Thursday, June 29, 2006

Be calm, Be brave. It'll be okay...

So if you remember in my last entry I said that I kind of felt left out of the family process here with Doug's uncle's death, and it kind of made me sad. Well.

Doug called at about 11am while I was at work and he said "What did I just do? I left without you. I left without my kids. I am leaving you out of the situation, and I don't think that will be a good thing. I need you with me. I need Jess there to help with my niece and nephew. I need Geoff there to just be Geoff. Please come down."

You've got to be kidding me buddy.

So yeah. He asked me to pack up the kids and bring them to the burgh, and it suddenly occurred to me how many flaming hoops I'd need to jump through, not to mention the at least twelve hour drive I'd face tomorrow morning.

"Uh. Okay." I responded.

I told my boss I wouldn't be in on Friday. I made myself a massage appointment and went down for a half hour to decompress before my head exploded. And I began to put together the list of things I'd have to do.

I made arrangements to board Jack and the puppy, and they told me they can't kennel her because she hasn't got her vaccinations in line yet. She was scheduled to have her shots and check up on Saturday morning at 8:30. She would have to have a three day waiting period for those before she could be kept there.

Crap.

Knowing I wouldn't be able to kennel her, I went to Petsmart and got a small kennel to travel with, carpet cleaning spray for the inevitable puppy training accident we'd face, and I made a hotel reservation for tomorrow in Beaver. At a hotel that welcomes pets.

I realized that a 12 hour drive on the Friday of a holiday weekend, a long holiday weekend for some, with a 10 week old puppy in the truck would be interesting, to say the least. I realized that just about once and hour we'd have to stop and let her out of her spanking new kennel to do her thing... But you know what, we could do it. All we'd need was someone to watch her during the funeral, and I emailed my sister in law to ask if she had a neighbor who'd take her for a few hours. Piece of cake.

Carrie called me a little while ago, and offered to take her -- so now we'll travel without the pup. That is a huge relief. Thank you Carr -- I love you beyond imagine.

I realized that the guinea pig would be alone for four days, and that isn't cool, so I called a neighbor and gave her a house key so she could come check on him and feed him. He'll do fine on his own. The AC will be on in the room where he is, and life is good.

Then I realized that we had nothing appropriate to wear to a summer funeral. So we went on a spree. Geoff had outgrown his clothing from the last one, so he needed a new shirt and dress pants. I can't find his tie. But whatever. If anyone says anything I'll be all "oh you DIDN'T!" and launch based upon all the crazy crud I just had to wade through to get to this point.

Jess has clothes already because she's all about black. I had nothing -- so we scored a nice pair of black pants and a blouse for me and a nice pair of sandals.

We went to Barnes and Noble and spent a ton and a half on new books because we're all about the Spree tonight.

Then we went out to dinner at Pizzaria Uno, and gorged on 'za and wings.

And we came home relaxed and happy. Jess is doing dishes and I just discovered that Jack has puked his guts out in my bed all over the clean laundry.

Gah.

So I have a lot to do in the next couple of hours. I need to be on the road at 8, dropping Jack at the kennel and Puppy at Carrie's. It is going to be a long, long day tomorrow.

But my husband is right. We're family, and it wouldn't be a good showing for him to be there solo. So. We go. I just wish we were flying instead of driving.

With that, dear friends, keep us in your prayers as we travel afar. Much love to all.

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