THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME AUNTIE EM

THURSDAY – 11/13 – Yep, Judy said it all with a famous line from the Wizard of Oz. From the warmth of Florida I woke up this morning at 6:50 AM, almost 10:OO AM Florida time, to NINE DEGREES ABOVE FREEZING. Clear skies but quite breezy, so the wind chill factor must be about 20 below! My fingers are so cold I can barely write this. All the trees except the damnable Alders have lost their leaves, so, I can barely see the lawn. Looks like I have a little raking ahead. I guess my “iron-man” health status is in jeopardy, after surviving illness from every one of the Florida family members, including my wife, now I’m home and feeling really congested. Oh well.

Yesterday’s trip “home” was quite eventful, AND long. Corinna delayed going to work, so M&C and Caleb went to the airport with us, and they bought us lunch on the way. It was a typical Florida day with partly cloudy skies, but around 70. However, on the way to the airport, we went through a significant thundershower, helping to acclimate us to the ongoing storms in the Pacific Northwest. As required by The Blonde, we arrived two hours early, and found our flight was “on time.” Sad goodbyes were in order, but while 14 days + was a tad long for a visit, we had lots of good times and quality time spent with the family we seldom see.

Our first defugalty was, going through the dreaded security check with half our toiletries in clear plastic bags and a young man came back holding a brand new large tube of Crest toothpaste. Sorry, he said, nothing more than 3 ounces can go on the plane. Poot! I asked if confiscated stuff like that would go to a charity or something, and he said no, it goes into a big bin and is tossed. Ruined my morning! Talk about overkill. Perhaps I fit the profile of a terrorist, but c’mon, use some reason folks.

Next incident was rather heartwarming. We were sitting by the gate during the LONG wait for boarding, and a nice looking young man came to the gate, and he kind of looked like he might be one of the attendants. However, once our plane arrived, he didn’t immediately board, but just stood there. Then the gate attendant got on the PA and announced that this young man needed some help. When we got to our stopover in Kansas City, he was going to propose to his girlfriend and needed help handing out 50 roses. Awwww

We were able to get one of the bulkhead seats for my arthritic knees, Praise the Lord, and this young man was on the aisle in the other bulkhead row, across from Mavis. During the course of the flight, the whole story came out. It seems that Phil Mathis’ mother planned this elaborate scenario to really surprise his intended fiancée. Phil went to Orlando, supposedly for “training” so his mother and girlfriend could be at the Kansas City airport to meet him when he returned. Phil had 50 red roses that he asked people departing at K.C. to walk off the plane with, each with a picture of his fiancée to be, and hand them to her, BEFORE Phil deplaned. Is this cool or what? Mavis was ticked because they wouldn’t let her get off the plane with a rose because they had to go beyond security where his intended was waiting and there wasn’t time.

Phil seemed pretty solemn the first part of the trip, but as the plan enfolded, he got his engagement ring out and was showing it to everybody, and he became more animated. I kidded him about whether he had considered the fact he might get turned down. He didn’t think that would happen. I mentioned that I wonder how his intended (wish I could remember her name) would react if someone told her Phil was flirting with the lady next to him. (ha ha) The lady then remarked that we must have been married a long time and I said, “Yeah, 48 years!” A departing passenger at K.C. congratulated us on our 48 years. Final chapter to this love story is our chief stewardess announced on the plane’s loudspeaker, “She accepted!” Fun stuff. Oh, Mavis just reminded me that just before they let the passengers deplane, the stewardess announced on the PA that on behalf of the flight crew, they were giving him this bottle of champagne. Everyone clapped.

Final comment, Mavis told Phil this would definitely be included in my trip blog and he asked to see it. He gave me his e-mail address, PMATHIS@……
and not knowing his first name at the time I asked if his first name was Phil. It was! Pretty intuitive for an old guy, eh?

Next incident, which occurred during this leg of the flight to K.C. the stewardess suddenly, announced on the PA, “Is there a doctor or nurse on board this flight?” Geeze, that was pretty scary. The young lady sitting next to Phil jumped up and went to the back of the plane with other attendants. Never did hear exactly what was wrong with the passenger but when we landed at K.C. they announced everyone should stay in their seats until the paramedics could attend to the victim. The person was on his/her way to Seattle, and they apparently stabilized his/her condition because he/she wasn’t removed. Probably a heart attack? Wowsers!

