OK, so I haven't been around much. I'll have to change my status from Groovy-the-Mediocre-Blogger to Groovy-the-Lame-Blogger.
Lesse, Here's the speed version for those of you who are as busy as I am:
GrammaJ is in South Carolina.
We went to Boston.
I went on a weekend training with Maine Task Force One.
My house is really clean.
4-H rocks!
There ya go.
Now, here's the longer version for those of you who
Last Saturday, GrammaJ was slated to fly out of Maine's largest airport (ie. 6 whole gates!) to go visit her two dearest friends "back home". Sadly, the only flight we could fnd for her was scheduled to depart at 6am. You know, in the morning. Which meant she needed to be there by 5am. We told her 1 hour early was plenty because, HELLO, there are only 6 gates and it usually only takes 10 minutes to check in. However, she called the airline. She did this because she heard somewhere that they were going to charge her extra if she had a checked bag. (She was in a serious packing tizzy. She could NEVER pack like Scout and get everything she needed in one carry-on. Oh no. She needed 3 pair of dress shoes and winter boots "just in case" and 2 dressy suits and a skirt and several pair of dress pants and blouses and extra jammies and undies and gifts for her dear friends and all those "little extras" a woman's just gotta have.)
Anyhoo, she called the airline and they said oh-yes-lotsa-money for a checked bag; both ways and, by the way, be at the airport TWO hours early. Two. Hours. Early. And we live an hour and a half from the airport.
You can see where this is going, can't you?
In order to get her to the airport at 4am, we'd need to leave Podunk at 2:30am. Hah. hahahaha.
In the midst of all this buzz and planning (and groaning) she kept calling me for advice: The lavender suit or the blue one? How can she pare down her wardrobe so it will all fit in one bag? Should she mail the gifts on ahead or carry them with her? And she called me to give me orders: Don't forget to pick up my mail. The trash will start to stink if you don't take it home. Make sure you give the kitties extra love. DON'T let the maintenance men bring any strangers in the apartment! etc. etc. etc. And several times she made cheerful references to the nice mother/daughter time we'd have on the trip to the airport. (In the middle of the night.) Yes, GrammaJ was seriously excited about this trip!
That's when I started gettting emails from Annie Oakley. She is my very bestest redneck search and rescue friend. One day I will have to make a post just about her; She is a character in her own right! AnnieO had seriously thrilling news for me - we had an opportunity to train with Maine Task Force One for 2 and 1/2 days for FREE. The only catch was the training was on the same weekend GrammaJ had to get to the airport.
I wanted to go to the training so bad I couldn't sleep. So I talked to Mulletman - and he was all for me going! He'd watch the kids and even buy me some of the equipment I needed. PSYCH!
But there was still that catch about letting GrammaJ down. What to do - What to DO? I finally decided I would get up in the middle of the night and drive her to the airport, then head out to the training from there - another 2 and 1/2 hours northwest. I figured that would have me arriving at the training camp around breakfast time. It was not an ideal plan. I would be arriving for a very physical training session on a severe dearth of sleep. Considering that some of our work was quite dangerous I really needed to be fresh and alert. But how else could I do both things?
Turns out I didn't have to.
It all started with us having GrammaJ and the folks over for dinner and card games. Mulletman picked GrammaJ up and apparently they got on quite well. Both of them. Together. My husband and my eccentric mother. Normally they are paddling on different sides of the boat, if you know what I mean. They usually DON'T enjoy being together. But that next day GrammaJ couldn't say enough nice things about Mulletman and he just shrugged and said they had a nice chat. And that's when he said, (Hold on to your seat) "I don't like the idea of you going to that training thing with so little sleep and so much road time. It's a recipe for disaster. I'll get up early and take GrammaJ to the airport for you so you can drive out to the training camp on Friday night with AnnieO.
*sniff* And now you can all see what a fine, fabulous, and otherwise fantastic man I married! He was going to get up in the middle of the night to drive 1 and 1/2 hours with MY mother to the airport. He was even going to stay with her until she went through security!!
Friends, that's true love!
Of course, I still wasn't sure how GrammaJ would take the change in plans. Believe it or not, I was so afraid of her reaction that I put off telling her for several days that Mulletman was taking her. But when I finally did, she was completely undaunted, "Oh, isn't that nice of him? You be extra careful on your trip, and don't forget to check on the kitties first thing when you get home!" I was so relieved I cried! (GrammaJ, I love you!)
Tomorrow? I'll tell you allllllll about the training weekend. And Boston. Shoot, I forgot all about Boston!
3 comments:
He is indeed a great hubby! And I wish I had met Grandma J when I was there! I love your descriptions.
Groovy who???
JUST KIDDING!
You are in the "credits" (your prize until I can arrange for a better one) over at my post "Number One Cherry Blossom Lane"
Mulletman is awesome all right. I'm glad he stepped in because I would have been worried about you doing the training after so little sleep as well as all that driving. Glad it all worked out!
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