. Thomas started his famous spaghetti but as Caitlynn reminded him “I can’t believe your using Ragu, you never do that” but with all the fresh “fixings” he puts in it I have no doubt it will be good and everyone will enjoy it. Caitlynn & I prepared queso dip and Glen prepared the garlic bread for our entrée this evening. When it was time for Glen to pickup his crew and bring them to the condo (6:00 PM), he left to return and we planned dinner to be ready at 7:30. Caitlynn ran outside to greet Glen and his bunch as they returned from the waterpark. I saw what looked like van lights and told her “that’s them” so she ran outside and yells “Glen my little Princess” just in time to realize that it was not Glen but a Chinese man who thought she was crazy!….As Glen escorted his group to the top floor (above our floor which is a mirror image of our floor-complete with 6 person hottub in the master bathroom, full kitchen, dining area, fireplace, decks, master bedroom with bath and another bedroom with 2 beds, not to leave out the fact that the couch makes into a full-size bed) the girls squealed and said “this is nicer than our house” and then when they set eyes on the hottub they squealed even louder, shut the door and started the water!
After everyone got settled and hungry-we all came to our condo floor to eat dinner together and spend some time getting to know each other. We all sat around talking and sharing stories of events, people, and times that we have shared. Thomas and Glen have worked together since 1991 so they have seen each others families grow and change with the times. Carla was cracking us up with a story about the time Glen was having kidney stone issues and she told us that as he sat around in his boxers, he kept “fiddling with himself down there”. She said he had a funny look on his face as he keep groping so she asked him “did you pass a stone yet”, as he had a peculiar look on his face as he looked up and had something in his hand that he opened it for Carla to find a earring back that must have been lodged in his underpants! Caitlynn held her own as she is so funny naturally-even if she’s not telling stories. The kids all went back and forth between both floors but ironically they did hang out with us mostly to share in the laughter. As Caitlynn now has a full mouth of braces-top and bottom, she is also fortunate to also have to wear a nice bright red retainer on the top section of her teeth so Carla was amazed that she could still talk but Glen laughed and said maybe they were trying to slow her down from talking-you think? Kristen and Mileena are friends from school and play soccer together. Carla and Linda met as their girls hang out together and Linda helped coach the girl’s soccer team. She recalls her famous line she used with Kristen the last season as being “What are you do doing?” as she recalls and demonstrates her reactions when she yells this. Linda shared with us the story of how her ex-husband and she found Mileena’s name as it is so unique. She said she used to be a big fan/player of Mortal Combat which is a video game and she said there was a “big, bad woman that was just awesome and had an awesome body” so they named her after this video woman because she was “so bad” as her says respectfully. Their family moved here 3 years ago from New Mexico so they are adjusting to the cultural differences here in Virginia as Linda tells us is so different.
All 3 of us mom’s sitting here have thyroid issues and we talked about that and the fact that research has changed the normal values that are acceptable. Linda has been doing some research in the information of it and so we all participated in that conversation. Carla shared a story with us that she remembers when Kristen was small and she loved playing in her mom’s lipstick. One day she heard her in their bedroom and she yelled at Kristen that she had better not be in her lipstick! Carla said that every time she would get into them she would apply it around her whole mouth as she was young and didn’t really aim. She said that the next day Glen went to put on a pair of his underwear on and as he turned and walked away, she saw lip prints all over the back of his underpants! She said to Glen, “is there something I need to know because those don’t look like lips!” We were all laughing so hard as I’m sure as parents we can all imagine how that felt. It wasn’t long before they realized that when Carla yelled for Kristen to NOT be in the lipstick, she grabbed her dad’s underwear and wiped her mouth to erase the evidence of her curiosity. Thomas chuckled as he told Carla “and you should of told him you wouldn’t be kissing his ass anyway so those couldn’t be your lips!” Kristen used the chocolate chip cookie mix that Caitlynn gave her and she made us Jesus cookies meaning they were large as she started putting them on the cookie sheet, Carla said they were Jesus cookies because “Jesus those are large!” Glen told her that “they will never cook being that big” but they did and no one cared how big they were as they were ALL gobbled up! After we let our bellies settle then I gave them all blind taste tests for NERD, which is a new business venture Thomas and I have invested in recently (http://www.nerdenergy.tv) . We tested Rockstar, Mother Load, Red Bull and of course NERD. All the kids chose NERD and the both adults tested (Glen and Linda-Carla said she “can’t just sip something or it makes me sick”) chose NERD to be 1 of their top 2 so we did label comparisons and talked about how we came about this venture. As we all sat around we each talked about our families and growing up, in-laws, and parents. Caitlynn shared a story with us when she and her dad (Lynn) were watching an animal show with one of her visits to see him. There was a Silver Back gorilla in the show and Lynn asked her if she knew what “that is” and she said she knew it was a gorilla. He corrected her and said “no, you see the silver line down its back-that is the meanest gorilla in the jungle. That would be your Grannanny (which would be my mother). We spent the next few hours reminiscencing of the many memories several of us here have had together and for the rest of us we were getting to know one another. Kristen came back down to our floor at 1:05AM as she reported to us it was hard for her to go to sleep as she kept hearing all of us laugh so loud down here! After Carla gave Kristen something for a headache, we all decided it was time to call it a day. We departed to lay our heads down to sleep at1:30 AM but as I finished getting ready for bed with my nightly routine, Thomas was snoring so I talked with Caitlynn for a few more minutes then I was off to read and in bed myself to close a nice day.
Sunday, February 01, 2009-As the bright sun filters through our bedroom window the temperature is 45 degrees, Thomas was up to start making breakfast. Happy Superbowl Day-43rd game with Pittsburgh Steelers vs Arizona Cardinals in Tampa Bay, Florida. I am cheering the Cardinals on for several reasons, the first being I have always liked Kurt Warner and secondly they are the underdogs as everyone expects Pittsburgh to win as they have been in the Superbowl before. The preview game show will begin at noon for TV coverage.
As everyone started waking up-the kids first except for Caitlynn, they came to our floor. Glen tells us as he comes to eat breakfast that he heard the kids saying they were going to come down to see if “my good man Mr. Thomas has something to eat” (as Kristen affectionately refers to Thomas frequently) they’re not crazy, they know who does the cooking around here! As they bounced onto our floor they were pleased to see the progress that Thomas was making as he had biscuits, sausage, bacon, coffee (juices/milk for the kids) and was putting the finishing touches on the eggs. Everyone had breakfast as they woke and came downstairs to join us. Linda came down with her Steelers lounge pants, Thomas stated he’s for the underdog Arizona. The night refreshed us all and we spent some time getting ready for the day and Glen’s group prepared the pack since they would be heading back to Roanoke/Salem today. After everyone finished getting ready and was pretty much packed, lunchtime was upon us. We sat out Thomas’s famous tuna-which I have never seen anyone including kids not like eating this! Sure enough we all enjoyed it along with soft tacos that Caitlynn had just finished preparing for everyone. With the adults sitting around talking again as we’ve been able to do with this getaway, we laughed as Linda told us about taking her 2 kids back to NM last year. She really wanted to teach her kids about fishing-catching, cutting & gutting them. She relayed to us that she was raised fishing as a way of life with her dad and she wanted her kids “to get the big picture of that true way of life”. Glen and Carla reported to us Kristen’s realization as Glen told her “this is the fact, every one we catch we will clean and eat”. As he gives us the details Carla grimaced at the thought. Linda is from Albuquerque, NM so we got on the subject of the annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta www.balloonfiesta.com that is held there each year where 5,000 or more hot air balloons have mass ascension out of the valley of Albuquerque in the wee hours of the morning in the fall season-it is truly amazing that everyone should see at least once in their life. Lynn, Caitlynn and Shugs (my only Rat Dog at that time) attended and other than Lynn’s constant complaining we had a good time.
Caitlynn joined in with her humor and it’s so funny to hear Kristen and Mileena laugh with her funny tales or comments. She announces that she is wearing my least favorite pair of pants that she wears because she loves them. They have holes everywhere so she wears a pair of basketball shorts under them-if I get a chance one day I’ll have to dispose of them….
The afternoon was already upon us so Glen’s group loaded up and we said our good-bye’s as they departed. It was a good time to be had by all and we made some new friends along the way which is what life’s all about.
Thomas and I made our way to the Woodstone building where he enjoyed the sauna and hottub as I worked out in the exercise room for an hour. He drove back to the condo and I walked it as I felt like I ate all day yesterday, besides the weather is beautiful at a sunny 59 degrees here in the mountains. Nothing like the mountain fresh air! There were quite a few golf carts out as the golfers are enjoying the day here as this is considered an All Season Resort with its own large golf course-not sure “how big exactly” since I am NOT a golfer. I will have to do a little investigative work on the golfing as I will use that to entice Nicole and her family with the golfing here since Justin is learning to golf with Juan so they’ve been trying to play on a regular basis.
As I make my way I think about how blessed I am as I’m able to take time to enjoy our surroundings. I walk and focus to open my eyes, stretch my mind and let go of the security blanket of what I think I know…….Upon my arrival in the condo Thomas pointed out that Caitlynn had baked us a couple of cookies and left them for us to enjoy. She left a note in the floor in front of the front door that read “upstairs taking a nap….hopefully napping” with a smiley face.
The Superbowl pregame show is on and I love watching the interviews as you get such an up close and personal view of the players that you watch play a game that they love and play with such passion each week during football season. The entertainment was music by Journey an hour before the game and I was shocked as I watched them perform because the lead singer is not the original man, he is Asian but performed for the crowd well. I told Thomas it was almost like going to a funeral and seeing the wrong body in the coffin as I did not expect that at all. Matt Lauer from The Today Show interviewed our new president that’s been in the office for 12 days now, that was entertaining and I enjoyed it also. The NFL named Kurt Warner “Man of the Year” and presented him with an award. I talked to Nicole as they are in Texas also getting ready to watch the game. Juan (her husband is also a Cowboys fan like Thomas), we talked as she tells me Lauren had her first fever on Friday evening but is somewhat better today.
Halftime for the Superbowl score is Steelers 17 and Cardinals 10. The last few minutes of the 1st half, the longest touchdown run (100 yds) in history was made for Steelers by a defensive end: James Harrison #92. Bruce Springsteen and The E-Street Band performed at halftime but Thomas and I enjoyed watching the commercials more than their performance. Some of the commercials have brought back 3D, that was kind of cool. We chuckled as Caitlynn has slowly started taking over the top floor since Glen’s group left today so she’s been coming down off & on during the game to get some snacks to stock up there for her. So occasionally we’ll here her abruptly jogging done the steps and selectively picking her next batch of snacks. Thomas and I are enjoying our own little smorgasbord of snacks. As the game time is dwindling down it is very exciting so this marks 2 great teams that deserve to be in the Superbowl. The game was won in the last 35 seconds with a catch by Santonio Holmes (made MVP of this game) with an amazing catch making the final score Steelers 27, Cardinals 23. Pittsburgh Steelers (coached by Mike Tomlin currently, began coaching this team at 32 yrs old) makes history today by being the only NFL team to be 6 time champions of the Superbowl. Ben Rothelishberger is the quarterback for Pittsburgh and his is 26 yrs old and this is his 2nd Superbowl win.
Thomas and I completed our evening in the hottub in our room with wine & candlelight as we relaxed and spent some alone time as Caitlynn was off to watching a movie/sleep upstairs. It’s been a good day.
Today is Monday, February 02, 2009-Ground Hog Day. The temperature is 52 degrees @ 10:00AM and the weather channel is predicting things to start cooling off mid day today with a slight chance of snow showers by Tuesday. “Punxsutawney” (who lives in PA) saw his shadow this morning so he predicts we will have 6 more weeks of winter weather: Frankly I love that because it just seems that winter gets shorter and shorter with less snow each year. We’ve had a few days with brief snow showers but nothing significant to speak of in Roanoke this year.
Monday, February 2nd, 2009-Thomas woke up to take a conference call and is working from here today so he’s on his cell and laptop, busy at it. Once Caitlynn woke she graced us with her presence from her “own floor upstairs”. We chuckled as I said “it’s always fun and games until someone gets an eye put out” as MawMaw Nolen would often tell her grandkids as they would horse-play. I however was referring to the fact that she claimed the upstairs place as hers for now as she “likes living alone” she told us. I said to her, “lots of people do until the bills come in and someone has to pay them if you like the amount of space you have and the amenities. She just gave me that “ok, thanks mom” look but she still came down to see what we were having for breakfast-funny how that happens don’t you think?
Louise called and she is driving here this morning with Lauren (she turned 2 yrs old in November), which I have the honor of babysitting while she skis with Caitlynn today. They will spend the night and go home on Tuesday sometime. So since I have time to spare after dealing with a few work-related issues I am walking to Woodstone to workout. I have joined my office in a 100-day challenge for “Get Healthy VA” and there were 54 teams (last account I had) that for the next 100 days (beginning Jan. 21st) we are competing on weight loss and activity tracked for each team so since I am the team captain-I should be setting a good example. Besides all of that I am not getting ANY younger and have another 5K to do March 14th in Roanoke so off I go. After I finished an exceptional workout I began my walk back to the condo and it was very obvious that the temperature had dropped (as they were predicting) to 41 degrees and the cloud cover was moving in-it’s still beautiful making this 9 minute walk. There are several small pond areas that the geese are enjoying even though there are several frozen patches throughout. Not many people golfing today but I’m hopeful for the weather to change in hopes that we get snow here. Upon my arrival after my exercise, Louise and Lauren had arrived. When I walked in sweaty and looking lovely I’m sure, Lauren said “Hey Aunt Raquel!” Now that is a nice greeting. She had a bag full of toys and books she so eagerly showed me and Thomas. She joined us as we put together a puzzle on the floor. I giggled as Louise brought in 5 pairs of shoes as she tells us that Lauren LOVES shoes. I would agree as that is a common trait all of us women share, I’d say. Caitlynn came down as she and Louise were planning their ski session for the afternoon. Thomas & I are going to go swimming with Lauren as there are several indoor pools to choose from here at the resort. As the girls dressed for their ski event, Lauren and I prepared for our swim. Lauren & I stood on one of the decks and said our good-byes to Caitlynn and her mom for now and I took pictures, one with my phone and sent it via text to Lynn for him to see his daughter in ski gear. Then we waited on Thomas to finish up and head out which took about 45 minutes, so in that time Lauren had dressed and undressed about 5 times. Now there is rain/snow mixed falling as we left the condo and the temperature has dropped to 38 degrees but feels like 34 with the wind. I’d say that Louise & Caitlynn chose the perfect time to go ski as this is great ski weather as it turns out to be with the weather change.
