29 years ago today....

I met Paul...I asked him at the dinner table what today was, he had no idea. But he is a keeper anyway...he spent his day finishing up Ashley's room. He put in wood blinds and a new light fixture, the walls are painted and it is ready for the carpet. It seemed right to me from the start to have Mrs. Ashley live here with us, and I rather marveled that it just plain seemed right to him, too, no questions asked.

Our tree survived without tipping over that whole time....Joe took it out for us today...that is him in his sweatshirt, and that is Emily having some tea....

Suze in the Indian Girl shirt. We have had this since Emily was a toddler, so it has been in use for twenty something years. It is for a two or three or possibly four year old, but Suze thinks it is fun to squish into it....there is a zipper to close the tent, then unzip and voila! The Indian Girl. (we cannot change our thinking to refer to her as a Native American girl)

Charlotte Claire with someone's old cell phone, and Camille with the ever-popular ukulele.

So....my Poor Me story about going to the airport: I stayed up late late late last night, couldn't fall asleep. Absolutely could not settle down, knowing I was getting up at three o'clock. So at one, still wide awake, I got up and got dressed, then tried to rest on the couch. ha. It was lumpy and bumpy and my arm was falling asleep and then Rosie would rattle in her cage....then, just when I was getting relaxed, I looked at my phone: 2:48! Time to get up. Wait just a minute here, I hadn't even gone to sleep yet! blah. And coffee sounded awful. Plus, I had to get the buzzers out (hairclippers) because Ben had trimmed half his hair and his set broke, so he looked hilarious....his friend came over at three a.m. to say goodbye to him, and Rosie thought it was Barking Time from her cage....his friend fixed his hair, Ashley activated his new track phone, so that when he does get an evening with permission to use it, he has one that actually works down there....then we were off. But wait, he had left his military issued sneakers back at the place they had stayed this week, at least nine miles north of here, and we were going south and west....and wait, it was snowing! Huge heavy lake-effect flakes, driving into them was like a science fiction movie....by the time we hit the thruway, we were forty-five minutes behind schedule. We had no time to stop for coffee....and the miles went on and on and on....we got there with no time to spare...he got on the plane at 6:16am and it took off at 6:30....we watched him go through security, through our tears, and he didn't have to take off his boots, they waved him right through.....

So...the drive home was torture. Ashley said they didn't even go to sleep at all last night, so she conked in the back. I made poor Evelyn, my Co-Pilot, stay awake the whole way home...I was so tired, I would blink and then have to use my will of steel to make my eyes open again....I did get a coffee at McD's for the way home, they were any size for one buck, so I got any size. (who would get a small?)

I came in and got back in my jammies and slept for three hours.

Abigail was here visiting when I woke up. Then Emily came in. It was a good day....I put a few roasts in the oven, so we had roast beef and gravy and mashed potatoes and green beans and Italian bread and butter for dinner....the good part was that it made the house smell so good all afternoon while it slow roasted....

We undecorated and took the tree down. But the pile of presents is still there in the corner. I am really tired and feel like I am moving in slow motion....I am looking forward to bed time tonight...for me.