God's Waiting Room

Why yes, I am in Florida, why do you ask?

My überboss set everyone free for Friday, including me. Which was pretty kind, considering that for technical reasons, her office doesn't control my payroll. So I didn't have to bail early to head for the Sunshine State; I was able to take the morning getting the car ready for the trip. So, Friday morning packing and arranging and then finding the dog, who'd run up the street to visit one of her friends (or something), and I was On The Road Again. The trip itself wasn't so eventful. Driving through DC and Northern Virginia were the usual disasters, so I hit the Virginia/North Carolina Border around 4:30. Three hours later and I was at South of the Border, which has to be seen to be believed. (Another great article about the place can be found here.) At about 11:00 I crossed into Georgia. About midway through I ducked into a rest area and catnapped for about an hour. I did this a few more times until finally arriving at my brother's house around 10:00 AM.

See, the thing is, I had to get there early because my brother had tickets to the Bucs-Falcons game. It was a pretty crucial game for both teams, and they did not disappoint. By the time you got to the end of this overtime game, it didn't really matter who won and who didn't; you'd seen a great football game. Of course, it was better that the Buccaneers won. Heh.

Our happiness was short-lived, however, because we'd learned afterward that my mother was in the hospital. At this point I don't think that anyone in my family actually gets sick; they just feel obligated to go to the hospital when we visit each other. It's becoming a tradition for us. Either that or they're going to start thinking I'm a jinx. She'd been there on the 23rd but she talked them into letting her leave early. But there she was again a day later, getting IV antibiotics. She's still there now and as I write this I have no idea when they're planning to discharge her. So visiting Mom has taken up a nice chunk of each day this week.

Today we're going to do a little shopping (GF and Wee One packed clothes for weather just a little warmer than we're getting now) and tomorrow will be the first of two days at Walt Disney World. It's their first trip there and my...oh, I don't know. 43rd? I went there a bunch of times when I was a kid. Of course, it was a helluva lot cheaper then, too. Last time I went was five years ago and my marriage was unravelling at that point. But Unhappy Stories from the Magic Kingdom will have to wait until later this week. (note to self: start composing a post of Unhappy Stories from the Magic Kingdom.)

Hope everyone's having a nice season and if you have kids, that they're not driving you too crazy what with the days off from school and all.

Comments

[yellojkt]

The Raymond James Stadium is so different from the Big Sombrero they tore down. You can actually see the game. Glad you enjoyed the Bucs win.