We’re off to the Woodstone recreation building to take Lauren swimming. I got her in the pool first and then Thomas joined us after taking a dip in the hottub which is just to the inside of the pool area from where she and I were. I spent a few minutes in the hot sauna and I looked out the door and low and behold who’s standing there-Thomas was holding Lauren as she waved to me when spotting me. Louise said she had not had a nap today but she’s still going full force! After we finished swimming we took her to ride the little kid’s rides that they have for the children, they require money but Uncle Thomas just shook it with his hands and for a 2 yr old that was plenty. Lauren then tried out the video games and since the screens change to entice any passer-by, she thought she was pushing the buttons and pulling the handles to make things happen-she loved that!
We made our way back to the condo through the snow as it is coming down in really big flakes now and we began to prepare dinner as I figured Louise and Caitlynn would be returning hungry, around 7:30 PM ish…. We opted for leftover spaghetti and so I prepared Lauren’s meal first while I was also waiting on the garlic bread to cook. She surprised me by eating an entire banana (except for the bite her Uncle Thomas begged for and she granted his wish), a small bowl of spaghetti, several Ritz crackers with cheese (typical for a Rothe to LOVE any kind of cheese!), a handful and a half of grapes, 3 small carrots, and 1 tomato that she reached over to Thomas’s vegetable tray and dipped it in ranch dressing before devouring. Of course by this time she is down to only her pull-up again and loving life. I laugh as I watch her because it brings back so many memories of Caitlynn when she was little-she hated clothes! As soon as I’d dress her she’d turn the corner in a dead run and be pulling every article off her body. Then the race was on as she’d run and hide so no one could get her clothes back on. From exhaustion we would give up trying the catch her and calf rope her to dress her again but while she was hiding her giggle would be a dead giveaway where she had chosen to hide! All of Brandon’s friends would laugh because every time they were at our house (which was all the time since he loved being at home out in the country!) she’d be half-way naked or jumping on the trampoline butt naked usually upon their arrival. Good thing we had no neighbors for miles…
We I read Lauren several books I was amazed to see how well she knows the letters of the alphabet and with 1 particular book-she really enjoys to be read to. Louise & Caitlynn arrived and we escorted them in as Caitlynn had a little pain in her left leg, above her ankle area on the outside. Thomas feels like it’s tendonitis probably. Us girls ate dinner and Lauren picked at my food as she took a few bites and ran around and Thomas was STILL troubleshooting his laptop modem issue with HP and Verizon as he tried to transition his phone service to a modem use as a way of getting internet on his laptop Friday before we left on Sat. no luck so far and he’s been trying for 12 hours total for the last 2 days. We cracked up as Lauren entertained us now naked as she stacks her puzzle pieces then sits on them and of course the more we laughed, the more energy she seemed to create. Every time Louise asked Lauren if she wanted something or if she could get something for her she responded to her mom , “no Aunt Raquel do it” and Louise grinned as she said “ok, now I know how your dad feels when we’re home as she always wants me to do it there”. I got Caitlynn to lie down and put ice on her leg while we put the movie “Racing Stripes” in to watch. Lauren has a yellow platapus that she carries around and calls it a duck, she loves it and searches for it when she’s ready for it. I asked Louise where she got it and she told me it was in a bag of things that Helene had given her that was Kayla and Nick’s “kid” things. She believed this was actually Kayla’s in the past and Lauren has graciously adopted it. One of the things that I so greatly respect and admire about Louise and David as they strive to raise Lauren in this day and time is the fact that they are always instilling pieces of family history for her in everyday life. When I say this I mean they encourage her to always use the “title of each family member when addressing or referring to them (ie: Aunt…cousin….Uncle, etc.) and they implement bits and pieces of the family past such as this stuffed animal of her cousins so that she will have a great appreciation of her family roots when she gets older. I love to see that because with the busyness of our daily lives we live today it’s not seen very often and I feel there’s a big breakdown in the time families spent together like I recall as a child growing up in my home as compared to today. There will be a day and time that Lauren will appreciate this attribute as her parents are giving her a heritage and for that I’m thankful.
Lauren never went to sleep so after the movie went off Louise took her to their bedroom and read to her and she was off to night-night land in no time-I creeped in to take a picture of her in her motionless state, she’s so cute! Caitlynn was off to her upstairs domain and Louise played her DS game, Thomas was emailing tech support back & forth in between playing a computer game as I’m typing this story. The snow is still falling and it is so peaceful. We’ve never been here for our week when it did not snow, the snow makes the trip complete for me. As I head off the do my quiet time, I think of how ironic it is that my reading is almost always related to the day that’s just been completed for me. The Living Faith daily devotion reads: Jesus’ Humanity Enlivens Us *The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him. Luke 2:40-the reading for February 2, 2009 I always let this phrase roll around in my head like the last sip of a favorite drink. I savor it because it reminds us that Jesus was a child who grew up, becoming strong and filled with wisdom. Like the rest of us, he didn’t start out that strong or wise. I can’t help but wonder what he was like as a child, what seemingly nutty things he might have done. Jane Goodall, advocate for the chimpanzees, took garden worms to bed as a child to keep them warm. Did Jesus bring home some ragged stray and plaintively ask, “Mom, can I keep him?” or climb a tree attempting to put an unfledged chick back in its nest? Thinking of Jesus as a child enlivens his humanity for me and makes it easier for me to continue to follow the man he became. Dear Jesus, fill me with your wisdom and strength so that I may follow you.
Interesting that we have spent the day with Lauren as a young child and have seen her strong-willed ways and how intelligent she is yet she is still very much a child with so much to learn and such a bright future ahead of her. I pray for her nightly as I do all the children in my family, that God would write his name on their hearts and use their parents to be Godly examples to create a passion in them to seek Him in all they do. Good night all.
Good morning, today is Tuesday, February 3, 2009 and they are saying we got 4-6 inches of snow and the current temperature is 30 degrees. The day is starting out sunny and will melt parts of it away I’m sure before long but for now we will enjoy the majestic view of the mountains covered in fresh fallen snow-it is quite picturesque. I sent via text the girls at the office and Nicole/kids (Justin, Allison, and Lauren-yes I have a Lauren on my side of the family also since last August) a picture of the view outside our back deck here at the condo. Kim sent me back their version of their view at the lab which had an audio clip and it was somewhere that had snow covered cross-country skiing place with huge mountains-they are so humorous. It was obviously not what they were actually looking outside their window in Salem, VA! We are in hopes that some of my staff will be joining us later on this week.
Thomas prepared a nice breakfast for Louise, Lauren and I as we let Caitlynn sleep in this morning. We were impressed to hear the sound of the geese to the little pond area outside the condo as they must be returning after flying off yesterday when the weather changed so drastically. Afterwards Louise, Lauren and I got our snow clothes on and went outside in search of an area to make a snowman. Louise said that Lauren had not liked the snow before (last year) and wouldn’t even walk in it, she was in hopes that her fear had changed. So Louise immediately laid in the snow outside the condo (with Lauren standing beside her) and started making a snow angel. I laughed as I proceeded out the front door to observe her actions and it made me think of the days when Jason and his friends from Jr High would get in and out of the hottub at Thomas’s house to make snow angels in the middle of winter-still not sure if they were dressed or not as I never really watched but just heard the stories from Thomas since I was usually only there for a brief visit from Tx. when we dated. I smiled as I remembered their excitement when they shared the stories themselves with me. We are in hopes that he will be able to join us at some point this week to ski but when I sent him a text after the weekend when we got here he said he was busy getting caught up in his accounting class so I did send him a text picture of the snow and how cute Lauren looked getting ready to swim yesterday as we left-he in turn sent me a text picture of the snow there at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. Maybe as the week passes he’ll be able to join us for a little bit.
Louise found a good spot to build a snowman but had to resort back to carrying Lauren as she didn’t want to walk in the snow. Lauren stood there and I talked to her as her mom became the artist creating a snowman before her very eyes, she observed with great caution and as Louise finished I had Caitlynn hand us vegetables to make him come alive with features. So he had celery sticks for his ears, a carrot nose and tomato eyes. There was an old tortilla that Caitlynn had thrown outside yesterday in hopes that the birds would eat it, their loss was the snowman’s gain to be its hat. Then Louise topped it off with a small ball of snow to secure the hat better-Lauren smiled as her mom talked to her as she completed her masterpiece. At this point she did begin to take a closer look and showed a little more interest in the project her mom just completed so I was able to take pictures. David was unable to come so I will be sharing the pictures after our trip is over this week-he’ll like them as I have been able to get some good ones. As a parent can you really ever have enough pictures to look at with your kid(s) in them? I’m thinking not! I then made my way down the golf cart trail to take more pictures as Louise and Lauren headed back to the condo. With me and nature out here alone, it gives me time to once again think about all of my surroundings and realize how perfectly simple life is intended to be. As humans we are the ones that complicate things and by the grace of our Heavenly Father we have the simple opportunities to reconnect and renew balance in our ordinary lives.
Thomas continues to be on the phone with tech support and the same issue with his laptop, he goes between HP and Verizon so Louise, Lauren and I got ready and went to Le Club to swim as they have an isolated kid pool that is heated and other amenities. The sun is out but the high temperature for the day was 33 degrees as some of the snow melts away with the warmth of the sun. This time as we got out of Louise’s vehicle Lauren walked, even though there was snow-Louise and I noticed but didn’t make a big deal out of it in hopes that she will get better while being around it. We had a good time swimming and entertaining Lauren as we had the kid pool to ourselves except for a 4 yr old little boy but his mom only watched and read a book, she did not swim. After awhile Lauren was obviously sleepy so we gathered our things and we’re off to the condo for some lunch and then they will drive home to Rocky Mount. Louise told me that David called this morning and was going home from work as he was not feeling well so he’d be there upon their arrival. We returned to have lunch and load them up for their departure for home. With a full belly her “baby doll”, blankets, and her yellow duck I felt confident that she’d sleep as Louise drove them home to see her daddy! It was a great visit and we enjoyed every minute of it! After they left I straightened the kitchen and talked to the lab several times and Bari regarding work. Caitlynn stayed downstairs after we had all said our good-byes and we talked, she talked about several of her friends, school and our plans for the evening. I like hearing her perception of relationships as she is not easy swayed at all and has very definite opinions of certain things involving relationships. Women typically don’t have the power over their own emotions. You can’t have power over anything if you don’t have power over who you are and you can’t have power over who you are until you have the courage to say no out of love, versus yes out of fear. Women say yes because they are afraid of what others will think of them, what others will say about them. I’ve tried to teach her to do soul searching when forming an opinion and make sure you’re right with God then do what’s right regardless of other people. If they are your true friends they allow you to be different out of respect. She’s becoming quite the young lady that I am proud of her but feel like I have such a mission ahead of me for the next 2 ½ years, with God all things are possible.
Then I settled on the couch to read for a bit and relax. After a couple of hours I decided to go do my workout so Thomas and I left around 7:00 PM to go to Woodstone so he could swim and enjoy the sauna and hottub there until I was finished and joined him before returning here. We ate our dinner as Caitlynn had prepared BBQ for sandwiches prior to us leaving. Thomas and I then started a movie with the fireplace blazing and relaxed as Caitlynn had been back & forth to chat with us and bake us chocolate chip cookies again but then she was off for the duration of the evening. It’s been an enriching day full of good times and relaxation for all.
Today is Wednesday, February 04, 2009 and I woke up to my cell ringing at 3:00 AM and so I talked to Robin at the lab regarding a clinical judgement call on a patient. Then I called Robbie at the lab as Sunday was his 21st birthday and I wanted to make sure he survived! I was off to bed again after toasting myself a PopTart (strawberry and I only had 1) and having a big glass of water. My cell phone rang again around 8:15 AM and it was Nicole. She cracks me up, of course I sounded groggy and she apologized for waking me-not a big deal to me as I love to hear from her and besides I’m on vacation. Whether it be a health related question, opinion seeking, talk to the kids or just to chat it doesn’t matter as long as she thinks for me! Thomas was awake shortly, made coffee and headed to the hottub here in the condo and Caitlynn is still sleeping in her upstairs area. She will be moving down here later today as Bruce and Tracy will arrive this evening to join us and we’ve like to give them some privacy before we have another group coming in on Thursday. Caitlynn has definitely enjoyed her “space” upstairs as she has practiced for living on her own so I have full confidence that she’ll do well when she leaves the nest in a little over 2 yrs., after all she is her mother’s child-right? Scary….
It is a brisk 24 degrees (feels like 16 though) and the high temp for today they are saying is 32 degrees, partly cloudy. Thomas remains working on a Suduko puzzle while enjoying the hottub and I kept his coffee full until I joined him for a bit. I’m grabbing my breakfast after making reservations for the Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre for us to attend this evening as a family before Bruce and Tracy arrive later this evening. Caitlynn had mentioned it with interest the last time we were here for our ski week last year but we had never gone so now would be a good time. I took Thomas and Jason to one similar in Roanoke at the Holiday Inn-Tanglewood for one of Thomas’s birthdays when we were dating and we had a good time so I hope this one is as entertaining for us.
Off I go out the door after starting laundry and vacuuming to go workout. Thomas is on the phone with his offices and working on an excel spreadsheet for tracking production in his offices. Caitlynn is upstairs watching TV so I am sure they will be fine in my absence. I had a good workout out then swam, enjoyed the wet sauna, then moved to the dry sauna before I changed clothes to head back to the condo. Surprisingly Thomas is STILL on the phone with tech support with his laptop connection issues and Caitlynn is asleep upstairs now. After eating I caught up on my texts, phone calls for work then laid down to read before I needed to get ready for our family outing-The Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre at the conference center scheduled for 6:00 PM. So for something to do that had never been done before for this trip would be Caitlynn attending her first Mystery Dinner Theatre, she’s excited. Thomas ended his tech support call to go with us as a family, which was nice. So as we expected, it was entertaining and we enjoyed it-the buffet was great with quite a selection but we especially delighted in the steamed crab legs. Since Caitlynn had a slight reaction to cracking them last time we were in VA Beach last year, we were sure not to let her touch them but Thomas & enjoyed them enough for all 3of us. We returned to the condo (Thomas let Caitlynn drive us back-I of course sat in the back seat as we veered down the mountain side-she is a good driver though. I’m sure it’s due to his instruction and patience) and got comfortable as Bruce & Tracy were driving in this evening and should be here shortly. Caitlynn baked chocolate chip cookies and we greeted them at the front. It is a very brisk 18 degrees outside now as its 10 PM but feels like 10 degrees with the wind chill. We watched an older DVD together without Caitlynn as she was down here with us but doing her own thing in her room. Afterwards we were off to bed. We all stayed downstairs to allow Bruce and Tracy space and time as they rarely get that at home. I am thankful for the day and friends/family that we enjoy spending time with.
