A pink eye plague is upon us. Scott got it last Saturday; over the past few days the rest of us have been getting it too. Eye drops and 3 year olds don’t mix gracefully.
So what have we been doing for the past two months?
When Blake was almost 2 weeks old we went to Alabama for his great-grandmother’s funeral. In a way he was named after her. Her name was Ruth Blake, but many simply called her Blake. She was 98. We really wanted to say goodbye in person.
Unfortunately, due to my inability to take a quick shower, we missed our Friday morning flight. The next flight was Saturday. We got to that one on time, but thanks to a series of screw-ups on Delta’s part, we ended up stuck in Atlanta. Our baggage with all of our nice clothes (except for my suit which I was wearing) was lost in the gorilla pit.
Only two Delta employees in the entire airport seemed to be worth keeping on the payroll. One tried to prod the baggage handlers into action for several hours. The other one finally just advised us to forget the suitcase, hop into our rental car, and start driving the rest of the way to Ft Payne. And so we did.
The rest of Delta’s employees generally were liars, bureaucrats, and loafers. We got to observe them doing nothing of value for hours. I was very disappointed to learn that the tornado a week later didn’t smite the Delta baggage claim area.
We missed the funeral, with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. But at least we had supper and breakfast with the living. Baby Blake met his grandparents and various cousins. Our luggage caught up with us back in Oklahoma City.
I’m not entirely sure that we would have made it to the funeral even if we had caught our original flight. That morning a large storm developed over Cincinnati, our connecting city. The next day the news channels showed the city buried in snow. That was one of the reasons we couldn’t get a later Friday flight — everyone else was rerouting through Atlanta too.
A few days later we drove to Pueblo CO to stay a week with my sister in law. It was a long, tedious drive that proved the value of an XO loaded with movies. But we were delighted to have more time with family. Scott and his 1 year old cousin Cassie got along fantastically well. At one point we overheard Scott telling her to get the car keys; they were going to take Baby Brother and “get out of here”.
In the middle of the Colorado trip I flew by myself to Connecticut for a cousin’s wedding. It went well, the bride was radiant, the groom was less of a doofus than average, and the food was very good. I had some long conversations with family.
Of course the flights coming and going were subject to many delays. There was a sudden snow storm in Colorado Springs on the way out. That made me miss my connecting flight in DFW. But unlike the idiots at Delta, American’s employees were friendly and actually knew what they were doing.
The next flight to Hartford was booked solid. So they sent me through Raleigh-Durham. At that layover there was another delay due to air traffic control. But I got there eventually.
On the way back there was another delay in DFW, causing me to arrive in CO around midnight. I used the opportunity to play a frugality game; I arranged for a very nice supper for less than $5. Not bad for an airport. My Palm and iPod kept me entertained.
Thus I wore my brand-new suit in 8 states in less than 2 weeks: Oklahoma, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Colorado, Texas, North Carolina, and Connecticut. I learned important lessons about the value of packing light and using only a carry-on bag.
We got home in time for Easter. Scott’s birthday was a few days later, along with an evening at the circus the next weekend.
Soon after was the Medieval Fair in Norman. Our soap ‘n scarves booth did better than last year. We had 5 or 6 extra adults and 1 more baby staying at our house every night for almost a week. I didn’t know our bathrooms could handle that many people.
Dana’s mother was here for a week. Half of that overlapped with the fair guests. She had a lot of fun playing with her grandsons. My kitchen was only slightly reorganized.
Last Saturday we celebrated my grandmother’s birthday and grandparents’ anniversary. Most of my mom’s side of the family met for supper in Kingfisher. Scott seized my camera and ran around taking pictures. It was a great evening, except for Scott’s sudden attack of eye snot.
And now we have pink eye.
