Oh what a week

It started with a light coming on in the Volvo when I brought James to the airport on Sunday afternoon September 16. James had been contacted by somebody in Brazil to do some consulting work and he had initially said "no way". They had changed their request though and James found it more interesting and doable. The research and conference calls ended up with a trip flying to São Paulo, then to Salvador, Recife and back to São Paulo. I picked him up the following Sunday morning.

I hoped that the car light wouldn't mean much but had to call on Monday to make an appointment for Tuesday morning. But that Monday was something else. In the afternoon my telephone suddenly went off ... tornado alert. It was an awful sound. And it came several more times into the evening. I twirled all window blinds shut and spent a lot of time in the bathroom, an inside room without windows. I had the news going in the bedroom to listen and kept an ear alerted to the "train sound". It was scary because altogether there were 10 tornadoes tracked and all very close. There was one death very close to Sarah.

The Volvo appointment on Tuesday was very early and, oh yes, they took care of me, brought me home. Got a call before lunch to unpleasant news mentioning an unpleasant amount of $$$. And yes, it would be fixed that day. That would have been no problem since I had a second car in the garage. I told them I would not retrieve it the same day.

Sarah had invited me for dinner. At 4 pm I had just left the house and had just entered Hwy 295 when the call came from the old driver that he was in my driveway wanting to bring me to the dealer. Goodness gratias. No call, nothing. The timing of the call was such that I was just able to make the loop and get off the highway again and back to our house. Quick decision but then it was done. I should not get into details but the rest was almost comical because the car wasn't even ready yet. I  finally made it to the children and had a fun time.

Wednesday things were somewhat comical too. I had just been able to get a hair cut appointment for 2 pm when Sarah called because she didn't know how to retrieve Caleb from preschool at 2 pm when it is usually the twins nap time. First reaction was that I couldn't help but a quick call and I was able to change my appointment to 11 am which was almost a miracle. And it all worked out at the end. I even was able to go to the church Wednesday night discussion group which was very good.

Thursday I left the house at 9 am to drive to Williamsburg. The monthly lace meeting had been changed to this day. It was the only day the hostess Donna was available. When I arrived short after 10am Donna and Mary were sitting outside on the front porch with their lace pillows. The power had gone off just before the start of the meeting which had stressed the hostess. It was quite a pleasant day though and nice. Right now we don't have days like that often. When we went inside for lunch the light came back on. Nice, we could have coffee with our homemade pie. The meeting usually goes til 3 pm but I had to leave earlier this time because a handyman was coming to the house. I had hoped to surprise James with a finished fixed/improved drawer in the kitchen but no such luck. He needs material for it and has to come again when we are back from our trip. I was a bit disappointed.

Friday I wanted to spend some time with Sarah and the children in the morning. We had decided that I would be at their place early and I went along with them to a shop where Sarah was looking for something. No luck but the second cart-pusher (me) had fun with the children. Other shoppers probably wondered a little about the woman storming around the aisles with the children in the cart.

There was still some time until going back to their house so Sarah decided that we should go to Short Pump Mall and to the Children's Museum. Everybody had fun. 

... until Colin had a very bad fall onto his nose and he was bleeding like a faucet. It was so so so scary. I spare you details except that I almost felt like calling the Health Department because that part of the otherwise very nice place is just not safe. He calmed down. The bleeding stopped. We drove home. He threw up though and we decided it was from all the blood he had swallowed. 

The good news: After a nap he seemed his old self again. What a relief!!!!!

On a lighter note ... during this whole ordeal Owen kept asking at least three dozen times "What happened?" His favorite sentence. What do you say after the 36th time?

Saturday morning I went over to them again. It was a splendid day. Not too hot, not so humid. Just nice. There was a petting zoo close to their house in front of a senior center. Caleb, Colin and Owen had so much fun. Sarah met some of their neighbor friends and their children. I was too busy to help watch ours to take better photos. I enjoyed it very much especially seeing Colin perfectly fine again. Not even a blue nose.

Owen (from the back) is cautiously watching. Even though he is very cautious and not as adventurous as the other two it does NOT mean you can take your eyes off him.

Sunday morning I had to go to the early service at 8 am. And I had to skip out right after communion to drive to the airport. James arrived on time. Night flight from Brazil with one stop over. There he is. All is good.

He had to unpack quickly so I could do washings. We have to pack to leave tomorrow. But we did drive over to the children to say good-bye. Ha-ha, and stayed for pizza. We had too much fun.