Good Morning, it’s Thursday, February 05, 2009 and a bitter 14 degrees when I woke again at 5:50 AM. Thomas was up at 7AM and left for his office in Mechanicsville then Waynesboro to return here this evening. I have the fireplace on in the living room area and my Itunes music playing softly not to wake up Caitlynn as she moved downstairs with us yesterday evening. The sun is bright even though it’s cold and they’re predicting the high of 25 degrees today. I prepared a smorgasbord of breakfast food including freshly made coffee (with cream & sugar as Bruce likes, Tracy is not a coffee drinker) and milk and set it outside the upstairs door then sent a text message for them to retrieve and enjoy their room service for this morning! I fixed myself a small breakfast burrito and caught up with the office several times as Kim took over a sleepless titration for Robbie this AM for me-all is good now. She & Darrell will be joining everyone here this evening early. I will head back to Roanoke around 2 PM to take Caitlynn and friends (Sam, Tiffany and Jake-Tiffany’s boyfriend that they became “promised” to with a ring for Christmas) to see Larry the Cable Guy. Thomas would be returning to prepare dinner for our friends as we are in hopes that Kim and Darrell Wells will be here by then also. The drive to Roanoke was uneventful with me having a lot of good entertainment from my daughter, I often wonder what age she will be when she allows a complete song to play for its entire way through-maybe that’s just too much to ask for a 15 yr old that has such a diverse love of music? Anyway it’s always good to just hang out with her-no place to go (except for the road trip we’re on) and just let her talk about whatever comes to her mind. It’s always interesting to hear her thought process.
We picked up Tiffany on our way in to town then went to our house where Jake met us then Grandma brought Sam to the house shortly afterwards. The Rat Dogz (Shugs-10 yrs old last month, Gizmo-7 yrs old until Oct of this year and Val-3 yrs old until Sept of this year) were so excited to see us! I finished signing payroll checks and gathered the kids to take them to the Salem Civic Center for their evening performance then I went to the lab to work a bit and gather my mail from the week. I returned to my house to write dialog for an interview from Our Health magazine as they will be featuring Sleep EZ Diagnostics, Inc. as a private practice and is interviewing a patient of ours and myself for the article, deadline is tomorrow. Of course they did not notify me until this afternoon as to what the deadline was so I am down to the wire since we did not have internet except for a couple of days while in Massanutten.
Caitlynn sent me a text around 10:00 PM and they were ready to be picked up so I left right after I emailed the interview and off to get the kids I went. We returned to the house around 10:35 PM and told Sam and Caitlynn I thought we should just make a quick stop at Kroger’s then drive back to Massanutten tonight, this meant we would arrive around 1:00 AM but I could do it if they could. They agreed and immediately put their Ipods in their ears as I was in control of the radio station this time-off we were into the night. Actually both kids slept at least half of the drive and I sang. I knew I should have been a backup singer, why am I doing sleep? Sometimes we miss our calling until later in life but I’m not sure my backup singing could pay the bills though-my daughter reminds me often that it won’t. We arrived safe and sound as Kim, Darrell, Thomas, Bruce, and Tracy were watching TV as they waited on us. We all chatted for a bit then off to bed we all went…..
Waking to a cell phone (mine-as if that is a shocker to anyone who knows me…haha) before 8:30 AM on this Friday. A bright beautiful morning with a temperature of 16 degrees, high expected to be 40’s today, first time since Monday when the cold front came thru bringing the snow which has been wonderful to see as we are here in the mountains. We ate breakfast after Thomas & I prepared it and everyone came from downstairs and we were all awake except Caitlynn and Sam. After they woke up we cleaned the kitchen and waited for Jason & Jessica’s (our neice) arrival which was shortly before lunchtime.
We all headed for the Le Club where we could swim, work out, play basketball, racquetball, enjoy the hottub (inside or out), sauna (wet or dry), or swim. Kim, Tracy and I worked out then joined the rest of them in the hottub then moved to the sauna and back. Jason and Jessica went to the indoor waterpark initially but joined us after they realized the cost. It’s always good to have them around. Later that late afternoon Thomas, Bruce and Darrell headed back to the condo to begin our dinner preparations. We had quite a crowd now so they started the process and we joined them shortly afterwards. Everyone got into comfortable clothes and meandered between both floors as Jessica indulged in the nice big hottub upstairs (I loaned her some bubbles to enjoy) and others took showers in the bottom floor, then we all began working together for our meal. We blessed the meal as we once again come together and realize how fortunate each one of us are to have each other and be able to enjoy some “down time” together and regroup. Life can be down at times and it may seem to have too few “highs” in it. The highs are laughter, fun, activity, and involvement with others. I am thankful for this beautiful and magical creation called life.
Kim & Darrell finished grilling our burgers and Bratwurst, we all got a good laugh as Kim came downstairs and asked us if the Brats needed to be skinned or not! (what? Has anyone reading this every skinned a Brat-really?) We had never tried them that way but what the heck? Since Jason is the Brat connoisseur, we asked him what he thought since he had not eaten anything but Brats from his plate tonight and it didn’t seem to matter to him! EVERYONE of us definitely had plenty of food to eat! Afterwards we sat around talking and catching up, listening to Itunes on my laptop as Jason and I like to compare new music that we’ve found. Thomas left and made arrangements for those wanting to snowtube at the lifts and then they left for the adventure. Most of the women stayed except Jessica. Darrell and Bruce all stayed while Caitlynn made chocolate chip cookies for us to enjoy again. After the snowtube group returned Jessica and Jason decided they would leave and drive to Clifton since a friend of Jessica’s was having a birthday party so they left close to 11:00 PM, the rest of us watched a movie and called it a day. Jason and I sent texts to each other as he was driving back to Roanoke in the early morning hours-it’s always great to have him with us even if it’s for a short time. He’s become quite the young man and handsome, compassionate and nurturing like his dad. I can’t believe he’s a sophomore in college!
Saturday, February 7th, 2009. Checkout day so we all ate breakfast together and what a smorgasbord as we were getting the groceries eaten before we had to packup the remains. It was 48 degrees before 9 AM and was expected to be in the 60’s today so it will be good weather for the drive home. We were all gathering and cleaning as we packed our families. It’s amazing how fast it goes with teamwork! We enjoyed the help as it is typically Thomas and I trying to get everything done to get ready to leave after a week. Kim and Darrell left in their truck, Tracy, Bruce, and Sam left in “Ellie” which is Tracy’s vehicle, and then Thomas was in his truck with Caitlynn and me “the Lone Ranger” following them as we all left the mountains of Massanutten to drive to our homes. It’s been a good week. I was greatly inspired by the mountains here as I write yet another story; Let is always have a mountain within our soul with a peak so high that we never quite reach the top…for then we always strive for greater things and will not be content with merely climbing hills.
Thomas, Caitlynn and I have been planning and preparing for a week now as the day finally arrives that we do the loading/organizing and travel to our destination spot-Saturday, January 31, 2009. We got up this morning and started our preparation to depart by 10:00 AM. The temperature here at home in Roanoke is 28 degrees as we woke and began loading the vehicles. Notice I said vehicles since we always have to take 2 due to the amount of food that we take to the condo. We like to have everything we need for our meals, snacks and entertainment food and for everyone coming during our week. We were completely loaded to the brim, with only enough space in the pickup for Thomas to drive and Caitlynn to co-pilot his driving while I drove his car with enough room in the driver’s side and nothing else wasted. Off we go for our adventurous week. As I was outside of Harrisonburg I called Glen’s cell phone to check on their progress. He had called Thomas as they were having breakfast in Lexington and then they’d head to the resort also. Carla, Kristen (13 yrs old), Mileena (Kristen’s best friend), her mom-Linda, and her brother-Adam (who is 10 yrs old) were all traveling together in their van. As I entered the road to the resort they had pulled off to the side of the road and waited on me since they had never been here. I took them to the waterpark and all of then but Glen opted to stay there for fun in the water as we were going to get registered and see where we’d be staying. We had an hour and a half to wait until we could actually get into the condo (3:00 PM) so we went back to the waterpark and watched the rest of the crew and visited them for a little before we came back and unloaded our vehicles then sorted things out in both upstairs and downstairs. Thomas started his famous spaghetti but as Caitlynn reminded him “I can’t believe your using Ragu, you never do that” but with all the fresh “fixings” he puts in it I have no doubt it will be good and everyone will enjoy it. Caitlynn & I prepared queso dip and Glen prepared the garlic bread for our entrée this evening. When it was time for Glen to pickup his crew and bring them to the condo (6:00 PM), he left to return and we planned dinner to be ready at 7:30. Caitlynn ran outside to greet Glen and his bunch as they returned from the waterpark. I saw what looked like van lights and told her “that’s them” so she ran outside and yells “Glen my little Princess” just in time to realize that it was not Glen but a Chinese man who thought she was crazy!….As Glen escorted his group to the top floor (above our floor which is a mirror image of our floor-complete with 6 person hottub in the master bathroom, full kitchen, dining area, fireplace, decks, master bedroom with bath and another bedroom with 2 beds, not to leave out the fact that the couch makes into a full-size bed) the girls squealed and said “this is nicer than our house” and then when they set eyes on the hottub they squealed even louder, shut the door and started the water!
After everyone got settled and hungry-we all came to our condo floor to eat dinner together and spend some time getting to know each other. We all sat around talking and sharing stories of events, people, and times that we have shared. Thomas and Glen have worked together since 1991 so they have seen each others families grow and change with the times. Carla was cracking us up with a story about the time Glen was having kidney stone issues and she told us that as he sat around in his boxers, he kept “fiddling with himself down there”. She said he had a funny look on his face as he keep groping so she asked him “did you pass a stone yet”, as he had a peculiar look on his face as he looked up and had something in his hand that he opened it for Carla to find a earring back that must have been lodged in his underpants! Caitlynn held her own as she is so funny naturally-even if she’s not telling stories. The kids all went back and forth between both floors but ironically they did hang out with us mostly to share in the laughter. As Caitlynn now has a full mouth of braces-top and bottom, she is also fortunate to also have to wear a nice bright red retainer on the top section of her teeth so Carla was amazed that she could still talk but Glen laughed and said maybe they were trying to slow her down from talking-you think? Kristen and Mileena are friends from school and play soccer together. Carla and Linda met as their girls hang out together and Linda helped coach the girl’s soccer team. She recalls her famous line she used with Kristen the last season as being “What are you do doing?” as she recalls and demonstrates her reactions when she yells this. Linda shared with us the story of how her ex-husband and she found Mileena’s name as it is so unique. She said she used to be a big fan/player of Mortal Combat which is a video game and she said there was a “big, bad woman that was just awesome and had an awesome body” so they named her after this video woman because she was “so bad” as her says respectfully. Their family moved here 3 years ago from New Mexico so they are adjusting to the cultural differences here in Virginia as Linda tells us is so different.
All 3 of us mom’s sitting here have thyroid issues and we talked about that and the fact that research has changed the normal values that are acceptable. Linda has been doing some research in the information of it and so we all participated in that conversation. Carla shared a story with us that she remembers when Kristen was small and she loved playing in her mom’s lipstick. One day she heard her in their bedroom and she yelled at Kristen that she had better not be in her lipstick! Carla said that every time she would get into them she would apply it around her whole mouth as she was young and didn’t really aim. She said that the next day Glen went to put on a pair of his underwear on and as he turned and walked away, she saw lip prints all over the back of his underpants! She said to Glen, “is there something I need to know because those don’t look like lips!” We were all laughing so hard as I’m sure as parents we can all imagine how that felt. It wasn’t long before they realized that when Carla yelled for Kristen to NOT be in the lipstick, she grabbed her dad’s underwear and wiped her mouth to erase the evidence of her curiosity. Thomas chuckled as he told Carla “and you should of told him you wouldn’t be kissing his ass anyway so those couldn’t be your lips!” Kristen used the chocolate chip cookie mix that Caitlynn gave her and she made us Jesus cookies meaning they were large as she started putting them on the cookie sheet, Carla said they were Jesus cookies because “Jesus those are large!” Glen told her that “they will never cook being that big” but they did and no one cared how big they were as they were ALL gobbled up! After we let our bellies settle then I gave them all blind taste tests for NERD, which is a new business venture Thomas and I have invested in recently (http://www.nerdenergy.tv) . We tested Rockstar, Mother Load, Red Bull and of course NERD. All the kids chose NERD and the both adults tested (Glen and Linda-Carla said she “can’t just sip something or it makes me sick”) chose NERD to be 1 of their top 2 so we did label comparisons and talked about how we came about this venture. As we all sat around we each talked about our families and growing up, in-laws, and parents. Caitlynn shared a story with us when she and her dad (Lynn) were watching an animal show with one of her visits to see him. There was a Silver Back gorilla in the show and Lynn asked her if she knew what “that is” and she said she knew it was a gorilla. He corrected her and said “no, you see the silver line down its back-that is the meanest gorilla in the jungle. That would be your Grannanny (which would be my mother). We spent the next few hours reminiscencing of the many memories several of us here have had together and for the rest of us we were getting to know one another. Kristen came back down to our floor at 1:05AM as she reported to us it was hard for her to go to sleep as she kept hearing all of us laugh so loud down here! After Carla gave Kristen something for a headache, we all decided it was time to call it a day. We departed to lay our heads down to sleep at1:30 AM but as I finished getting ready for bed with my nightly routine, Thomas was snoring so I talked with Caitlynn for a few more minutes then I was off to read and in bed myself to close a nice day.
Sunday, February 01, 2009-As the bright sun filters through our bedroom window the temperature is 45 degrees, Thomas was up to start making breakfast. Happy Superbowl Day-43rd game with Pittsburgh Steelers vs Arizona Cardinals in Tampa Bay, Florida. I am cheering the Cardinals on for several reasons, the first being I have always liked Kurt Warner and secondly they are the underdogs as everyone expects Pittsburgh to win as they have been in the Superbowl before. The preview game show will begin at noon for TV coverage.
As everyone started waking up-the kids first except for Caitlynn, they came to our floor. Glen tells us as he comes to eat breakfast that he heard the kids saying they were going to come down to see if “my good man Mr. Thomas has something to eat” (as Kristen affectionately refers to Thomas frequently) they’re not crazy, they know who does the cooking around here! As they bounced onto our floor they were pleased to see the progress that Thomas was making as he had biscuits, sausage, bacon, coffee (juices/milk for the kids) and was putting the finishing touches on the eggs. Everyone had breakfast as they woke and came downstairs to join us. Linda came down with her Steelers lounge pants, Thomas stated he’s for the underdog Arizona. The night refreshed us all and we spent some time getting ready for the day and Glen’s group prepared the pack since they would be heading back to Roanoke/Salem today. After everyone finished getting ready and was pretty much packed, lunchtime was upon us. We sat out Thomas’s famous tuna-which I have never seen anyone including kids not like eating this! Sure enough we all enjoyed it along with soft tacos that Caitlynn had just finished preparing for everyone. With the adults sitting around talking again as we’ve been able to do with this getaway, we laughed as Linda told us about taking her 2 kids back to NM last year. She really wanted to teach her kids about fishing-catching, cutting & gutting them. She relayed to us that she was raised fishing as a way of life with her dad and she wanted her kids “to get the big picture of that true way of life”. Glen and Carla reported to us Kristen’s realization as Glen told her “this is the fact, every one we catch we will clean and eat”. As he gives us the details Carla grimaced at the thought. Linda is from Albuquerque, NM so we got on the subject of the annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta www.balloonfiesta.com that is held there each year where 5,000 or more hot air balloons have mass ascension out of the valley of Albuquerque in the wee hours of the morning in the fall season-it is truly amazing that everyone should see at least once in their life. Lynn, Caitlynn and Shugs (my only Rat Dog at that time) attended and other than Lynn’s constant complaining we had a good time.
