Tuscobia, BW Babe, and Old Grey Frog


 

Word of the Day

Tangentwoman - The feminine variant of tangentman.

BW Babe and I both discovered yesterday evening that we had one more luggage hurdle to jump. Apparently, our inner air flights in the UK had additional restrictions that we were notified about but didn't quite understand. Panic set in. We discovered that we were each allowed only one check on bag (44 pounds...this we knew about)but, here's the part we didn't realize. We found out that we were only allowed ONE, count 'em, ONE carry-on bag. ACK! BW Babe and I had each planned on carrying, and are carrying on our flight to Chicago and then on to Dublin, two carry-on bags...each. We knew the carry-on bags had to be only so big and could only weigh 22 pounds but...ONE? Time to rethink things. A call from #1 Son calmed me down a great deal. He recommended that I take my wallet and whatever I needed out of my purse and put it in my laptop case (one of my carry-ons), and pack my purse into the other carry-on, pay the extra bag fee, and check it with my other suitcase. YES! This works! I passed the suggestion on to BW Babe and ....well...we still both got up at 2 AM to see if we could avoid the extra bag fee by paring our belongings down. Seems that BW Babe and I think alike. We independently decided to take #1 Son's suggestion....but...we'll deal with the repacking issue again when we get to Belfast.

JC and BW Babe picked Kylee and me up with all our multitude of "stuff" at 10 AM. It's quite amazing to see how much fits into Mary Poppins' carpet bag. All our combined "stuff" fit into JC and BW Babe's vehicle and we all headed out on the long drive to The Big City. First stop? We dropped Kylee off at #1 Son and #1 DIL's place. I know...I tend to obsess over Kylee and her care and feeding. However, after taking some time to explain all the wheres and wherefores, #1 Son ushered us out the door and onto our next stop.

We stopped to visit with Tuscobia (my brother) and Ms. Bea (my friend who happens to be married to Tuscobia) and their daughters Amy and Maddy. Amy and Maddy have been very sick for a very long time and we're all very worried for them. They have a neurological disease where iron builds up in their brain. It's a genetic disorder that is very rare and not much research here in the United States has been done to cure it. Thankfully, the disorder is finally being recognized in other countries and doctors are working on finding a cure. BW Babe and I were pleased to see that Amy has gained weight since we'd seen her last. Maddy looked very tired today. I hope both Amy and Maddy will get better some day. BW Babe and I brought each of the girls a present to enjoy. Ms. Bea knitted BW Babe and me some beautiful scarves. I couldn't wait to wear mine.

After visiting with Ms. Bea, Tuscobia, Amy and Maddy, JC took BW Babe and me to our hotel to check in for the night and then he returned to The Lake. Meanwhile, BW Babe and I arranged to meet Tuscobia, #1 Son and #1 DIL at the restaurant adjacent to our hotel. We'd hoped that Ms. Bea could join us too but, although Tuscobia and Ms. Bea have care-givers that can come in to help with Amy and Maddy, only one care-giver was available for this evening so Ms. Bea needed to remain at home to help take care of Amy and Maddy.

So...BW Babe and I are all packed and ready to go for tomorrow morning. Well...BW Babe is all packed and ready to go and in bed catching up on last night's lost sleep. And, as soon as I finish this blog...that's my intention as well.

Random Quote of the Day


Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.

Margaret Lee Runbeck