Back...

Went to visit my sister and bro-in-law near Springfield, IL, on Wednesday. Just got back this afternoon. Shari wrote that she misses me already. I'm not sure why. All I do when I am there is take up space and eat their food! We only see each other a couple of times a year, but we do understand each other even though we live in different worlds. My sister has been a wonderful support in some of my recent heartbreaks. She listens without judging. It helps enormously!

I showed up on their doorstep empty-handed, but they had presents for me. Shari called them "a little something". Her "little something" through the years has been the mainstay of my winter wordrobe: wonderfully lovely sweatshirts that I get major compliments on! This year, I got three! I love them. Thank you, Shari and Roger!

Let's see...what did we do? The first full day, my great-nephew Jeremy showed up without his family for lunch. We played Wii bowling. I lost the first game. The second game, I bowled 240. Huh?? How did that happen?? I credited a glass or two of wine with my win. (The next time we played, I didn't do so well...wine or no wine.)

One evening, we drove to my niece's place in Mechanicsburg and went to a small restaurant right next door called Abe's Hideout. We had to wait quite awhile for a table big enough for all six of us, but the food was good, and so was the company. Enjoyed that!

Another day, Shari and I drove to Rutland, IL, to see our Aunt Rosie and cousin, Sandy. (Sandy is a guy...nicknamed for the color of his hair as a wee one...just two weeks younger than I). Aunt Rosie is my mother's sister...the last remaining relative of Mom's generation, age 86. Her first words to me were "You look like me!" Yes...I do, dammit! Except for an age-spot on her cheek and having a little more white hair, Aunt Rosie doesn't look much different than she did the last time I saw her in the late '90s. She is still the same character I always knew and loved. Cousin Sandy has no teeth (well...he has them, but they are in the cupboard) and sports a very long, white pony tail...but he is still the same ol' Sandy. Some things never change! The trip took us, basically, all day. I had quite forgotten that it was a two-hour trek up and another two hours back, plus a two hour visit and an hour for lunch on the way. We got back to Springfield in time to fix some supper and watch a little TV before crashing.

Once upon a time, when we were younger, Shari and I could stay up until dawn drinking, smoking, and talking. Now, we are lucky to make it to midnight. In fact, the only night we managed that was New Year's Eve. That night, we were in bed by 12:30! (1:30 Indiana time.)

And can we say COLD, boys and girls? The last three mornings, the temp sensor at Shari's registered 2 or 3 degrees. I think it got up to 11 before I left this AM. Whoop-de-doo! Interestingly, I watched Dakota, Shari and Roger's copper Siberian Husky, outside on her chain, worried that the temps would be hard on her. She plopped down in the snow, entirely unconcerned about the cold, sniffing the air and digging in the snow. My previous pup, Frodo the Wonder Dog cocker spaniel would have been shivering and begging to come in!

While I was there, Roger shared some income figures with me. Whoa! There is a reason why they have so many nice things, even in retirement! Coming home to my little bungalow can be a shock after all of that...but at least it's mine...sort of.

Got an online tour of Megan's new apartment via Skype this evening. She said it was "messy"...but I remember her apartment with Nathan back before the children were born, and that was a total disaster. Maybe she has learned something...or maybe they just haven't accrued enough "stuff" yet. They've only been there a few days, so far.

Oh...when I got home this afternoon, I logged onto Facebook for the first time in days and saw someone asking for prayers for a friend of mine. Jeff and his wife Wilma were colleagues in the Monroe-Gregg School District until a superintendent did away with their jobs due to a vendetta. Both moved on. Jeff's father, Bill, was the principal at Hall Elementary School who hired me on as a teacher when it becamse clear to me that my husband and I were heading for Splitsville. (Had Bill not hired me, I'm not sure where Meg and I would have ended up!) Bill lives just down the road from me now and goes to my church. I called him as soon as I read the request for prayers. Wilma, always a little slip of a thing, had a massive heart attack and was in cardiac arrest at least twice. She is in a heart hospital to the southeast of here, in a drug-induced coma. Jeff apparently had a stroke a number of months ago and has given up driving. After I talked to Bill, he called me back a bit later and told me that doctors did some sort of brain scan and determined that Wilma has a "sick brain" but is not brain dead. No one knows the prognosis. I called Jeff and talked to him for a bit, offering him transportation, if he needed/wanted it. He sounded good. If you are a praying person, please pray for my friends Wilma and Jeff. In this case, it's hard to know what to pray for...recovery or mercy. God's will be done!

I'm cold and tired. Time to hit the sack!