Caitlynn joined in with her humor and it’s so funny to hear Kristen and Mileena laugh with her funny tales or comments. She announces that she is wearing my least favorite pair of pants that she wears because she loves them. They have holes everywhere so she wears a pair of basketball shorts under them-if I get a chance one day I’ll have to dispose of them….
The afternoon was already upon us so Glen’s group loaded up and we said our good-bye’s as they departed. It was a good time to be had by all and we made some new friends along the way which is what life’s all about.
Thomas and I made our way to the Woodstone building where he enjoyed the sauna and hottub as I worked out in the exercise room for an hour. He drove back to the condo and I walked it as I felt like I ate all day yesterday, besides the weather is beautiful at a sunny 59 degrees here in the mountains. Nothing like the mountain fresh air! There were quite a few golf carts out as the golfers are enjoying the day here as this is considered an All Season Resort with its own large golf course-not sure “how big exactly” since I am NOT a golfer. I will have to do a little investigative work on the golfing as I will use that to entice Nicole and her family with the golfing here since Justin is learning to golf with Juan so they’ve been trying to play on a regular basis.
As I make my way I think about how blessed I am as I’m able to take time to enjoy our surroundings. I walk and focus to open my eyes, stretch my mind and let go of the security blanket of what I think I know…….Upon my arrival in the condo Thomas pointed out that Caitlynn had baked us a couple of cookies and left them for us to enjoy. She left a note in the floor in front of the front door that read “upstairs taking a nap….hopefully napping” with a smiley face.
The Superbowl pregame show is on and I love watching the interviews as you get such an up close and personal view of the players that you watch play a game that they love and play with such passion each week during football season. The entertainment was music by Journey an hour before the game and I was shocked as I watched them perform because the lead singer is not the original man, he is Asian but performed for the crowd well. I told Thomas it was almost like going to a funeral and seeing the wrong body in the coffin as I did not expect that at all. Matt Lauer from The Today Show interviewed our new president that’s been in the office for 12 days now, that was entertaining and I enjoyed it also. The NFL named Kurt Warner “Man of the Year” and presented him with an award. I talked to Nicole as they are in Texas also getting ready to watch the game. Juan (her husband is also a Cowboys fan like Thomas), we talked as she tells me Lauren had her first fever on Friday evening but is somewhat better today.
Halftime for the Superbowl score is Steelers 17 and Cardinals 10. The last few minutes of the 1st half, the longest touchdown run (100 yds) in history was made for Steelers by a defensive end: James Harrison #92. Bruce Springsteen and The E-Street Band performed at halftime but Thomas and I enjoyed watching the commercials more than their performance. Some of the commercials have brought back 3D, that was kind of cool. We chuckled as Caitlynn has slowly started taking over the top floor since Glen’s group left today so she’s been coming down off & on during the game to get some snacks to stock up there for her. So occasionally we’ll here her abruptly jogging done the steps and selectively picking her next batch of snacks. Thomas and I are enjoying our own little smorgasbord of snacks. As the game time is dwindling down it is very exciting so this marks 2 great teams that deserve to be in the Superbowl. The game was won in the last 35 seconds with a catch by Santonio Holmes (made MVP of this game) with an amazing catch making the final score Steelers 27, Cardinals 23. Pittsburgh Steelers (coached by Mike Tomlin currently, began coaching this team at 32 yrs old) makes history today by being the only NFL team to be 6 time champions of the Superbowl. Ben Rothelishberger is the quarterback for Pittsburgh and his is 26 yrs old and this is his 2nd Superbowl win.
Thomas and I completed our evening in the hottub in our room with wine & candlelight as we relaxed and spent some alone time as Caitlynn was off to watching a movie/sleep upstairs. It’s been a good day.
Today is Monday, February 02, 2009-Ground Hog Day. The temperature is 52 degrees @ 10:00AM and the weather channel is predicting things to start cooling off mid day today with a slight chance of snow showers by Tuesday. “Punxsutawney” (who lives in PA) saw his shadow this morning so he predicts we will have 6 more weeks of winter weather: Frankly I love that because it just seems that winter gets shorter and shorter with less snow each year. We’ve had a few days with brief snow showers but nothing significant to speak of in Roanoke this year.
Monday, February 2nd, 2009-Thomas woke up to take a conference call and is working from here today so he’s on his cell and laptop, busy at it. Once Caitlynn woke she graced us with her presence from her “own floor upstairs”. We chuckled as I said “it’s always fun and games until someone gets an eye put out” as MawMaw Nolen would often tell her grandkids as they would horse-play. I however was referring to the fact that she claimed the upstairs place as hers for now as she “likes living alone” she told us. I said to her, “lots of people do until the bills come in and someone has to pay them if you like the amount of space you have and the amenities. She just gave me that “ok, thanks mom” look but she still came down to see what we were having for breakfast-funny how that happens don’t you think?
Louise called and she is driving here this morning with Lauren (she turned 2 yrs old in November), which I have the honor of babysitting while she skis with Caitlynn today. They will spend the night and go home on Tuesday sometime. So since I have time to spare after dealing with a few work-related issues I am walking to Woodstone to workout. I have joined my office in a 100-day challenge for “Get Healthy VA” and there were 54 teams (last account I had) that for the next 100 days (beginning Jan. 21st) we are competing on weight loss and activity tracked for each team so since I am the team captain-I should be setting a good example. Besides all of that I am not getting ANY younger and have another 5K to do March 14th in Roanoke so off I go. After I finished an exceptional workout I began my walk back to the condo and it was very obvious that the temperature had dropped (as they were predicting) to 41 degrees and the cloud cover was moving in-it’s still beautiful making this 9 minute walk. There are several small pond areas that the geese are enjoying even though there are several frozen patches throughout. Not many people golfing today but I’m hopeful for the weather to change in hopes that we get snow here. Upon my arrival after my exercise, Louise and Lauren had arrived. When I walked in sweaty and looking lovely I’m sure, Lauren said “Hey Aunt Raquel!” Now that is a nice greeting. She had a bag full of toys and books she so eagerly showed me and Thomas. She joined us as we put together a puzzle on the floor. I giggled as Louise brought in 5 pairs of shoes as she tells us that Lauren LOVES shoes. I would agree as that is a common trait all of us women share, I’d say. Caitlynn came down as she and Louise were planning their ski session for the afternoon. Thomas & I are going to go swimming with Lauren as there are several indoor pools to choose from here at the resort. As the girls dressed for their ski event, Lauren and I prepared for our swim. Lauren & I stood on one of the decks and said our good-byes to Caitlynn and her mom for now and I took pictures, one with my phone and sent it via text to Lynn for him to see his daughter in ski gear. Then we waited on Thomas to finish up and head out which took about 45 minutes, so in that time Lauren had dressed and undressed about 5 times. Now there is rain/snow mixed falling as we left the condo and the temperature has dropped to 38 degrees but feels like 34 with the wind. I’d say that Louise & Caitlynn chose the perfect time to go ski as this is great ski weather as it turns out to be with the weather change.
We’re off to the Woodstone recreation building to take Lauren swimming. I got her in the pool first and then Thomas joined us after taking a dip in the hottub which is just to the inside of the pool area from where she and I were. I spent a few minutes in the hot sauna and I looked out the door and low and behold who’s standing there-Thomas was holding Lauren as she waved to me when spotting me. Louise said she had not had a nap today but she’s still going full force! After we finished swimming we took her to ride the little kid’s rides that they have for the children, they require money but Uncle Thomas just shook it with his hands and for a 2 yr old that was plenty. Lauren then tried out the video games and since the screens change to entice any passer-by, she thought she was pushing the buttons and pulling the handles to make things happen-she loved that!
We made our way back to the condo through the snow as it is coming down in really big flakes now and we began to prepare dinner as I figured Louise and Caitlynn would be returning hungry, around 7:30 PM ish…. We opted for leftover spaghetti and so I prepared Lauren’s meal first while I was also waiting on the garlic bread to cook. She surprised me by eating an entire banana (except for the bite her Uncle Thomas begged for and she granted his wish), a small bowl of spaghetti, several Ritz crackers with cheese (typical for a Rothe to LOVE any kind of cheese!), a handful and a half of grapes, 3 small carrots, and 1 tomato that she reached over to Thomas’s vegetable tray and dipped it in ranch dressing before devouring. Of course by this time she is down to only her pull-up again and loving life. I laugh as I watch her because it brings back so many memories of Caitlynn when she was little-she hated clothes! As soon as I’d dress her she’d turn the corner in a dead run and be pulling every article off her body. Then the race was on as she’d run and hide so no one could get her clothes back on. From exhaustion we would give up trying the catch her and calf rope her to dress her again but while she was hiding her giggle would be a dead giveaway where she had chosen to hide! All of Brandon’s friends would laugh because every time they were at our house (which was all the time since he loved being at home out in the country!) she’d be half-way naked or jumping on the trampoline butt naked usually upon their arrival. Good thing we had no neighbors for miles…
We I read Lauren several books I was amazed to see how well she knows the letters of the alphabet and with 1 particular book-she really enjoys to be read to. Louise & Caitlynn arrived and we escorted them in as Caitlynn had a little pain in her left leg, above her ankle area on the outside. Thomas feels like it’s tendonitis probably. Us girls ate dinner and Lauren picked at my food as she took a few bites and ran around and Thomas was STILL troubleshooting his laptop modem issue with HP and Verizon as he tried to transition his phone service to a modem use as a way of getting internet on his laptop Friday before we left on Sat. no luck so far and he’s been trying for 12 hours total for the last 2 days. We cracked up as Lauren entertained us now naked as she stacks her puzzle pieces then sits on them and of course the more we laughed, the more energy she seemed to create. Every time Louise asked Lauren if she wanted something or if she could get something for her she responded to her mom , “no Aunt Raquel do it” and Louise grinned as she said “ok, now I know how your dad feels when we’re home as she always wants me to do it there”. I got Caitlynn to lie down and put ice on her leg while we put the movie “Racing Stripes” in to watch. Lauren has a yellow platapus that she carries around and calls it a duck, she loves it and searches for it when she’s ready for it. I asked Louise where she got it and she told me it was in a bag of things that Helene had given her that was Kayla and Nick’s “kid” things. She believed this was actually Kayla’s in the past and Lauren has graciously adopted it. One of the things that I so greatly respect and admire about Louise and David as they strive to raise Lauren in this day and time is the fact that they are always instilling pieces of family history for her in everyday life. When I say this I mean they encourage her to always use the “title of each family member when addressing or referring to them (ie: Aunt…cousin….Uncle, etc.) and they implement bits and pieces of the family past such as this stuffed animal of her cousins so that she will have a great appreciation of her family roots when she gets older. I love to see that because with the busyness of our daily lives we live today it’s not seen very often and I feel there’s a big breakdown in the time families spent together like I recall as a child growing up in my home as compared to today. There will be a day and time that Lauren will appreciate this attribute as her parents are giving her a heritage and for that I’m thankful.
Lauren never went to sleep so after the movie went off Louise took her to their bedroom and read to her and she was off to night-night land in no time-I creeped in to take a picture of her in her motionless state, she’s so cute! Caitlynn was off to her upstairs domain and Louise played her DS game, Thomas was emailing tech support back & forth in between playing a computer game as I’m typing this story. The snow is still falling and it is so peaceful. We’ve never been here for our week when it did not snow, the snow makes the trip complete for me. As I head off the do my quiet time, I think of how ironic it is that my reading is almost always related to the day that’s just been completed for me. The Living Faith daily devotion reads: Jesus’ Humanity Enlivens Us *The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him. Luke 2:40-the reading for February 2, 2009 I always let this phrase roll around in my head like the last sip of a favorite drink. I savor it because it reminds us that Jesus was a child who grew up, becoming strong and filled with wisdom. Like the rest of us, he didn’t start out that strong or wise. I can’t help but wonder what he was like as a child, what seemingly nutty things he might have done. Jane Goodall, advocate for the chimpanzees, took garden worms to bed as a child to keep them warm. Did Jesus bring home some ragged stray and plaintively ask, “Mom, can I keep him?” or climb a tree attempting to put an unfledged chick back in its nest? Thinking of Jesus as a child enlivens his humanity for me and makes it easier for me to continue to follow the man he became. Dear Jesus, fill me with your wisdom and strength so that I may follow you.
Interesting that we have spent the day with Lauren as a young child and have seen her strong-willed ways and how intelligent she is yet she is still very much a child with so much to learn and such a bright future ahead of her. I pray for her nightly as I do all the children in my family, that God would write his name on their hearts and use their parents to be Godly examples to create a passion in them to seek Him in all they do. Good night all.
Good morning, today is Tuesday, February 3, 2009 and they are saying we got 4-6 inches of snow and the current temperature is 30 degrees. The day is starting out sunny and will melt parts of it away I’m sure before long but for now we will enjoy the majestic view of the mountains covered in fresh fallen snow-it is quite picturesque. I sent via text the girls at the office and Nicole/kids (Justin, Allison, and Lauren-yes I have a Lauren on my side of the family also since last August) a picture of the view outside our back deck here at the condo. Kim sent me back their version of their view at the lab which had an audio clip and it was somewhere that had snow covered cross-country skiing place with huge mountains-they are so humorous. It was obviously not what they were actually looking outside their window in Salem, VA! We are in hopes that some of my staff will be joining us later on this week.
Thomas prepared a nice breakfast for Louise, Lauren and I as we let Caitlynn sleep in this morning. We were impressed to hear the sound of the geese to the little pond area outside the condo as they must be returning after flying off yesterday when the weather changed so drastically. Afterwards Louise, Lauren and I got our snow clothes on and went outside in search of an area to make a snowman. Louise said that Lauren had not liked the snow before (last year) and wouldn’t even walk in it, she was in hopes that her fear had changed. So Louise immediately laid in the snow outside the condo (with Lauren standing beside her) and started making a snow angel. I laughed as I proceeded out the front door to observe her actions and it made me think of the days when Jason and his friends from Jr High would get in and out of the hottub at Thomas’s house to make snow angels in the middle of winter-still not sure if they were dressed or not as I never really watched but just heard the stories from Thomas since I was usually only there for a brief visit from Tx. when we dated. I smiled as I remembered their excitement when they shared the stories themselves with me. We are in hopes that he will be able to join us at some point this week to ski but when I sent him a text after the weekend when we got here he said he was busy getting caught up in his accounting class so I did send him a text picture of the snow and how cute Lauren looked getting ready to swim yesterday as we left-he in turn sent me a text picture of the snow there at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. Maybe as the week passes he’ll be able to join us for a little bit.
