My mom was here for an extended stay over the winter of 2014. It’s always miserably cold in northern Michigan, so it’s nice for her to be able to get out of the freezing weather and into something more bearable, if only for a few months. I know she probably misses her Michigan family during that time. I came home from work on a Friday to discover my sister Kathleen and her husband Jim surprised us with a visit! My mom had no idea, nor did I, but boy, oh boy, do I love a good surprise! It was so fun seeing them, if only briefly. I know mom was thrilled, as well. We all went to the Funky Pelican for dinner and talked and laughed the night away. It was good for me and good for mom. I think Kathy and Jim enjoyed it, too.
Category: Randomness
A prayer answered
It had been a long time since I worked for someone besides myself. I was a freelance court reporter for over 15 years, then an independent shop owner for four. It’s not easy being self-employed, but it is fun. I’m a great self-starter (outside my home) and pretty disciplined. So when I took a job in the home health field here in Florida, I really looked forward to learning a whole new area. What I did not realize at the time was that not every company plays fair, and even if you go over and above your job description, you can’t expect to be appreciated by those in management who are not directly exposed to your efforts. And while I realize the economy hasn’t been the best, Florida is an at-will employment state which means there is no job security. None. You can quit at will, and they can fire you at will. Florida also has one of the lowest pay rates around. What I also learned at this company is that not everyone in the same position is compensated the same, even though hire dates are close. That unwanted discovery makes for some heavy resentment in the fairness field. Even with an excellent annual review and a letter to the owner, their refusal to acknowledge a good employee with a decent wage forced me to look elsewhere (which was suggested when I voiced my opinion).
Months of searching and several interviews later, I was asked to join Gentiva Hospice here in Palm Coast as their Patient Care Secretary. An interview with four of the staff convinced me immediately that this was a place I could work for a long, long time. And with my experience at my previous job, I was well-suited for their needs. Their offer included a very fair wage and a great benefit package. And even though I’m three miles from the office instead of one, I KNOW this is going to be a great place to work.
It was a tough decision leaving my wonderful friends at AmeriCare, and I plan on staying in touch with as many as I can. But I can truly say that this is a long-awaited answer to prayer.
‘HE’ made my day.
Occasionally while on my break at work I’ll check my email and Facebook to see what’s happening in the world. This past Thursday I was happy I did. There was a blurb from The Beanery that there was a whale sighting at N. 20th in Flagler Beach ‘about an hour ago.’ Knowing that they don’t move very quickly, I decided last minute to take an early lunch, text Thom about it, and head down there. He went one way and I went another, staying in touch via phone. Neither of us saw anything, so I said I was heading back to the office.
On my way north along the ocean, I kept my eyes peeled, and right where we typically go swimming, I saw dolphins.
Not just one or two, but LOTS of dolphins! I quickly pulled onto the shoulder, grabbed my binoculars, jumped out of the car and searched. I’ve never seen so many gannets, pelicans and dolphins in one place. Something had to be there! Thom pulled up behind me, and I motioned him to come quickly! He had his camera on its tripod in seconds and was snapping pictures when I saw her. I gasped.
What a thrill!
With that dorsal fin, I’m not even sure what kind it was. Right whales are typically seen here this time of year, but they don’t have a dorsal fin. I’d love to know what she was. She stayed around for quite awhile along with the dolphins, fishing and playing.
I could barely tear myself away to go back to work. I finally went back to my car, which was still running with all the windows down and my phone and purse still on the seat! And I thanked God for this perfectly beautiful gift that made my day.
Summer vs Winter
It’s hot here. 90’s the last few weeks with about the same humidity levels. It rains almost every afternoon; a heavy, tropical rain that causes steam to rise from the blacktop and leaves the air even heavier with moisture. It makes your skin soft and your hair and nails grow. It fogs your glasses when you come inside. It makes you wonder how people live in this climate without air conditioning. It doesn’t last all that long; a month of high 80’s, a few weeks of 90’s. But it’s definitely stifling, causing you to move from home to car to store to car to home without spending too much time in between.
When I think about that, I remember where I came from, moved away from. Winters in northern Michigan last from about November through March and often into April. And I’m talking the cold, wet, windy winter that seeps into your joints and chills you to the bone. The never-ending bleakness of days upon days of little or no sunshine; late mornings and early evenings of darkness that make you long for summer when the sun doesn’t set until 10:00 pm. But to get to that summer you have to survive the muddy, rainy weeks of spring with the dirty snow piled up along the curbs trying to melt without sunshine, waiting for warmer days to finally rid itself. Summer begins, at least according to the calendar, June 21st and ends on September 21st. And sometimes, in northern Michigan, it actually does. Much of the time, though, summer begins and ends in bouts of 70- to 90-degree weeks, with cooler, rainy weather filling in the spaces making it virtually impossible to arrange for outdoor events without a backup plan. Fall, my most favorite Michigan season, rewards us with an amazing array of color and crispness that brings folks out for walks and drives, knowing that soon enough they’ll be forced back inside for the duration of another long, cold winter season.
