T minus 34 hours (+-) and counting

We arrived back in San Diego yesterday afternoon. The apartment looks great- Kel is a good housekeeper. No need to unpack, because we have everything we need here. In my bedroom, there is a stack of boxes- extra diningroom chairs from Crate and Barrel, two booster chairs, a stroller, a queen size air mattress and electric pump, all in preparation for the great invasion that happens Friday, April 1. Jake, Becca, and the goonies - Kendall (AKA Sunshine), Haley (AKA Noodle), Delaney (AKA Pixie Dixie) and Emily (AKA Pookie)- deplane at San Diego Airport at 5 PM. Dave and Kelly will be taking both cars to collect them. Jake and Becca have been so cool about this. The girls are absolutely clueless! J and B will pick them up at school at about 10 AM Friday and off they will go, with no idea whatsoever what is up! I imagine that, when they get to the airport, Haley at least will tumble to the fact that they are going to visit NeeNee and Bompa. This was smart thinking, not giving any of the girls time in advance to worry about flying. Jake and Kendall have flown before, but I am sure Kenni doesn't remember it; she was just a baby when she flew to Michigan for her Aunt Susie's wedding. Becca, who is a world-class worrier, has never flown before and is both fearful and excited. The logistics of handling four kids, a car seat, and luggage for six boggles the mind. I hope she is not completely frazzled when she gets here. I wish I could be a fly on the ceiling to see how the goonies react to the flight. They still will be in the dark about the trip to Disneyland until they get here. Such fun! I love duplicity! I am getting prepared. Today is stocking up day and tomorrow is setting up day. Air mattresses to be inflated, beds to be made, meals to be planned and prepared, toys to be pulled out of closets and chests. After all the excitement on Friday, everyone should sleep well Friday night. Saturday we will plan our big Disney adventure together, and maybe go to the zoo. Jake and Becca have tickets to go see Kelly's play Saturday night; Kelly has the lead in the female version of the "Odd Couple" and has gotten rave reviews. Dave and I will babysit the goonies while they are gone. CAMP NEENEE! I love getting my grandkids all to myself! Sunday afternoon, we hop on a train to Anaheim and spend the next two days at the Disneyland Hotel and the Magic Kingdom. The invasion ends on April 6. It is going to be so quiet and lonely when they have gone. Hope they leave a lot of detritus to remember them by.

And away we go... again.

I am preparing to leave for San Diego on Wednesday. I just got back from Michigan and still haven't fully unpacked. I am leading the life of a gypsy and I don't really care for it. At least a gypsy is always at home, if a caravan qualifies. I essentially have two homes, a house I love in Tullahoma and an apartment it is nice to visit in San Diego, and yet there are times when I feel homeless.
Maybe I didn't understand it when Dave proposed this arrangement to me. When he said two weeks in SD and two weeks in Tullahoma, I thought that meant we would be together both places. It hasn't worked out that way. His extraneous travel has not lessened and so I am as likely to be left alone in California as I am in Tullahoma. We keep hoping the need for outside travel will lessen, but it never does. And the two week/two week schedule doesn't seem to work either. I thought we would be in Tullahoma the first two weeks of the month so that I can attend my staff meeting at the church and my woman's club meeting on the second Tuesday of every month. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes Dave has to go to CA without me. Lately, I have been seeing him about a week each month.
Maybe I am just feeling the spring gloomies. I have been feeling so down since I got back from Michigan and can't seem to shake it. Now, I need to get up off this computer and start organizing the stuff I will be taking to San Diego, return date unknown. Just like a gypsy.

Michigan in winter is gloomy... I remember now

As promised, the snow came, but it didn't stay. It was really pretty while it lasted, and it didn't even last long enough to become grey slush, which is a good thing, but the clouds that delivered it insist on hanging around. I remember now the land of grey and long for just a little sunshine to break up the gloom. I remember the gloom lasting from October to almost May- grey skies, grey clouds, grey slush- and the grey mood that pervades if there isn't a sunshine respite from time to time, which, of course, there isn't.
I am having a very nice visit with my brother Pat. Life has handed him one ugly challenge but he is meeting it with courage and humor. I am in awe of his strength. Today, Dad, my sister Sue and her hubby Andy, brother Bill and brother Mike with his wife Yvonne dropped in at various times between 1 and 3, and all left after a good visit at 5. I worried that it might be too much for him, all the noise and activity, and we are all of us rough kidders and loud, but he did well and so did we all. I can't remember the last time we were all together and were as gentle and supportive of one another as we were today. Dad is not looking very well, all of us are feeling our age, and most of us are feeling the effects of the grey season in our bones and muscles. The only thing missing at today's mini-reunion was a bit of sun.
Babs and the girls are in sunny San Francisco, getting their UV fix. I will be returning to Tennnessee shortly where even the coldest days are generally sunny. I wish I could magically transport Pat to someplace where the sun is shining, or have the power to hurry spring in Michigan. He could sure use a break from the gloom and grey. If Easter comes, can spring be far behind?