Louise found a good spot to build a snowman but had to resort back to carrying Lauren as she didn’t want to walk in the snow. Lauren stood there and I talked to her as her mom became the artist creating a snowman before her very eyes, she observed with great caution and as Louise finished I had Caitlynn hand us vegetables to make him come alive with features. So he had celery sticks for his ears, a carrot nose and tomato eyes. There was an old tortilla that Caitlynn had thrown outside yesterday in hopes that the birds would eat it, their loss was the snowman’s gain to be its hat. Then Louise topped it off with a small ball of snow to secure the hat better-Lauren smiled as her mom talked to her as she completed her masterpiece. At this point she did begin to take a closer look and showed a little more interest in the project her mom just completed so I was able to take pictures. David was unable to come so I will be sharing the pictures after our trip is over this week-he’ll like them as I have been able to get some good ones. As a parent can you really ever have enough pictures to look at with your kid(s) in them? I’m thinking not! I then made my way down the golf cart trail to take more pictures as Louise and Lauren headed back to the condo. With me and nature out here alone, it gives me time to once again think about all of my surroundings and realize how perfectly simple life is intended to be. As humans we are the ones that complicate things and by the grace of our Heavenly Father we have the simple opportunities to reconnect and renew balance in our ordinary lives.
Thomas continues to be on the phone with tech support and the same issue with his laptop, he goes between HP and Verizon so Louise, Lauren and I got ready and went to Le Club to swim as they have an isolated kid pool that is heated and other amenities. The sun is out but the high temperature for the day was 33 degrees as some of the snow melts away with the warmth of the sun. This time as we got out of Louise’s vehicle Lauren walked, even though there was snow-Louise and I noticed but didn’t make a big deal out of it in hopes that she will get better while being around it. We had a good time swimming and entertaining Lauren as we had the kid pool to ourselves except for a 4 yr old little boy but his mom only watched and read a book, she did not swim. After awhile Lauren was obviously sleepy so we gathered our things and we’re off to the condo for some lunch and then they will drive home to Rocky Mount. Louise told me that David called this morning and was going home from work as he was not feeling well so he’d be there upon their arrival. We returned to have lunch and load them up for their departure for home. With a full belly her “baby doll”, blankets, and her yellow duck I felt confident that she’d sleep as Louise drove them home to see her daddy! It was a great visit and we enjoyed every minute of it! After they left I straightened the kitchen and talked to the lab several times and Bari regarding work. Caitlynn stayed downstairs after we had all said our good-byes and we talked, she talked about several of her friends, school and our plans for the evening. I like hearing her perception of relationships as she is not easy swayed at all and has very definite opinions of certain things involving relationships. Women typically don’t have the power over their own emotions. You can’t have power over anything if you don’t have power over who you are and you can’t have power over who you are until you have the courage to say no out of love, versus yes out of fear. Women say yes because they are afraid of what others will think of them, what others will say about them. I’ve tried to teach her to do soul searching when forming an opinion and make sure you’re right with God then do what’s right regardless of other people. If they are your true friends they allow you to be different out of respect. She’s becoming quite the young lady that I am proud of her but feel like I have such a mission ahead of me for the next 2 ½ years, with God all things are possible.
Then I settled on the couch to read for a bit and relax. After a couple of hours I decided to go do my workout so Thomas and I left around 7:00 PM to go to Woodstone so he could swim and enjoy the sauna and hottub there until I was finished and joined him before returning here. We ate our dinner as Caitlynn had prepared BBQ for sandwiches prior to us leaving. Thomas and I then started a movie with the fireplace blazing and relaxed as Caitlynn had been back & forth to chat with us and bake us chocolate chip cookies again but then she was off for the duration of the evening. It’s been an enriching day full of good times and relaxation for all.
Today is Wednesday, February 04, 2009 and I woke up to my cell ringing at 3:00 AM and so I talked to Robin at the lab regarding a clinical judgement call on a patient. Then I called Robbie at the lab as Sunday was his 21st birthday and I wanted to make sure he survived! I was off to bed again after toasting myself a PopTart (strawberry and I only had 1) and having a big glass of water. My cell phone rang again around 8:15 AM and it was Nicole. She cracks me up, of course I sounded groggy and she apologized for waking me-not a big deal to me as I love to hear from her and besides I’m on vacation. Whether it be a health related question, opinion seeking, talk to the kids or just to chat it doesn’t matter as long as she thinks for me! Thomas was awake shortly, made coffee and headed to the hottub here in the condo and Caitlynn is still sleeping in her upstairs area. She will be moving down here later today as Bruce and Tracy will arrive this evening to join us and we’ve like to give them some privacy before we have another group coming in on Thursday. Caitlynn has definitely enjoyed her “space” upstairs as she has practiced for living on her own so I have full confidence that she’ll do well when she leaves the nest in a little over 2 yrs., after all she is her mother’s child-right? Scary….
It is a brisk 24 degrees (feels like 16 though) and the high temp for today they are saying is 32 degrees, partly cloudy. Thomas remains working on a Suduko puzzle while enjoying the hottub and I kept his coffee full until I joined him for a bit. I’m grabbing my breakfast after making reservations for the Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre for us to attend this evening as a family before Bruce and Tracy arrive later this evening. Caitlynn had mentioned it with interest the last time we were here for our ski week last year but we had never gone so now would be a good time. I took Thomas and Jason to one similar in Roanoke at the Holiday Inn-Tanglewood for one of Thomas’s birthdays when we were dating and we had a good time so I hope this one is as entertaining for us.
Off I go out the door after starting laundry and vacuuming to go workout. Thomas is on the phone with his offices and working on an excel spreadsheet for tracking production in his offices. Caitlynn is upstairs watching TV so I am sure they will be fine in my absence. I had a good workout out then swam, enjoyed the wet sauna, then moved to the dry sauna before I changed clothes to head back to the condo. Surprisingly Thomas is STILL on the phone with tech support with his laptop connection issues and Caitlynn is asleep upstairs now. After eating I caught up on my texts, phone calls for work then laid down to read before I needed to get ready for our family outing-The Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre at the conference center scheduled for 6:00 PM. So for something to do that had never been done before for this trip would be Caitlynn attending her first Mystery Dinner Theatre, she’s excited. Thomas ended his tech support call to go with us as a family, which was nice. So as we expected, it was entertaining and we enjoyed it-the buffet was great with quite a selection but we especially delighted in the steamed crab legs. Since Caitlynn had a slight reaction to cracking them last time we were in VA Beach last year, we were sure not to let her touch them but Thomas & enjoyed them enough for all 3of us. We returned to the condo (Thomas let Caitlynn drive us back-I of course sat in the back seat as we veered down the mountain side-she is a good driver though. I’m sure it’s due to his instruction and patience) and got comfortable as Bruce & Tracy were driving in this evening and should be here shortly. Caitlynn baked chocolate chip cookies and we greeted them at the front. It is a very brisk 18 degrees outside now as its 10 PM but feels like 10 degrees with the wind chill. We watched an older DVD together without Caitlynn as she was down here with us but doing her own thing in her room. Afterwards we were off to bed. We all stayed downstairs to allow Bruce and Tracy space and time as they rarely get that at home. I am thankful for the day and friends/family that we enjoy spending time with.
Good Morning, it’s Thursday, February 05, 2009 and a bitter 14 degrees when I woke again at 5:50 AM. Thomas was up at 7AM and left for his office in Mechanicsville then Waynesboro to return here this evening. I have the fireplace on in the living room area and my Itunes music playing softly not to wake up Caitlynn as she moved downstairs with us yesterday evening. The sun is bright even though it’s cold and they’re predicting the high of 25 degrees today. I prepared a smorgasbord of breakfast food including freshly made coffee (with cream & sugar as Bruce likes, Tracy is not a coffee drinker) and milk and set it outside the upstairs door then sent a text message for them to retrieve and enjoy their room service for this morning! I fixed myself a small breakfast burrito and caught up with the office several times as Kim took over a sleepless titration for Robbie this AM for me-all is good now. She & Darrell will be joining everyone here this evening early. I will head back to Roanoke around 2 PM to take Caitlynn and friends (Sam, Tiffany and Jake-Tiffany’s boyfriend that they became “promised” to with a ring for Christmas) to see Larry the Cable Guy. Thomas would be returning to prepare dinner for our friends as we are in hopes that Kim and Darrell Wells will be here by then also. The drive to Roanoke was uneventful with me having a lot of good entertainment from my daughter, I often wonder what age she will be when she allows a complete song to play for its entire way through-maybe that’s just too much to ask for a 15 yr old that has such a diverse love of music? Anyway it’s always good to just hang out with her-no place to go (except for the road trip we’re on) and just let her talk about whatever comes to her mind. It’s always interesting to hear her thought process.
We picked up Tiffany on our way in to town then went to our house where Jake met us then Grandma brought Sam to the house shortly afterwards. The Rat Dogz (Shugs-10 yrs old last month, Gizmo-7 yrs old until Oct of this year and Val-3 yrs old until Sept of this year) were so excited to see us! I finished signing payroll checks and gathered the kids to take them to the Salem Civic Center for their evening performance then I went to the lab to work a bit and gather my mail from the week. I returned to my house to write dialog for an interview from Our Health magazine as they will be featuring Sleep EZ Diagnostics, Inc. as a private practice and is interviewing a patient of ours and myself for the article, deadline is tomorrow. Of course they did not notify me until this afternoon as to what the deadline was so I am down to the wire since we did not have internet except for a couple of days while in Massanutten.
Caitlynn sent me a text around 10:00 PM and they were ready to be picked up so I left right after I emailed the interview and off to get the kids I went. We returned to the house around 10:35 PM and told Sam and Caitlynn I thought we should just make a quick stop at Kroger’s then drive back to Massanutten tonight, this meant we would arrive around 1:00 AM but I could do it if they could. They agreed and immediately put their Ipods in their ears as I was in control of the radio station this time-off we were into the night. Actually both kids slept at least half of the drive and I sang. I knew I should have been a backup singer, why am I doing sleep? Sometimes we miss our calling until later in life but I’m not sure my backup singing could pay the bills though-my daughter reminds me often that it won’t. We arrived safe and sound as Kim, Darrell, Thomas, Bruce, and Tracy were watching TV as they waited on us. We all chatted for a bit then off to bed we all went…..
Waking to a cell phone (mine-as if that is a shocker to anyone who knows me…haha) before 8:30 AM on this Friday. A bright beautiful morning with a temperature of 16 degrees, high expected to be 40’s today, first time since Monday when the cold front came thru bringing the snow which has been wonderful to see as we are here in the mountains. We ate breakfast after Thomas & I prepared it and everyone came from downstairs and we were all awake except Caitlynn and Sam. After they woke up we cleaned the kitchen and waited for Jason & Jessica’s (our neice) arrival which was shortly before lunchtime.
We all headed for the Le Club where we could swim, work out, play basketball, racquetball, enjoy the hottub (inside or out), sauna (wet or dry), or swim. Kim, Tracy and I worked out then joined the rest of them in the hottub then moved to the sauna and back. Jason and Jessica went to the indoor waterpark initially but joined us after they realized the cost. It’s always good to have them around. Later that late afternoon Thomas, Bruce and Darrell headed back to the condo to begin our dinner preparations. We had quite a crowd now so they started the process and we joined them shortly afterwards. Everyone got into comfortable clothes and meandered between both floors as Jessica indulged in the nice big hottub upstairs (I loaned her some bubbles to enjoy) and others took showers in the bottom floor, then we all began working together for our meal. We blessed the meal as we once again come together and realize how fortunate each one of us are to have each other and be able to enjoy some “down time” together and regroup. Life can be down at times and it may seem to have too few “highs” in it. The highs are laughter, fun, activity, and involvement with others. I am thankful for this beautiful and magical creation called life.
Kim & Darrell finished grilling our burgers and Bratwurst, we all got a good laugh as Kim came downstairs and asked us if the Brats needed to be skinned or not! (what? Has anyone reading this every skinned a Brat-really?) We had never tried them that way but what the heck? Since Jason is the Brat connoisseur, we asked him what he thought since he had not eaten anything but Brats from his plate tonight and it didn’t seem to matter to him! EVERYONE of us definitely had plenty of food to eat! Afterwards we sat around talking and catching up, listening to Itunes on my laptop as Jason and I like to compare new music that we’ve found. Thomas left and made arrangements for those wanting to snowtube at the lifts and then they left for the adventure. Most of the women stayed except Jessica. Darrell and Bruce all stayed while Caitlynn made chocolate chip cookies for us to enjoy again. After the snowtube group returned Jessica and Jason decided they would leave and drive to Clifton since a friend of Jessica’s was having a birthday party so they left close to 11:00 PM, the rest of us watched a movie and called it a day. Jason and I sent texts to each other as he was driving back to Roanoke in the early morning hours-it’s always great to have him with us even if it’s for a short time. He’s become quite the young man and handsome, compassionate and nurturing like his dad. I can’t believe he’s a sophomore in college!
Saturday, February 7th, 2009. Checkout day so we all ate breakfast together and what a smorgasbord as we were getting the groceries eaten before we had to packup the remains. It was 48 degrees before 9 AM and was expected to be in the 60’s today so it will be good weather for the drive home. We were all gathering and cleaning as we packed our families. It’s amazing how fast it goes with teamwork! We enjoyed the help as it is typically Thomas and I trying to get everything done to get ready to leave after a week. Kim and Darrell left in their truck, Tracy, Bruce, and Sam left in “Ellie” which is Tracy’s vehicle, and then Thomas was in his truck with Caitlynn and me “the Lone Ranger” following them as we all left the mountains of Massanutten to drive to our homes. It’s been a good week. I was greatly inspired by the mountains here as I write yet another story; Let is always have a mountain within our soul with a peak so high that we never quite reach the top…for then we always strive for greater things and will not be content with merely climbing hills.