Speaking of medical problems, as the new passengers got on in K.C. for the final leg to Seattle, this HUGE kid and his fairly large lady companion came on board and sat in the bulkhead seats previously occupied by Phil. He HAD to have been a football player or something. I thought gee, it’s lucky he has the extra bulkhead room. Not! The attendants ran them off because they brought in a guy in a wheelchair that appeared to be paralyzed from his waist down. He had a heck of a time getting into the plane seat, and made me realize how insignificant my bum knees are. Always someone worse off than thou, right?

As we took off from Kansas City, it was a little before sunset, and there were huge thunderheads everywhere. The sun was shining from behind them to the west, and it was absolutely beautiful around the edges, which became snow white. I wish I had a camera handy to capture the moment. All the cloud formations were magnificent as we climbed way above them and later, as the sun set to the west, we got a huge orange/red sunset.

The captain had just turned off the seat-belt sign and our stewardess (I guess I should call them attendants) came by and we ordered two Tangurey? Martinis, and The Blonde’s eyes began to sparkle. Not to be, as suddenly we hit pretty severe turbulence and the captain made all the attendants return to their seats and buckle up. He announced that we would be experiencing turbulence for about half an hour and then would have a smooth ride the rest of the way.

Of course Mavis was ticked, and, the turbulence lasted over an hour and a half. You couldn’t read, or sleep or anything. Finally we flew out of it and around came our attendant and she whispered, “I gave you both doubles!” Whee! And, best of all, never charged us the $4 each for them.

As we neared Seattle, I couldn’t get my thoughts off my beloved white companion. The original plan was that Kevin would pick us up at the airport, take us out to Suzy’s where we would get MISI and the SUV. However, due to the lateness or our arrival, 9:35 PM, we were told some other plans were being considered because it is such a long drive to Yelm and then an hour and a half home from there. I immediately figured out that Suz & Barn would bring MISI and the SUV to Fife where Kev would drop us off. The more I thought about it, I thought I bet Kevin will bring the car AND MISI TO the airport, because Suzy knows how attached I am to my white companion.

I mentally fussed about how MISI would react to me after two week’s abs cense, because in the past, when I have been away from her for relatively short periods, she gets so excited she acts like she wants to lick me to death or eat me alive. What would I encounter??

Sure enough, as Kevin arrived he DID have the Suzuki and there was my dog, intently looking at me as I came to the window. However, she acted really strange, almost like I was a stranger. Sob! What had they done to my dog? On the way back to Kevin’s house (He and Suzy had rendezvoused the previous evening) MISI laid her head on my lap, not moving, but she was quite warm with a warm nose, not normal. We finally concluded that she was fine at Suzy’s where they had a large fenced yard and two dogs to play with, and, got lots of attention from the family. However, after Kevin picked her up Tuesday night, for one day she was at a relatively unfamiliar house, with three dogs, a cat, a bird, a lizard and two little boys, and being emotionally sensitive, probably was a little spooked, not understanding her changing world.

However, once we left Kevin’s for the short drive home, she began to perk up and by the time we got home, she seemed perfectly normal, and her nose got cold like it should. I’m sure all you readers are just ecstatic over this story.

We arrived in Taylor Bay a little after 11:00 PM, (2:00 AM Florida time, which our bodies were adjusted to.) House was cold and stuffy, but our VERY OWN BEDS were wonderful. You seldom sleep well in a strange bed.

When I finally thawed out this morning, with a roaring fire in the stove, we ran out to breakfast as there was no food in the house, picked up the mail and bought basic food items. Getting back home our fatigue started to set in and both of us have been napping off and on. I’m definitely going to get outside and rake some leaves and maybe shake the cobwebs out.

Great trip and most memorable. Does anyone else have children living far away? It’s tough, eh? But, that’s life, and as long as they are happy, that’s the important thing. Thanks for hanging in with this overly long blog folks.
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PS – Seester Donna finds the word “BLOG” offensive and wants me to call it “George.” Anyone agree?