Back in Michigan...shiver, shiver

I am in Southfield, Michigan, visiting with my baby brother while his family is in California for a few days- and there is snow on the ground! And more snow coming! After that, it may snow. You know you have truly become a southerner when the thought of snow both excites and frightens you. When I lived here, the only exciting snow was the first of the winter, and none of them worried me. Now, I am watching the skies with just a bit of concern, which in a weird way amuses me and reminds me that this is not- and never will be again- my home. I like to joke that I was born a Yankee by mistake but it is true. My home is a little house in Tullahoma, Tennessee, which my kids, grandkids, and friends- to my great joy - make feel like Grand Central Station. Still, a big chunk of my family is still here in Michigan and there was a time that they were the transients in my grand central station. Paddy, my baby brother, lived with us for two years before we moved south. Now he is battling cancer and putting up one hell of a fight. He is as skinny as a rail and has good days and bad days- today, I fear, is shaping up to be a bad one- but I am not afraid for him. Never have been. However, he really can't be without some help at this point, which is what has brought me to Michigan in March. Watching for snow.

The friendly skies..

This morning, I was awakened at 4:30 AM to prepare for the hour and some drive to the airport in Nashville with my hubby. About a year ago, I took an unpaid leave of absence from my teaching position to travel and be with Dave the two weeks (sometimes more) of every month that he is in San Diego for his job. The other two weeks we are supposed to be together in Tullahoma, but we seldom are- I stay home with his aging mother and he goes to New York on business, Houston on business, Milwaukee, England. If I don't travel with him to California, I don't see him. Today, however, we are not traveling together. Yes, he is going to San Diego. I, however, am going to Michigan to stay with my baby brother Paddy, who is also ailing, but a hell of a lot more fun than Dave's mother. Dave and I sat in comfortble silence together waiting for our respective planes. I will be home on the 21st. He will be home on the 26th. We will spend Easter with Mama and then back to San Diego, together this time. When I was a child, my grandmother used to caution me to watch out for gypsies- and now I have become one.

Bragging and other bad habits

I apologize for tooting my own horn. I SHOULD have good language skills, for Pete's sake, I am a college professor. Still, language is one of my strongest skills and it makes me feel good to have that affirmed. I am not getting much affirmation on any front in my life right now- no pity party, just fact- so I am grabbing it where I can. Taking tests is another one of my skills. Put the two together and it can be awesome. I have no aptitude for spacial relationships and have a hard time visualizing things, so it all evens out in the end.

Forgot the scores

You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 88% Expert!

Results of the Most confused words test-

My daughter's blog had me scurrying to okcupid to take this test. All my children are very accomplished wordsmiths- and I think they may get it from me. I took the test, and did very well... see comment below.

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!
Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it! For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com

When you wish upon a star...

When I was five, Walt Disney was still alive and had a weekly TV show that everyone loved. We watched it without fail. In 1954, after months of Disneyesque hype- that, at least, hasn't changed- Uncle Walt announced the opening of Disneyland. I lived in Michigan, the eldest of five kids- my folks were never going to take me to Disneyland- but I didn't know that. I asked for Disneyland for birthdays, for Christmas, and entered any contest that had a trip to Disneyland as a prize until I finally conceded defeat at the age of 13. When Disneyworld opened, I was massively disinterested, even though I had since moved to Tennessee and could drive there in a matter of hours. A couple of times my hubby and I actually started to secretly plan a trip to Disneyworld- secretly, because we didn't want our kids to be disappointed if the trip didn't happen, and it didn't. Dave's job, my mother's failing health, financial reverses... needless to say, we never went. Years passed, and we were going to take the grandkids to Disneyworld. Haley, at five, was old enough to do her own walking. Disneyworld was still a sorry second to my mind, but it was closer and therefore cheaper. We had a date in October planned. October 2001. After 9/11, I was too frightened to take my children and grandchilden to any place so ostentatiously American as Disney-anything. We canceled the trip. Now, in just a few weeks, my son and his family will join my daughter, my hubby and I in San Diego, from whence we shall journey to Anaheim, in time for the 50th anniversary of Disneyland. I am alternately as excited as a kid, and as stressed as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I am holding my breath that no emergency comes up, that the flight isn't canceled, that we all stay well. And I am so hoping Disneyland will not disappoint. When you have wanted something your whole life, it cannot help but be a bit anticlimactic when you finally get it. Fortunately, I will be seeing my life's dream through four pairs of child's eyes. That must surely make it worth the wait, don't you think?

I told you!

As I type, the temperature is dropping and SNOW clouds are moving in. SNOW! Tennesseeans go absolutely nuts at the threat of snow- kinda like San Diegans with rain. Some school districts have already canceled classes and the first flake hasn't dropped yet. All the grocery stores will be packed with panicked mamas buying milk, bread, cokes- life's essentials- for the non-blizzard that looms in our future. I wish I could transplant these good people to one good winter day in Michigan just to give them a little perspective. They don't really believe ex-Northerners when we talk about Northern winters, even after seeing pictures on TV. Apparently REAL snow must be experienced to be believed. For myself, I rather hope it does snow a little. We haven't had much to speak of, and a light dusting of snow is always a homey sort of thing. Especially when you know it will be gone within a day and you won't have to shovel it.

It's either wing or sprinter

This time of year is enough to drive you nuts.
Nature is teasing us like someone offering candy to a baby and then pulling it away at the last moment. We have had several mild, sunny days ending with crisp, cold nights, just enough to make us dream of spring. Hope for spring. Think spring is here.
It is dangerous to let your heart get too full of spring joy in March- March is a treacherous month. It gives with one hand and takes with the other- often on the same day. It's not unusual to turn off the heat during the day and turn it back on at night at this time of year; but in March, on and off can happen multiple times during any given day.
So we must cherish the sunshine while we have it. We can't really trust in spring until May.