Southern Sleep Society-Atlanta, GA April 2009
Southern Sleep Society annual meeting-Atlanta, GA April 16-19, 2009
So off Tiffany McGuire (my youngest sleep technician from the lab-she’s a high school senior this year) and I go as we are driving to Atlanta for a sleep conference meeting. From Roanoke to Atlanta where our hotel is located, we should be driving approximately 431 miles. The beauty of that is we are leaving at 8:30 AM from Roanoke where it is 38 degrees this morning as we loaded and it is expected to be wonderful spring day for our drive as we pass thru North Carolina, South Carolina and then arrive in Georgia so we are looking forward to the adventure. I needed to make a couple of stops before we actually were down the highway with the first one being at the sleep lab (Sleep EZ Diagnostics, Inc. www.sleepezcenter.com ). Payday is Friday and they don’t mind me being gone (they probably in fact enjoy the time) but they do look forward to payday so I am leaving the checks with Michelle to disperse for me Friday AM. Next we are driving down I-81 to Christiansburg, VA so that I can have the regular oil change performed on my car and since my inspection sticker expired on the last day of March I thought it best to go ahead and not push my luck and get that replaced while they are at it. After a little bit of a wait since they said I needed a license plate light replaced to get the inspection sticker (why is it they ALWAYS find something that needs to be replaced so they can charge $3 for the part and $15 for the labor?), we were on our way to make 2 more local stops for marketing while in this area. First stop was Dr. Rivero’s office with literature for sleep issues and cardiac implications, a copy of Our Health magazine with Sleep EZ Diagnostics, Inc. featured as an independent practice/interview with one of our CPAP patients, and their Easter “goodies”. They are a great office and love Sleep EZ so we naturally take good care of them. Next was my stop by Rotech (Home medical equipment company) to leave off their Easter goodies and to point out the article in Our Health magazine for Sleep EZ as they had several there sitting on their coffee table as you enter. Annalise, the location manager had not seen the article so she was excited when I showed it to her. I was the one who came from Texas to train her when she first started here and I worked for Rotech. She had just been hired as a clinician for this location, she is now the manager and it is always good to see her. I had not planned on being there long so I pulled up to the front door horizontally so I’d be there very briefly and left the car running with Tiffany sitting inside as she waited on me. As I walked out the door a Parking Enforcement agent pulled up directly in front of the car as “she” faced it. I greeted her and apologized for parking next to the fire lane but explained instantly to her that I had no intentions of being there long. She sternly reminded me that the fine is $100.00 and I immediately thanked her for her patience with me as I told her “I could not afford that and my husband would not appreciate it either”, I thanked her and got into my car to get ready to drive off. She looked perplexed and said “ok” and we departed. I drove off and cracked up as I couldn’t wait to get on the phone with Thomas as we had just had this conversation the other day as he told me I wouldn’t be able to get out of a ticket if it were a woman police officer as I had done so 3 times when I made a trip to Texas last August. He just laughed and said “huh-ho” and was thankful not to have to pay a fine.
Ok now we are really on the road to drive to Atlanta for the conference. I kept telling Tiffany she could stretch out and take a siesta by all means as I think sleep is important-haha, she didn’t and hung right in there for the entire drive. Not to anyone’s surprise but we talked the whole way (in between my singing of course) and did not run out of things to talk about! We stopped in North Carolina for Subway to eat lunch. We talked and listened to music of various types and talked more-imagine that. Right as we passed through Greenville, SC I realized I had forgotten my bathing suit even after I had reminded Tiffany on several occasions as we planned for the trip. So after I used my GPS on my phone I realized there was no Walmart (what southern town has no Walmart?) but they had a huge Target so we re-routed as we turned around and traveled 3 miles back to the Target. We did not want to have to find a Walmart or Target in downtown Atlanta so we settled for this one.
Tiffany and I were off to shop for bathing suits, she obviously is maybe a little less than half my size but we had a good time and found each of us a perfect choice to purchase. As we were in the dressing room her cell phone rang and it was Robbie from the office with a question for me and when I did not answer my phone (which was in the car currently) then he called hers. I called him back as we were checking out and he asked us what we were doing so I told him “trying on bathing suits” he commented, “I didn’t think you could do that”. I told him “yes you can you just have to leave your panties on to do so for health reasons”, then I told him “well you wouldn’t because you don’t wear panties” and we laughed. I answered his question and we were off to get gas and hit the highway again for the remaining stretch to the hotel in Atlanta. We arrived into the congestion and traffic at 5:45ish that was with 4-5 lanes each way and curb to curb traffic. As my phone GPS reminded me, “0.6 miles to heavy and congested traffic ahead” and that is was. Tiffany commented there would be no way she’d drive in this everyday as she said it makes her nervous. We got to the Hyatt located at 265 Peachtree St., NE, Atlanta, GA, 404-577-1234 at 6:15 PM and our room was not ready so they were going to text me when it was. Tiffany and I looked in the gift shop, asked for the location on the conference which would be here in this huge hotel, watched all the people coming and going, then decided to walk over to the Peachtree Mall that had a walkway connected to the hotel. The walkway was above the traffic which looked really cool and we settled for a local pizza place to get our food and sit in the designated tables in the middle of the mall. We eyeballed the DQ as we walked past it and questioned why Chik-fil-A was closed so early here. As we finished up I received the text that room #201 was ready for our arrival to settle in from the long day of travel. We did so then rested for a bit and decided at 8:40 PM neither of us should try to settle down for the night without DQ ice cream, so we made our way to satisfy that craving and then came back to our room for the night. It’s been a good day.
Friday, April 17, 2009-we woke up to a pretty day starting in Atlanta and made our way to the conference area to check-in and start going through the exhibits. The day started with temperatures at 45 degrees and ended with 69 degrees.
This was a small conference presented by the Southern Sleep Society (www.southernsleepsociety.org ) and it is a sleep professional group that is located here in Georgia but the members are from all over as they have been united since 1979. I thought it was best for Tiffany as this is her first exposure to a sleep society conference since she came to work for me. I had already told her that some of it would be over her head but it would give her something to chew on and think about as she is new to the field of sleep medicine but very interested in pediatric sleep. Continental breakfast was available 7:30-8:00 AM then the talks began at 8:30 AM (30 minutes later than scheduled) and lasted until 5:10 PM. For our lunch break we walked back over to the mall and had DQ, I ordered a kid’s meal with a burger and Tiffany got a chicken strip basket since she says they have the best gravy. I laugh and think to myself, yes and you should eat it on a regular basis so that you don’t blow away! By the afternoon break we were cracking up because one of the physicians that spoke earlier was sitting next to Tiffany and by now he had his head hung low and was sleeping during the other talks-how ironic is that? At least he’s with a group of professionals in case he thinks he needs help diagnosing himself….. After the day spent hearing talks we are heading back to our hotel room before our Awards Dinner Banquet at 7:30 PM at South City Kitchen @ 1144 Crescent Ave., (Midtown) Atlanta, GA, 404-873-7358 www.southcitykitchen.com: Celebrating its 15th year as one of Atlanta's favorite restaurants, South City Kitchen Midtown specializes in contemporary Southern cuisine with a sophisticated twist. Combining the energy of Atlanta with the warmth of a Southern home, the restaurant is nestled in an updated, historic bungalow on the city's famous Crescent Avenue. Dine on local specialties such as shrimp and grits, buttermilk fried chicken, she-crab soup, fried green tomatoes and banana pudding while enjoying the view of our exhibition kitchen or the Atlanta skyline on one of the best patios in the city. This truly is dining the way the new South intended. . As the people from this area describe it there are 3 areas in which people live in Atlanta and Midtown is one of them. We decided since we had not be outside any today and the weather looked great, we’d venture out for about an hour since we had that time to spare before getting ready for our dinner. We found a SunTrust for Tiffany to cash her check and walked up and down the sidewalks in both areas from our hotel to see many sights that were appealing to the eye with architecture along the way and art work. This is the Peachtree area of downtown and it has many sculptures throughout the area and several very old churches that are beautiful with their ability to age gracefully. We returned to our room for a bit and I briefly reviewed the local paper. The headlines for today are: “Jobless numbers offer some hope” as GA job losses are as follows for each metro area, Dalton has 6500 jobs lost which is a 8.6% change, Atlanta has 115,900 jobs lost which is a 4.7% change, Albany has jobs lost which is 3.9% change, and Gainesville has 2,200 jobs lost which is a 2.8% change. Other headlines are: President Obama is in Mexico and he will not renew assault weapon ban. In the vehicle world the headlines are: Toyota Prius a star on the rise. Saying hybrids gets slightly bigger for 2010, and the gas mileage is phenomenal. It is a gasoline-electric hybrid which is rated at 50 miles a gallon but with practice the motorists can actually get better mileage. Last year, more than 241,000 were sold and the company’s goal is 1 million this year. For local news: the Atlanta Dogwood Festival begins for the weekend today. It is a huge aspect for the artist market with over 250 creators from across the country. The festival is 73 years old and due to the drought last year it was moved to Lenox Square but this year was returned to its Piedmont Park stomping grounds. It expects 50,000 visitors to attend each day.
We got dressed and made our way to the concierce desk since we were in need of a taxi to take us to our dinner for the Awards Dinner banquet. It’s been a very nice afternoon with typical springtime temperatures. The taxi driver was “interesting” as Tiffany put it. He drove like he was driving in New York and was listening to a spokesperson that was evaluating the personality of the lion in the movie The Wizard of Oz, are you kidding me? He dropped us off after cordially opening both of our doors and the evening began. Tiffany and I knew no one but as usual it didn’t take long for us to meet a few people. There were probably 60-65 people from the Southern Sleep Society that were with us. We had family style hors d’oeuvres that consisted of grilled BBQ shrimp, pulled pork that was wrapped in a crepe, pimento cheese with vegetable tray and scallops with sautéed cauliflower. Then we had a choice of a salad or she-crab soup, we both chose the soup. It’s a local favorite and I see why! I chose the salmon for my entrée and Tiffany ate their fried chicken which is what they are known for here at this restaurant. Shortly after our meal they brought out several platters of family style desserts and OH MY GOSH-the banana pudding was delectable. Tiffany and I had actually asked for our desserts to be out in a “to go” container but the waitress said that would not be possible since their desserts are served family style also. There was also a fudge brownie type of dessert and an assortment of several types of cookies. Tiffany swore off any more bites of anything since she was absolutely stuffed after the entrée so she missed out, I on the other hand had to at least sample the banana pudding (even if it meant unbuttoning my pants to get up from the table! My Nana Miller taught me to eat dessert first!) and it was SO worth it. Everyone was very nice at our table and there were several conversations going around at the same time but we all seemed to have time to visit. After the awards we got ready to leave as we were stuffed to the gills and the Respironics rep from Houston and a woman sleep doctor from Houston were ready to leave also so we all took a cab together since we were all staying at the same hotel. We rode in a van and it was a much calmer trip than our previous taxi ride. As soon as we got to our room we changed into our PJ’s to get comfortable (so we could breathe) and we settled in for the evening.
Saturday, April 18, 2009-Our meetings began at 8:00 AM and we arrived 15 minutes early and I went to get coffee and something from the continental breakfast and arrived back ready to learn. Tiffany passed on breakfast but had some juice I brought her. When we had a break (they delayed it for 30 minutes) she decided she would go get her some salt that she said she needed, she returned from DQ with hash browns and a French Vanilla Moolatte with cool whip cresting it (she who says she “doesn’t really like sweets”). While she was gone the director of the conference called her name and 2 other peoples names that had been draw and had won a gift. I went with her to collect it and it was an Anti-Snore Shirt. She was not quite familiar with this article of sleep clothing so I explained it to her, she thought she should make Robbie try it on when we get back to the lab. We laughed and then she thought she’d just donate it to the lab for future reference.
We returned to expand our minds with the next few speakers for the day. The funniest one was Dr. Max Hirshkowitz who is a pulmonologist that is board certified in sleep medicine and is from Texas. He opened his talk on “Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Cardiovascular Disease” with a powerpoint and made the statement: Kids get a video and watch it over and over and over, adults buy a video and watch it once and maybe again if it comes on TV. He started his presentation as he opened up the powerpoint and we all could see “Sleepy” from Snow White as he yawned and had his head back as if he was ready to sleep. Dr. Max Hirshkowitz said “Snow White, a lady with a strange sleeping arrangement-7 guys. One of them snores and is a dwarf. He has no nares so an oral appliance will not work and he has cranial maxillary facial issues”. All of the sleep people (all of us in this meeting) laughed! His next case study presentation he used was a study originally done in Canada. He commented, “The great thing about Canada is they track everything in healthcare, the downfall is they don’t let you treat anything”. I laughed as Thomas is from Canada but they have socialized healthcare system which I’m afraid we are headed toward in my lifetime here in the US.
The final speaker was Dr. Wallace Mendelson of Galveston, Tx., he spoke yesterday also. He did a fellowship in Israel and told us of 2 professions that he learned while there and had never heard of them since. One being a Combat Optometrist who would stay on the battlefields so that if the servicemen were to break their glasses while in combat this eye doctor can make them new ones there on the battlefield. The other is an Implosion Therapist who when a prisoner is released/returned then they drive them to where the capture happened (glad we don’t do it like that here in the states). That is to help reverse the trauma to reenact-I’m not thinking that would be more trauma than relief?
So our lectures were over by noon and most were off to a conference sponsored golf tournament-Tiffany and I do not golf so we will venture off to the Dogwood Festival.
We had no newspaper delivered to our room today so I’m unsure of the current events so I will tell you a few important things going on for the year 2009: This year has a few noteable milestones. Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln would have turned 200 years old this year of 2009. (Thomas Jefferson would be 266 years old-for those of you who know me well, you know he is one of the people I would have LOVED to meet!) In comparison, Barbie is a sprightly 50…and still looking good. The same year Barbie was born (or rather first manufactured), the doors of the Guggenheim Museum in New York opened. All of these American icons have had an impact on our world. They have given us greater knowledge and freedom, artistic beauty and, most importantly a doll with a never-ending talent for reinventing herself. Barbie inspired kids along with other memorable toys of the last century like Easy Bake Oven (it keeps creating and cooking today), Slinky, GI Joe, Superball, Lincoln Logs, Mr. Potato Head (his parts are still interchangeable today), Play-Doh, Yo-Yo, Etch-A-Sketch, and Silly Putty. As I think of this list of toys, I think about how sometimes the simplest ones were the best ones. Perhaps because they invited your imagination to take over. Loads of imagination went into designing New York’s Guggenheim Museum www.guggenheim.org a visually stunning building inside and out. Much like the new Taubman Museum of Art we now have in Roanoke, VA. The Guggeneheim foundation (Since its inception in 1937, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation has been a preeminent institution for the collection, preservation, and research of modern and contemporary art. The global network that began in the 1970s when the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, was joined by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, has expanded since 1997 to include the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin. Each constituent museum unites distinguished architecture with great artworks, a tradition that has become a Guggenheim hallmark. Looking to the future, the Guggenheim Foundation continues to forge international partnerships as it works on developing new museums in the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. Thanks to its celebrated collections, special exhibitions, conservation efforts, educational initiatives, and scholarship, the Guggenheim is internationally recognized as a pioneer and touchstone for all cultural institutions) has ambitious plans to open the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi in the Unites Arab Emirates in 2012. Over in D.C., the Lincoln Memorial has housed the impressive 19-foot high statue of our 16th president since 1922. Bicentennial celebrations include a Birthday Gala and a Memorial Rededication. Lastly, the Galapagos-a well known chain of islands that is home to an astonishing 2,900 species. Thanks to conservation efforts, this part of the world remains virtually as pristine as it was in 1835 when Charles Darwin visited. Nowadays, that’s a rarity except for maybe Barbie; a hundred years from now she still won’t have a wrinkle!