Which brings me back to late summer in Florida. We don’t spend much time outdoors unless we’re at the beach; thankfully it’s only a few miles away. Mornings are best. People are out biking, walking their dogs or exercising, often before 8:00 a.m. But after 9:00 or so you’re forced back inside to the a/c. Evenings aren’t bad once the sun goes down, which is usually around 8:00 p.m. here. Most restaurants along the beach have outdoor seating where the ocean breezes keep you comfortable. Music generally fills the air and lines of pelicans fly overhead making their way to wherever it is they spend their nights.
During the day we ask ourselves how long we can stand the heat. Everyone mentions the humidity whenever they come in from outdoors. We are constantly in awe of the powerful and quick storms that move in and move out leaving steam rising from the parking lots. And then we’ll look at each other and remember: It could be worse. It HAS been worse. This is our ‘winter’ weather. This is what we have to endure to live and enjoy the remaining 10 beautiful months here. And anyone who has moved south from those long winters unequivocally agrees that it’s MUCH easier getting through this than it is getting through the seemingly endless months of the dry, windy, bone-chilling winter that forced us to look southward to sunshine, warmth, and the ocean.
In case you missed some of these…Happy Birthday, Dad
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Before…and After!
[portfolio-gallery include=2139]We’re finally into our new house! Completely! After spending a full day last weekend moving the rest of our junk into our new garage, we’ll have the rental cleaned next week and will be DONE with renting forever. Now comes the unpacking, sorting, and putting away all the stuff we’ll keep, with the rest of it left in the garage for a future sale. But that’s down the road a bit. The past couple of weeks have been filled with cleaning, painting, and shopping, with poor Thom taking the brunt of the work because of my job. The garage and the outside, which is in desperate need of a paint job, had to wait while we re-did the inside. Kevanna is coming next weekend, and we HAD to have it ready for them! Thom’s brother-in-law was down this past week and installed a beautiful set of French patio doors that just make the room. Here’s some befores and afters:
First, the living area looking out to the front door. We removed the curtains, then Thom took down the wallpaper border on the left. We decided to stay with the same color as the rest of the room, and since there was a can of paint in the garage with the name on it, we were able to match it perfectly! We put some 2″ white wood blinds in the front window. A new front door and screen door are in our future.
The kitchen had some big changes. We had to put a new counter top in as the old one was actually warped. Thom spent days sanding and painting the cupboard doors and drawer fronts, including the wood around the light fixture. We were forced to get a new (used) fridge, so we went for a big white side-by-side. We hope to replace the stove and microwave with white ones down the road.
But I have to say our most favorite improvement is in our beautiful little lanai! Here are a couple of before and a couple of after pictures. The lanai was just filthy when we got in there. No one had lived in the house for over two years. Once we cleaned it, we realized it had beautiful tile under all the dirt. But the slider had to go. It wouldn’t slide; it kept falling off the track. It made all kinds of noise. It just begged to be replaced! Huge thanks go to Bobby for such a great job installing it with some help from Thom. The perfect housewarming gift!
So, aside from the bedrooms, which really didn’t need any big fixes, I think we’re ready for our first company! (We just have to keep them out of the garage.)
Anticipation
an·tic·i·pa·tion: 1 : the act of looking forward; especially : pleasurable expectation; 2 : visualization of a future event or state
I have to say, I have a love/hate relationship with anticipation. I love surprises, the spur-of-the-moment, the let’s-not-think-too-much-about-it-in-case-we-talk-ourselves-out-of-it kind of impetuousness that began in my teens and has not yet left me. I’m not saying I like living on the edge, but I’m all for jumping into the car and just driving, or getting short notice of a trip home and really enjoying the whole experience, the good, the bad–all of it. But I also love looking forward to things, thinking about them, trying to decide the hows, then whens, the wheres.
So here’s a rundown of the past few months regarding the theme of ‘anticipation’ and how it has applied to my life lately:
- Anticipation #1: Buying a house on a short sale. If you’ve ever heard about how difficult this can be, you’ve heard correctly. While not impossible, it is definitely stressful. This kind of anticipation I can do without. You actually do not know until you sign the papers whether you have a done deal or not. The ups and downs of that roller coaster ride will not quickly be forgotten.
- Anticipation #2: Going to Disney Flower and Garden Show and looking forward to that Soarin‘ ride. Awesome!!! And trying to fit this in with packing, working, beaching, packing and working.
