More Family Party and Travel Time

Remember my plans to go to New Orleans? I would guess they will be canceled. I sincerely regret never having seen that beautiful city before it was devastated. Hopefully I can take some tourist dollars down there another time to help with rebuilding costs.

The hurricane damage overwhelmed me when I read about it. I don't want to just write a missive about how bad I feel. Tomorrow I am making calls to see if I can volunteer to go south to help out. They will have a need for social workers to help get things back together. I am willing to give my skills and my time if I can.

So I had to tell the child that she will possibly be dog sitting for an extended period of time. I won't be going south for 3 days, I might be going for a few weeks - or more. I hadn't seen her in a while, so I called to wish her a happy holiday. She was at work, as I figured.

I told her I was not in the mood to make my much loved macaroni salad this morning, and she suggested I go to see her at work and get a carryout, since I didn't have time to have lunch with her. I decided that would work fine, since she works at a nice upscale restaurant, and I could get some stuff my extended family would love.

She saw my spider bite on my throat immediately, and somehow pulled makeup out of her apron and tried to cover it up for me. It is not easy to stand still when someone has fingers on my throat, but I managed to make her happy, and I didn't gag. She talked me into sitting at a table while I decided what to get and to wait for the order, and immediately brought me a diet Coke without ice, a standard for me.

Want a beer, Mom?

No, child, (yes, I do often call her that, lol) I can't have beer, I have to    drive 45 minutes to my brother's house and spend the day with my family.

We looked at each other....

Tsing Tao?

Yes.

I ordered two appetizers and an entree, which would run about $30. We had chatting to do, because we hadn't talked much all summer. She told me she has a job interview tomorrow. She told me she has been seeing a new guy. I said yes, a firefighter.

Pause in her talk. A long quiet minute. She said Oh, Mrs P told you! I agreed to that, but admitted I knew nothing else about him. She told me a little. I am not a meddling mother, lol. We made tentative plans to meet tomorrow when she isn't interviewing, although she didn't know the time yet.

My bill? One soda, one beer, two appetizers, and an entree. $4.51. I gave her a $10, and left.

I drove the 45 minutes to my brother's house in the thumb of Michigan. It's a beautiful drive, or is when they don't have half the road torn up to add a left turn lane, leaving the road just dirt for now. Michigan has two seasons - Winter and Road Repair. Both are a pain to drive in. I passed several lakes, hills, farms, forest areas, roadkill, and joggers.

Things went well with my family today. I just never know how it will be. I might go home happy and I might leave and cry all the way home.

We were going to have the party here, but once again I was sent the wrong parts for my patio table. This is getting out of the range of acceptable business for me.

I hope everyone had a good holiday today and took a moment to keep all the people who aren't sure where their families are right now in their thoughts.