Tiffany and I gathered ourselves for an afternoon walk that everyone tells us takes 30 minutes as we head back to Midtown to find Piedmont Park for the Dogwood Festival. We met a nice older couple along our way and we escorted them majority of the way to the festival. As it was getting to be mid-afternoon I thought it was best to get some lunch before we actually arrived at the festival but it was within eyesight for us now. Tiffany told me she is a very picky eater and she was right. I saw a Jason’s Deli (which we have in Texas, Caitlynn and I used to love to eat at the one in Lubbock-we looked for an excuse each time!) and suggested it since she had never eaten at one. We entered and I thought she should look over the menu so we could order, when she glanced at it she said she didn’t feel like she would like anything on the menu so we made out way down the walkway to Subway so she could order her sandwich the way she likes them: dry with mustard and turkey. We ate and enjoyed it as we are off to the festival. WOW at all the people, hardly enough walking room but there were people of many facets of life. We strolled through the park area and then headed back for our walk to the hotel. Tiffany was in hopes of finding a tanning salon on our walk but the one we came across she said she could tell, “it’s too expensive”. I asked how she could tell that from the front of the building and she assured me “I just can”. As we walked our return route we opted to walk on the opposite side of the roads this time for a change in scenery and that it proved to be. There was an Open House in a restored condominium building so we made our way to the 2nd floor of the building as the young couple who owned it offered wine and cookies as the people came in and out to observe. Tiffany nor I accepted any wine or cookies but the living area this little couple occupied was very cute and due to the small size they had created a very practical living space without clutter-which I loved!
The day was nearing the end of the afternoon as we arrived back at our hotel so I read for a bit and journaled, Tiffany talked to her dad on the cell phone and she made a short visit to the gym and upon her return I made my way there to do my running time. The exercise was good as I needed it after sitting in meetings for the last 2 days, not to mention the drive here also. We got cleaned up and went to the Hard Rock Café for a much needed burger-nothing like a good burger! The Hard Rock’s are always so busy, loud, crowded but with great paraphernalia and music with videos, gotta love the old school music back in the day! Locally there must have been several proms as the teen crowd was all dressed in formals-they are looked beautiful.
We made our way back to the hotel and began gathering our stuff and simi-packing as tomorrow would be the day to leave. I was happy of the thought to see Caitlynn and Thomas (and the Rat Dogs-all 3 of them), they would be ready for rest as Caitlynn’s dad Lynn arrived the day we left and will fly back to Texas in the morning. Caitlynn has not seen him since summer so he finally decided he’d come here to see where she lives and meet her friends so I thought it was a good time since I would not be there. I have the best husband in the world as he opted to not come on this trip as he felt he should be available if Caitlynn and Lynn needed a “break” while he visited. He stayed at our house during his trip so he would not have to afford a hotel and Thomas let them use the Ford pickup with his GPS for Caitlynn to be able to show him a little bit of her stomping grounds here where we’ve made our home in Roanoke,VA. Lynn has never been to VA, in fact he’s only been to Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Tennessee in his entire life to visit.
Tiffany was excited about going home also as she tells me that she used to get home sick when she was younger but she says she’s better now though she still feels lonely when she’s not at home and is relieved when she knows she’s headed back. For this reason she states she has decided not to go away for college in the fall and she will attend a local community college, VirginiaWestern in Roanoke. She will continue to live with her dad and go to college.
Morning came early and I let her sleep later than we have been doing due to the very 1st class at 8AM not being of interest to us but we were there by 8:45 ready for the 9AM. Today will be completed at noon as the end of the conference. I can tell that Tiffany is overwhelmed with the information (not to mention the terminology) but she has said for the last 1-2 yrs that she’d like to be a nurse so this will be the 1st of many lectures she will sit in on that physician’s present information. I think she struggles with what her dad wants her to do for her education after high school versus her insecurity to make decisions on her own. This is a fact that she makes known as we talked on our drive here, she says she “just can’t make decisions, it’s just too hard for me” she tells me. This is obviously an area she struggles in and is very aware of it with the help of a counselor she meets with on a regular basis. That is something I have honestly never really struggled with, what to believe in or the ability to form my own opinion. I believe we are all here by a greater being above us and he freely gives us a free will to use but choose wisely and look to him for your choices to head down the right paths in life. This reminds me of a story that motivational guru Zig Ziglar tells of a memorable revival service led by early twentieth-century evangelical firebrand Mordecai Ham. He is perhaps best known for being the preacher on the night of Billy Graham’s conversion. One evening, before taking the podium to deliver his typically fire-and-brimstone sermon, Ham was approached by a stranger. The man pulled the preacher aside and said, “Mr. Ham, I am here because I’m curious. But I just want you to know that I don’t believe in heaven, I don’t believe in hell, I don’t believe in God and I certainly don’t believe in prayer.” Ham thanked him for his honesty and stepped onto the stage and addressed the large crowd. “Folks, we’ve got an unusual man at our service tonight. He doesn’t believe in God, and certainly doesn’t believe in prayer. So I want all of us, the entire time I’m preaching, to pray that God will kill this man before I’m through.” As soon as the words left Ham’s mouth, the non-believer leapt violently from his seat and elbowed his way past his fellow congregants into the aisle. He sprinted toward the door and burst out of the building, all the while screaming at the top of his lungs, “No! No! No! Don’t you do it! Don’t pray that! Please, don’t you do it!” So as the old saying goes: “Stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.” Hopefully with time this will be a passing phase in Tiffany’s life as I wish her the best on her path for the future.
The release from our conference lead us to check out and have valet bring the car so we could get on the road home. It’s an overcast day but that makes for good traveling weather as far as I’m concerned, so off we go….
I encouraged Tiffany to sleep as it will make the trip seem faster (why that is I am still unsure of even at my age?) but she stated she has always had a difficult time sleeping in a vehicle but after the first hour her head was back with her mouth open for a good 45 minutes-regardless of my driving as my daughter likes to tell everyone that I am the worst driver she knows. I began looking for a place to eat and Tiffany woke up as she did share with me that she loves Out Back Steakhouse as they usually eat at the one in Roanoke when it’s someone’s birthday-especially hers. She shared a story with me about this last birthday meal when her family met there and Robbie joined them late so they pulled a chair to the end of the table and the waiter who served them had very hairy arms. So every time he’d have to reach past Robbie to get to everyone when he needed to service the guests gathered for the family meal and Robbie was grossed out by the hairy arms passing his plate each time!
We stopped in Clemson, SC to eat at their Out Back Steakhouse which looked to be very new. We got our bellies full without even having dessert and made our way back to the highway to home. Caitlynn kept texting/calling me as she wanted me to give her my ETA because she was beside herself. She couldn’t wait to show me what Thomas had done when he put his racing carburetor on her truck over the weekend and it was running smoothly now when they’d start it, she could not wait for me to see! Our arrival was 25 minutes ahead of schedule so we had time to get Tiffany loaded and on her way so she would not be home too late due to school in the morning. Following that Caitlynn showed me her prize possession-her truck WITH the new carburetor and then we left to go watch Thomas’s hockey game as his season was coming to a close this week. Off to another week of family, work, and planning for another trip.
All my travels in life lead me to think about all the things I am so fortunate to have in my life-the best things in life are definitely free, enjoy them all!
So off Tiffany McGuire (my youngest sleep technician from the lab-she’s a high school senior this year) and I go as we are driving to Atlanta for a sleep conference meeting. From Roanoke to Atlanta where our hotel is located, we should be driving approximately 431 miles. The beauty of that is we are leaving at 8:30 AM from Roanoke where it is 38 degrees this morning as we loaded and it is expected to be wonderful spring day for our drive as we pass thru North Carolina, South Carolina and then arrive in Georgia so we are looking forward to the adventure. I needed to make a couple of stops before we actually were down the highway with the first one being at the sleep lab (Sleep EZ Diagnostics, Inc. www.sleepezcenter.com ). Payday is Friday and they don’t mind me being gone (they probably in fact enjoy the time) but they do look forward to payday so I am leaving the checks with Michelle to disperse for me Friday AM. Next we are driving down I-81 to Christiansburg, VA so that I can have the regular oil change performed on my car and since my inspection sticker expired on the last day of March I thought it best to go ahead and not push my luck and get that replaced while they are at it. After a little bit of a wait since they said I needed a license plate light replaced to get the inspection sticker (why is it they ALWAYS find something that needs to be replaced so they can charge $3 for the part and $15 for the labor?), we were on our way to make 2 more local stops for marketing while in this area. First stop was Dr. Rivero’s office with literature for sleep issues and cardiac implications, a copy of Our Health magazine with Sleep EZ Diagnostics, Inc. featured as an independent practice/interview with one of our CPAP patients, and their Easter “goodies”. They are a great office and love Sleep EZ so we naturally take good care of them. Next was my stop by Rotech (Home medical equipment company) to leave off their Easter goodies and to point out the article in Our Health magazine for Sleep EZ as they had several there sitting on their coffee table as you enter. Annalise, the location manager had not seen the article so she was excited when I showed it to her. I was the one who came from Texas to train her when she first started here and I worked for Rotech. She had just been hired as a clinician for this location, she is now the manager and it is always good to see her. I had not planned on being there long so I pulled up to the front door horizontally so I’d be there very briefly and left the car running with Tiffany sitting inside as she waited on me. As I walked out the door a Parking Enforcement agent pulled up directly in front of the car as “she” faced it. I greeted her and apologized for parking next to the fire lane but explained instantly to her that I had no intentions of being there long. She sternly reminded me that the fine is $100.00 and I immediately thanked her for her patience with me as I told her “I could not afford that and my husband would not appreciate it either”, I thanked her and got into my car to get ready to drive off. She looked perplexed and said “ok” and we departed. I drove off and cracked up as I couldn’t wait to get on the phone with Thomas as we had just had this conversation the other day as he told me I wouldn’t be able to get out of a ticket if it were a woman police officer as I had done so 3 times when I made a trip to Texas last August. He just laughed and said “huh-ho” and was thankful not to have to pay a fine.
Ok now we are really on the road to drive to Atlanta for the conference. I kept telling Tiffany she could stretch out and take a siesta by all means as I think sleep is important-haha, she didn’t and hung right in there for the entire drive. Not to anyone’s surprise but we talked the whole way (in between my singing of course) and did not run out of things to talk about! We stopped in North Carolina for Subway to eat lunch. We talked and listened to music of various types and talked more-imagine that. Right as we passed through Greenville, SC I realized I had forgotten my bathing suit even after I had reminded Tiffany on several occasions as we planned for the trip. So after I used my GPS on my phone I realized there was no Walmart (what southern town has no Walmart?) but they had a huge Target so we re-routed as we turned around and traveled 3 miles back to the Target. We did not want to have to find a Walmart or Target in downtown Atlanta so we settled for this one.
Tiffany and I were off to shop for bathing suits, she obviously is maybe a little less than half my size but we had a good time and found each of us a perfect choice to purchase. As we were in the dressing room her cell phone rang and it was Robbie from the office with a question for me and when I did not answer my phone (which was in the car currently) then he called hers. I called him back as we were checking out and he asked us what we were doing so I told him “trying on bathing suits” he commented, “I didn’t think you could do that”. I told him “yes you can you just have to leave your panties on to do so for health reasons”, then I told him “well you wouldn’t because you don’t wear panties” and we laughed. I answered his question and we were off to get gas and hit the highway again for the remaining stretch to the hotel in Atlanta. We arrived into the congestion and traffic at 5:45ish that was with 4-5 lanes each way and curb to curb traffic. As my phone GPS reminded me, “0.6 miles to heavy and congested traffic ahead” and that is was. Tiffany commented there would be no way she’d drive in this everyday as she said it makes her nervous. We got to the Hyatt located at 265 Peachtree St., NE, Atlanta, GA, 404-577-1234 at 6:15 PM and our room was not ready so they were going to text me when it was. Tiffany and I looked in the gift shop, asked for the location on the conference which would be here in this huge hotel, watched all the people coming and going, then decided to walk over to the Peachtree Mall that had a walkway connected to the hotel. The walkway was above the traffic which looked really cool and we settled for a local pizza place to get our food and sit in the designated tables in the middle of the mall. We eyeballed the DQ as we walked past it and questioned why Chik-fil-A was closed so early here. As we finished up I received the text that room #201 was ready for our arrival to settle in from the long day of travel. We did so then rested for a bit and decided at 8:40 PM neither of us should try to settle down for the night without DQ ice cream, so we made our way to satisfy that craving and then came back to our room for the night. It’s been a good day.
Friday, April 17, 2009-we woke up to a pretty day starting in Atlanta and made our way to the conference area to check-in and start going through the exhibits. The day started with temperatures at 45 degrees and ended with 69 degrees.
This was a small conference presented by the Southern Sleep Society (www.southernsleepsociety.org ) and it is a sleep professional group that is located here in Georgia but the members are from all over as they have been united since 1979. I thought it was best for Tiffany as this is her first exposure to a sleep society conference since she came to work for me. I had already told her that some of it would be over her head but it would give her something to chew on and think about as she is new to the field of sleep medicine but very interested in pediatric sleep. Continental breakfast was available 7:30-8:00 AM then the talks began at 8:30 AM (30 minutes later than scheduled) and lasted until 5:10 PM. For our lunch break we walked back over to the mall and had DQ, I ordered a kid’s meal with a burger and Tiffany got a chicken strip basket since she says they have the best gravy. I laugh and think to myself, yes and you should eat it on a regular basis so that you don’t blow away! By the afternoon break we were cracking up because one of the physicians that spoke earlier was sitting next to Tiffany and by now he had his head hung low and was sleeping during the other talks-how ironic is that? At least he’s with a group of professionals in case he thinks he needs help diagnosing himself….. After the day spent hearing talks we are heading back to our hotel room before our Awards Dinner Banquet at 7:30 PM at South City Kitchen @ 1144 Crescent Ave., (Midtown) Atlanta, GA, 404-873-7358 www.southcitykitchen.com: Celebrating its 15th year as one of Atlanta's favorite restaurants, South City Kitchen Midtown specializes in contemporary Southern cuisine with a sophisticated twist. Combining the energy of Atlanta with the warmth of a Southern home, the restaurant is nestled in an updated, historic bungalow on the city's famous Crescent Avenue. Dine on local specialties such as shrimp and grits, buttermilk fried chicken, she-crab soup, fried green tomatoes and banana pudding while enjoying the view of our exhibition kitchen or the Atlanta skyline on one of the best patios in the city. This truly is dining the way the new South intended. . As the people from this area describe it there are 3 areas in which people live in Atlanta and Midtown is one of them. We decided since we had not be outside any today and the weather looked great, we’d venture out for about an hour since we had that time to spare before getting ready for our dinner. We found a SunTrust for Tiffany to cash her check and walked up and down the sidewalks in both areas from our hotel to see many sights that were appealing to the eye with architecture along the way and art work. This is the Peachtree area of downtown and it has many sculptures throughout the area and several very old churches that are beautiful with their ability to age gracefully. We returned to our room for a bit and I briefly reviewed the local paper. The headlines for today are: “Jobless numbers offer some hope” as GA job losses are as follows for each metro area, Dalton has 6500 jobs lost which is a 8.6% change, Atlanta has 115,900 jobs lost which is a 4.7% change, Albany has jobs lost which is 3.9% change, and Gainesville has 2,200 jobs lost which is a 2.8% change. Other headlines are: President Obama is in Mexico and he will not renew assault weapon ban. In the vehicle world the headlines are: Toyota Prius a star on the rise. Saying hybrids gets slightly bigger for 2010, and the gas mileage is phenomenal. It is a gasoline-electric hybrid which is rated at 50 miles a gallon but with practice the motorists can actually get better mileage. Last year, more than 241,000 were sold and the company’s goal is 1 million this year. For local news: the Atlanta Dogwood Festival begins for the weekend today. It is a huge aspect for the artist market with over 250 creators from across the country. The festival is 73 years old and due to the drought last year it was moved to Lenox Square but this year was returned to its Piedmont Park stomping grounds. It expects 50,000 visitors to attend each day.