- Anticipation #3: A stupendous, impulsive acceptance of an offer to fly home for my son’s graduation party, a quick overnight totally worth the stress of missing the first leg of my flight (see previous post about Amy).
- Anticipation #4: Finally moving into the new house (even though half our stuff is still at the old one); sleeping here, waking here, driving to and from work from here (1 mile!). But tomorrow should be the end of the dreaded anticipation of renting a truck and moving the rest here. To. Be. Finally. Done.
And then these little anticipations, like looking forward to having our wretched patio door replaced with lovely French doors that will open out onto the screened lanai (must wait 4 days! Anticipation!). Like seeing the kitchen come together after Thom took all the doors and drawers down and repainted them. Like going to work with the broken old counter in the kitchen, only to come home to a beautiful NEW gray counter to go with our now white cupboards! I love leaving the house in the morning and coming home later and seeing new things on the walls, new paint on the lanai, a slightly different room arrangement. Those are FUN surprises!
- Anticipation #5: Kevanna. They are flying down in 14 days. 14. This is when I love/hate anticipation. I love to look forward to having them here. I love that I know they’re going to love it here and have a great time. I love that they’ll love our new place, because that’s the kind of people they are. Frankly, I love having that ‘deadline’ to get things moving more quickly around here so it’s more than ready for our first visitors in our new home. What I hate about this sweet anticipation is that the hours are going by in a jumble of preparation, and I have to spend all my days at work where time seems to drag slower than a bored manatee. I could be doing soooo much more around here. So while the days are, on their own, going slowly till they arrive, I know without any doubt that we’ll be looking at 5 of the fastest days the earth has ever seen while they’re here with us.
- Anticipation #6: Caitlin’s wedding. It’s at the end of June. I’m flying in the 27th, a Thursday. I’m still debating whether to spend the money on a car. I don’t want to pack much, but I’m thinking all about that, anticipating the unpredictability of Michigan weather, what clothes to bring, where I’ll be staying, who I’ll be seeing until I leave on the 4th.
- Anticipation #7: The moving south of my knittin’ sista’ ‘Neet and Dean. Never in a billion, gazillion years did it ever even take a baby step across my mind that she would really want to move down here. I can’t put into words how very happy — just really HAPPY — this makes me. And I look at hundreds of houses online and send link after link to her, sometimes even going to the house itself and taking pictures of it and talking/walking though it with her on the phone. Her cabin sale just HAS to go through. C’mon Dad, C’mon Murph, Amy, Ria…this little project shouldn’t be hard for any of you, so let’s make it happen!
Yes, anticipation can be fun if you’re the patient type. I’ve been told it’s not my thing Instead of I’M PATIENT, I’m more without the apostrophe: IMPATIENT. I do think the life lesson I’m here to learn has to do with patience and my lack of it., and I will say that at least I do feel like I’m more patient than I was even two years ago. Sure, I still stew and worry about how things are going to get done and when. But I’ve also learned to try and step away from the project so no one gets hurt, especially Thom.
So yes, lots of anticipation going on around here. The vast majority of it is good, for a change.Summer is coming, family is coming,the beaches are calling our names. I’ve got the days off work to just enjoy being with the kids. I hope there’s a good Florida thunderstorm while we’re at the ocean. I hope we see dolphins and pelicans. And I wonder, were we to get up in the early hours of the morning, if we might just spot a female leatherback turtle, one who has spent the past 10 years of her life in anticipation of moving her nearly 6-foot girth up the very beach where she was born to the dunes to lay her hundred eggs and then turn and slowly make her way back to the water, never to see her offspring again.
Or will she…….? Something to anticipate!
Amy Does it Again.
My youngest son, Kevin, had finally earned his Bachelor’s Degree the hard way, working during the day, classes at night. His bride, Savanna, wanted him to don the cap and gown and walk the walk, but he didn’t want to spend the money, the time, or any further effort. He was DONE! YIPPEE!! Instead, she planned a surprise graduation party for him. I had heard about it kind of by accident through Facebook, since living a thousand miles away, I obviously I couldn’t attend. On my nightly chat with Sarah on my drive home from work she told me she and Nate would certainly be there. I said if I were independently wealthy, I’d hop on a plane over the weekend and just surprise him. “But,” I said, “at least I’ll see him in June, so that’s okay.”
Two days later, rather early in the morning, I got a phone call from Sarah. When it’s that early, I have to wonder if she’s okay. It’s been a tough year. She sounded funny, kind of muffled. “I know,” she said, I’m under my covers.” Then she proceeded to preface what she had to say with, “I want you to be open-minded, spontaneous, think spur-of-the-moment.” And then she surprised me with, “I want to fly you home for Kev’s party.”