We got dressed and made our way to the concierce desk since we were in need of a taxi to take us to our dinner for the Awards Dinner banquet. It’s been a very nice afternoon with typical springtime temperatures. The taxi driver was “interesting” as Tiffany put it. He drove like he was driving in New York and was listening to a spokesperson that was evaluating the personality of the lion in the movie The Wizard of Oz, are you kidding me? He dropped us off after cordially opening both of our doors and the evening began. Tiffany and I knew no one but as usual it didn’t take long for us to meet a few people. There were probably 60-65 people from the Southern Sleep Society that were with us. We had family style hors d’oeuvres that consisted of grilled BBQ shrimp, pulled pork that was wrapped in a crepe, pimento cheese with vegetable tray and scallops with sautéed cauliflower. Then we had a choice of a salad or she-crab soup, we both chose the soup. It’s a local favorite and I see why! I chose the salmon for my entrée and Tiffany ate their fried chicken which is what they are known for here at this restaurant. Shortly after our meal they brought out several platters of family style desserts and OH MY GOSH-the banana pudding was delectable. Tiffany and I had actually asked for our desserts to be out in a “to go” container but the waitress said that would not be possible since their desserts are served family style also. There was also a fudge brownie type of dessert and an assortment of several types of cookies. Tiffany swore off any more bites of anything since she was absolutely stuffed after the entrée so she missed out, I on the other hand had to at least sample the banana pudding (even if it meant unbuttoning my pants to get up from the table! My Nana Miller taught me to eat dessert first!) and it was SO worth it. Everyone was very nice at our table and there were several conversations going around at the same time but we all seemed to have time to visit. After the awards we got ready to leave as we were stuffed to the gills and the Respironics rep from Houston and a woman sleep doctor from Houston were ready to leave also so we all took a cab together since we were all staying at the same hotel. We rode in a van and it was a much calmer trip than our previous taxi ride. As soon as we got to our room we changed into our PJ’s to get comfortable (so we could breathe) and we settled in for the evening.
Saturday, April 18, 2009-Our meetings began at 8:00 AM and we arrived 15 minutes early and I went to get coffee and something from the continental breakfast and arrived back ready to learn. Tiffany passed on breakfast but had some juice I brought her. When we had a break (they delayed it for 30 minutes) she decided she would go get her some salt that she said she needed, she returned from DQ with hash browns and a French Vanilla Moolatte with cool whip cresting it (she who says she “doesn’t really like sweets”). While she was gone the director of the conference called her name and 2 other peoples names that had been draw and had won a gift. I went with her to collect it and it was an Anti-Snore Shirt. She was not quite familiar with this article of sleep clothing so I explained it to her, she thought she should make Robbie try it on when we get back to the lab. We laughed and then she thought she’d just donate it to the lab for future reference.
We returned to expand our minds with the next few speakers for the day. The funniest one was Dr. Max Hirshkowitz who is a pulmonologist that is board certified in sleep medicine and is from Texas. He opened his talk on “Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Cardiovascular Disease” with a powerpoint and made the statement: Kids get a video and watch it over and over and over, adults buy a video and watch it once and maybe again if it comes on TV. He started his presentation as he opened up the powerpoint and we all could see “Sleepy” from Snow White as he yawned and had his head back as if he was ready to sleep. Dr. Max Hirshkowitz said “Snow White, a lady with a strange sleeping arrangement-7 guys. One of them snores and is a dwarf. He has no nares so an oral appliance will not work and he has cranial maxillary facial issues”. All of the sleep people (all of us in this meeting) laughed! His next case study presentation he used was a study originally done in Canada. He commented, “The great thing about Canada is they track everything in healthcare, the downfall is they don’t let you treat anything”. I laughed as Thomas is from Canada but they have socialized healthcare system which I’m afraid we are headed toward in my lifetime here in the US.
The final speaker was Dr. Wallace Mendelson of Galveston, Tx., he spoke yesterday also. He did a fellowship in Israel and told us of 2 professions that he learned while there and had never heard of them since. One being a Combat Optometrist who would stay on the battlefields so that if the servicemen were to break their glasses while in combat this eye doctor can make them new ones there on the battlefield. The other is an Implosion Therapist who when a prisoner is released/returned then they drive them to where the capture happened (glad we don’t do it like that here in the states). That is to help reverse the trauma to reenact-I’m not thinking that would be more trauma than relief?
So our lectures were over by noon and most were off to a conference sponsored golf tournament-Tiffany and I do not golf so we will venture off to the Dogwood Festival.
We had no newspaper delivered to our room today so I’m unsure of the current events so I will tell you a few important things going on for the year 2009: This year has a few noteable milestones. Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln would have turned 200 years old this year of 2009. (Thomas Jefferson would be 266 years old-for those of you who know me well, you know he is one of the people I would have LOVED to meet!) In comparison, Barbie is a sprightly 50…and still looking good. The same year Barbie was born (or rather first manufactured), the doors of the Guggenheim Museum in New York opened. All of these American icons have had an impact on our world. They have given us greater knowledge and freedom, artistic beauty and, most importantly a doll with a never-ending talent for reinventing herself. Barbie inspired kids along with other memorable toys of the last century like Easy Bake Oven (it keeps creating and cooking today), Slinky, GI Joe, Superball, Lincoln Logs, Mr. Potato Head (his parts are still interchangeable today), Play-Doh, Yo-Yo, Etch-A-Sketch, and Silly Putty. As I think of this list of toys, I think about how sometimes the simplest ones were the best ones. Perhaps because they invited your imagination to take over. Loads of imagination went into designing New York’s Guggenheim Museum www.guggenheim.org a visually stunning building inside and out. Much like the new Taubman Museum of Art we now have in Roanoke, VA. The Guggeneheim foundation (Since its inception in 1937, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation has been a preeminent institution for the collection, preservation, and research of modern and contemporary art. The global network that began in the 1970s when the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, was joined by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, has expanded since 1997 to include the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin. Each constituent museum unites distinguished architecture with great artworks, a tradition that has become a Guggenheim hallmark. Looking to the future, the Guggenheim Foundation continues to forge international partnerships as it works on developing new museums in the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. Thanks to its celebrated collections, special exhibitions, conservation efforts, educational initiatives, and scholarship, the Guggenheim is internationally recognized as a pioneer and touchstone for all cultural institutions) has ambitious plans to open the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi in the Unites Arab Emirates in 2012. Over in D.C., the Lincoln Memorial has housed the impressive 19-foot high statue of our 16th president since 1922. Bicentennial celebrations include a Birthday Gala and a Memorial Rededication. Lastly, the Galapagos-a well known chain of islands that is home to an astonishing 2,900 species. Thanks to conservation efforts, this part of the world remains virtually as pristine as it was in 1835 when Charles Darwin visited. Nowadays, that’s a rarity except for maybe Barbie; a hundred years from now she still won’t have a wrinkle!
Tiffany and I gathered ourselves for an afternoon walk that everyone tells us takes 30 minutes as we head back to Midtown to find Piedmont Park for the Dogwood Festival. We met a nice older couple along our way and we escorted them majority of the way to the festival. As it was getting to be mid-afternoon I thought it was best to get some lunch before we actually arrived at the festival but it was within eyesight for us now. Tiffany told me she is a very picky eater and she was right. I saw a Jason’s Deli (which we have in Texas, Caitlynn and I used to love to eat at the one in Lubbock-we looked for an excuse each time!) and suggested it since she had never eaten at one. We entered and I thought she should look over the menu so we could order, when she glanced at it she said she didn’t feel like she would like anything on the menu so we made out way down the walkway to Subway so she could order her sandwich the way she likes them: dry with mustard and turkey. We ate and enjoyed it as we are off to the festival. WOW at all the people, hardly enough walking room but there were people of many facets of life. We strolled through the park area and then headed back for our walk to the hotel. Tiffany was in hopes of finding a tanning salon on our walk but the one we came across she said she could tell, “it’s too expensive”. I asked how she could tell that from the front of the building and she assured me “I just can”. As we walked our return route we opted to walk on the opposite side of the roads this time for a change in scenery and that it proved to be. There was an Open House in a restored condominium building so we made our way to the 2nd floor of the building as the young couple who owned it offered wine and cookies as the people came in and out to observe. Tiffany nor I accepted any wine or cookies but the living area this little couple occupied was very cute and due to the small size they had created a very practical living space without clutter-which I loved!
The day was nearing the end of the afternoon as we arrived back at our hotel so I read for a bit and journaled, Tiffany talked to her dad on the cell phone and she made a short visit to the gym and upon her return I made my way there to do my running time. The exercise was good as I needed it after sitting in meetings for the last 2 days, not to mention the drive here also. We got cleaned up and went to the Hard Rock Café for a much needed burger-nothing like a good burger! The Hard Rock’s are always so busy, loud, crowded but with great paraphernalia and music with videos, gotta love the old school music back in the day! Locally there must have been several proms as the teen crowd was all dressed in formals-they are looked beautiful.
We made our way back to the hotel and began gathering our stuff and simi-packing as tomorrow would be the day to leave. I was happy of the thought to see Caitlynn and Thomas (and the Rat Dogs-all 3 of them), they would be ready for rest as Caitlynn’s dad Lynn arrived the day we left and will fly back to Texas in the morning. Caitlynn has not seen him since summer so he finally decided he’d come here to see where she lives and meet her friends so I thought it was a good time since I would not be there. I have the best husband in the world as he opted to not come on this trip as he felt he should be available if Caitlynn and Lynn needed a “break” while he visited. He stayed at our house during his trip so he would not have to afford a hotel and Thomas let them use the Ford pickup with his GPS for Caitlynn to be able to show him a little bit of her stomping grounds here where we’ve made our home in Roanoke,VA. Lynn has never been to VA, in fact he’s only been to Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Tennessee in his entire life to visit.
Tiffany was excited about going home also as she tells me that she used to get home sick when she was younger but she says she’s better now though she still feels lonely when she’s not at home and is relieved when she knows she’s headed back. For this reason she states she has decided not to go away for college in the fall and she will attend a local community college, VirginiaWestern in Roanoke. She will continue to live with her dad and go to college.
Morning came early and I let her sleep later than we have been doing due to the very 1st class at 8AM not being of interest to us but we were there by 8:45 ready for the 9AM. Today will be completed at noon as the end of the conference. I can tell that Tiffany is overwhelmed with the information (not to mention the terminology) but she has said for the last 1-2 yrs that she’d like to be a nurse so this will be the 1st of many lectures she will sit in on that physician’s present information. I think she struggles with what her dad wants her to do for her education after high school versus her insecurity to make decisions on her own. This is a fact that she makes known as we talked on our drive here, she says she “just can’t make decisions, it’s just too hard for me” she tells me. This is obviously an area she struggles in and is very aware of it with the help of a counselor she meets with on a regular basis. That is something I have honestly never really struggled with, what to believe in or the ability to form my own opinion. I believe we are all here by a greater being above us and he freely gives us a free will to use but choose wisely and look to him for your choices to head down the right paths in life. This reminds me of a story that motivational guru Zig Ziglar tells of a memorable revival service led by early twentieth-century evangelical firebrand Mordecai Ham. He is perhaps best known for being the preacher on the night of Billy Graham’s conversion. One evening, before taking the podium to deliver his typically fire-and-brimstone sermon, Ham was approached by a stranger. The man pulled the preacher aside and said, “Mr. Ham, I am here because I’m curious. But I just want you to know that I don’t believe in heaven, I don’t believe in hell, I don’t believe in God and I certainly don’t believe in prayer.” Ham thanked him for his honesty and stepped onto the stage and addressed the large crowd. “Folks, we’ve got an unusual man at our service tonight. He doesn’t believe in God, and certainly doesn’t believe in prayer. So I want all of us, the entire time I’m preaching, to pray that God will kill this man before I’m through.” As soon as the words left Ham’s mouth, the non-believer leapt violently from his seat and elbowed his way past his fellow congregants into the aisle. He sprinted toward the door and burst out of the building, all the while screaming at the top of his lungs, “No! No! No! Don’t you do it! Don’t pray that! Please, don’t you do it!” So as the old saying goes: “Stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.” Hopefully with time this will be a passing phase in Tiffany’s life as I wish her the best on her path for the future.
The release from our conference lead us to check out and have valet bring the car so we could get on the road home. It’s an overcast day but that makes for good traveling weather as far as I’m concerned, so off we go….
I encouraged Tiffany to sleep as it will make the trip seem faster (why that is I am still unsure of even at my age?) but she stated she has always had a difficult time sleeping in a vehicle but after the first hour her head was back with her mouth open for a good 45 minutes-regardless of my driving as my daughter likes to tell everyone that I am the worst driver she knows. I began looking for a place to eat and Tiffany woke up as she did share with me that she loves Out Back Steakhouse as they usually eat at the one in Roanoke when it’s someone’s birthday-especially hers. She shared a story with me about this last birthday meal when her family met there and Robbie joined them late so they pulled a chair to the end of the table and the waiter who served them had very hairy arms. So every time he’d have to reach past Robbie to get to everyone when he needed to service the guests gathered for the family meal and Robbie was grossed out by the hairy arms passing his plate each time!
We stopped in Clemson, SC to eat at their Out Back Steakhouse which looked to be very new. We got our bellies full without even having dessert and made our way back to the highway to home. Caitlynn kept texting/calling me as she wanted me to give her my ETA because she was beside herself. She couldn’t wait to show me what Thomas had done when he put his racing carburetor on her truck over the weekend and it was running smoothly now when they’d start it, she could not wait for me to see! Our arrival was 25 minutes ahead of schedule so we had time to get Tiffany loaded and on her way so she would not be home too late due to school in the morning. Following that Caitlynn showed me her prize possession-her truck WITH the new carburetor and then we left to go watch Thomas’s hockey game as his season was coming to a close this week. Off to another week of family, work, and planning for another trip.
All my travels in life lead me to think about all the things I am so fortunate to have in my life-the best things in life are definitely free, enjoy them all!
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