WHAT?!?!?
Three mornings and several excited phone calls to Savanna later, Thom, Sadie and I hopped in the car and headed to Daytona for my 8:30 flight connecting in Charlotte and Chicago and then finally to Traverse City. The plan was for Sarah to pick me up, drive to Boyne to change clothes, then head to Gaylord’s bowling alley before 6:00 p.m. where Savanna would bring an unsuspecting husband to his surprise graduation/bowling party. It seemed perfect, and I was looking forward to surprising not only my son, but some of my siblings, as well, who I knew would be there to celebrate with him.
20 minutes into the 30-minute drive to Daytona’s airport, I pulled out my boarding pass just to double-check the time. I literally gasped when I saw what was on it: “FLT 2291 DPT 7:02 AM DAB ARR 8:36 AM CLT.”
WHAT?!?!?
I can’t even begin to express my thoughts when I realized I had 10 minutes until my flight left and I wasn’t even at the airport. I picked up the phone mumbling frantically, “Who do I call?” “You can’t call the airline!” “You can’t even call the damned AIRPORT!” Thom – God love him – didn’t say too much, though I know without a doubt he was thinking, “How in the world did you get that wrong????” We just continued on our way at a bit faster pace, all the while my head spinning with a million thoughts: What do I do? How will I get there? What can I possibly tell Sarah who just spent MANY hundreds of dollars to fly me home? Will the flight be delayed? No! Of course not! It’s the first flight out!
I’ve missed a plane only once before in my entire life, and it’s a feeling you never forget. And now I was going to experience it again.
Thom pulled up to the front doors, and I grabbed my backpack and jumped out yelling, “Don’t leave!” I ran up to the now very empty ticket counter and saw two young men coming out the doors, no doubt finishing up sending my flight on its way. I asked them if the 7:02 flight had left, and they assured me it had. I put my head down on the counter, then looked up and said, “I need your help.” After a whole heck of a lot of typing, several bouts of tears, a half hour and a couple of phone calls later, Alex said to me, “Well, because you missed this flight, your seat from Chicago to Traverse City has been given away…
WHAT?!?!?
…but if you can get to Jacksonville, there’s a direct flight to Chicago at 10:40 with a pretty tight Traverse City connection that you could go standby on.” With my head spinning, I said, “Put me on it.”
The hour and a half drive to JAX was relatively quiet, but again, when Thom pulled up to the terminal, I suggested he not leave ‘just in case.’ The empty ticket counter yielded me an agent who, after listening to my tearful tale of idiocy, gave me back my seat to TC, but informed me that yes, I could most likely make the connection except that my flight to Chicago was now delayed 40 minutes, which would put me at O’Hare 10 minutes after my TC flight left.
WHAT?!?!?
Deciding NOT to tell Thom about that last bit, I called him and told him I was on my way, have a safe drive home, see you tomorrow, and went to my gate just hoping against all hope that we had good tailwinds and the flight to TC was delayed. What else could I do?
At the departure gate, I thought I’d see if there was any new information on the 40-minute delayed flight to Chicago, what gate this flight went into, what gate that flight left from, and if there were any miracles available. There was a lovely woman at the counter who, after listening to my story of my son’s graduation, my idiocy, and seeing my eyes filling up with desperation, finally said to me, “Listen, I’m definitely not supposed to do this, but I’m gonna ask that a cart be waiting for you when you get to Chicago, and they can get you to your next gate faster than if you ran, because they can go underground and around places you can’t go. I’ll do everything I can to get you on that flight, and we gonna pray it happens.” I quietly thanked her, and then started praying to the one person who I knew was the airport connection I needed. AMY!
My nickname for Amy is ‘Sparky.’ Living in Belleville and being 20 minutes from Metro Airport, she was always willing and able to get me to and from the airport any time of the day or night, sometimes through sleeting snow, sometimes out of bed and still in her red, one-piece star pajamas. She’d answer her phone, “Sparky’s airport transport. How can I assist you today?” I called on her again, “Amy…Sparky…Please, PLEASE help me make my connection in TC. See what you can do up there. Please…”
And while Ms. Lovely at the counter was typing notes into my ticket, I happened to glance at the information on the board. Suddenly my flight was only 20 minutes late, which meant I now had a 10-minute window in Chicago to make my connection!
WHAT?!?!?
I had the lady look at the board. I asked her if that didn’t just change from 40 minutes delayed to 20 minutes delayed. She looked at me and said quietly, “Yes.” I asked her if that happens very often, and she said, “No; hardly ever.” We looked at each other and smiled.
Thanks, Sparky.
PS: Yes, I made the connection.
LiviKnit 