Jan

My friend Jim told me recently that he hadn’t known how much getting older sucked. Not the aging and the aches and pains but the loss of those who mean so much. While I’m still twenty years behind him, I understand that sadness. Death was once something far off in the distance, and now it’s closing in. We’re realizing more that it’s inevitable. And it sucks.

I just got the dreaded phone call. The one where you expect one thing and instead get the news that someone you loved is gone. My mother in law called to inform me that her brother’s wife had died. It hit me like a ton of bricks.

Jan was the epitome of life. A ball of zappy energy full of vim and vigor packed into a tiny body that never quit even when she was kicked back, sipping a vodka and tonic. Her joyfulness was contagious and her wit snappy. Visits to their home in Arizona rank in my top five vacations.

We connected with sports. Jan was a huge Los Angeles Dodgers fan, and her dream was to retire from her job and follow the team around the country for a year. She and her husband took us to a Diamondback game when we visited, and she was exactly my favorite kind of sports fan; loud, proud, and unapologetic. While she loved baseball, she could talk football, and she always called me when the Steelers got to the Super Bowl. The last conversation I had with her was after an NFL playoff game. True to Jan, we talked sports, glossed over health issues, and got right to discussing our children and her grandchildren.

She loved children, and she walked the walk when it came to them. She was the kind of grandmother I hope to be. The down on the ground, hands in the mud, dirty clothes grandmother. She listened when children spoke, really listened to what they had to say, and she talked to them as equals, often engaging them in conversations that no other adult would dare to touch. She rarely ever said no to children. If they asked to do something that she couldn’t say yes to for adult reasons, she’d redirect and invent an even better game that would incorporate some of what was initially asked. She always asked first about my girls in any conversation.

Jan hailed from England and had the accent with a distinctive voice I’d know with my eyes closed. She was insightful, and while she didn’t like to speak ill of anyone, she’d share her opinions if she thought it would benefit. She kept her husband on the straight and narrow path while letting him believe he was in charge, and they had a relationship that truly worked. She was caring, kind, funny, and absolutely wonderful. I know she will be missed by her husband, her sons, and her grandchildren, but she will be missed by me too.


Unfortunately, life intervened, and we didn’t see each other for years. I hadn’t spoken to her since that NFL playoff game, but she was always in my mind at various times; while cooking on my electric skillet, mixing cocktails, sitting poolside, and when hearing anything Dodger related. She was a one of a kind gal.

Jim is right. Getting old and losing loved ones sucks. 

A good time to say thank you

I was catching up with my cousin Jaimee's blog and read this entry about a visit to her son's school. Jaimee, if readers remember, had a surprise pregnancy years after tying her tubes and closing up shop after three kids. Those kids were heading toward their teens and were as shocked as their parents. Surprise!

It all worked out better than they expected. Little Nolan has five parents who love, cherish, and boss him around. Recently, Jaimee quit her job where she drove twice a day to another city two hours away with little Nolan in the backseat. The results of this change closer to home meant putting Nolan in a preschool, and her blog post had to do with a special event at Nolan's preschool. A circus. Jaimee took off of work for a couple of hours to attend, and when it was all finished, Nolan thought he was going home. 

He wasn't.

Reading this, my heart broke. Nolan had a meltdown and kept letting his mother know that he loved her as if this would change the outcome. Aww... It made me wish I lived near them so that I could've been there and whisked him home with me. Because as a SAHM, I got to do just that. 

We had special events at school and if my kids wanted to end their day right then and there? They did. We went home. (Okay, full disclosure, my kids would probably argue with that since school importance was drilled into me via my mother, but I'm mainly referring to Nolan's age. Although they also got to leave in their later years if the teacher agreed, although I know they will roll their eyes at that.) And I loved knowing that if they wanted or needed to come home, they could. Without stress for either of us.

I felt Jaimee's anguish. I can remember that very feeling when we were deciding if I would return to my job after my maternity leave. It wasn't an easy decision, especially for me. Nor was it easy after the decision had been made for me to stay home. I loved my job. I had been offered a promotion. I was damn good at what I did. Not only did I save lives, but I also taught children and adults how to swim and how to protect themselves, and I trained and molded other lifeguards. It was hard to walk away. I lost a piece of myself when I did.

But Tom and I decided this was best for our family and I've never regretted it for a minute. I was born to be a SAHM. I genuinely believe that, but in saying it, I have to also give HUGE credit to Tom. Because he's the one who made it possible all these years.  

He sacrificed. He didn't get to sleep later or take a nap. Tom didn't get to attend every school event (although he was at most of them) or every sporting event, and he was the one who shouldered job stress and had fewer hours of cherub smiles. Like Jaimee, who had to walk away from a crying child begging for him to stay, we couldn't have done this without Daddy Tom.

Now that our nest is empty and my husband is at retirement age, I'm sure he envisioned I'd venture out into the workforce. Probably I too envisioned that back when we made the SAHM decision, but neither of us knew the future, and so he still gets up every day and heads off to his job while I putter around the empty house and have time to read other people's blogs. 

Hmm...maybe I should offer myself up as Jaimee's nanny.

Florida Spring 2019

Spring in Florida isn't like anywhere else that I've lived. There are very little showers, and rarely do we have gentle breezes and seventy-degree temperatures. For us, spring means raking leaves, pollen, jacaranda trees, and a spike in traffic. It's also the end of the strawberry season, an increase in the citrus rat population, and the beginning of the gator mating season.

Spring kind of sucks in Florida.

I don't have allergies. Thus far, I'm immune to the pollen that falls daily from my large oak tree and covers everything that is in its vicinity; my porch, the roof of my van, the mailbox, the driveway, etc. You can stand on my porch and hear the pollen as it falls. It sounds like it is raining. I have written multiple times about our pollen clean up. About how I can't air out the house by opening windows because the pollen will blow inside and cover my furniture in a sheen of green dust. If we go outside, we track in the stuff on our shoes, our clothes, our hair, and with the pollen comes silkworms. Dangling from the oak branches, these little guys lie in wait to drop on us. We are forever swatting them off each other.

Spring means several weeks of sweeping inside and out. Sometimes twice or more a day.

Darcy is my kid bothered by the pollen. She pops a daily allergy tablet from February through April. When she lived at home, we'd have her strip at the door and shower immediately every time she came home from school or from outdoors. Otherwise, the kid was miserable. Now it seems my husband has decided that his recent cold is an allergic reaction to the pollen.

We slept with the windows up one night, and the next morning he had a runny nose. By that evening, he was in a walk-in clinic, sure that he had a sinus infection. I about fell over. The man NEVER goes to the doctor. He never admits that he is sick. EVER. Yet, now at the first sign of a sniffle, he is at the clinic?

I thought for sure he had to be delusional with fever or something. Uh, no. No fever. Of course, the clinic workers rolled their eyes, patted him on the shoulder, and told him to drink plenty of fluids and rest. Nothing they could do for him on day one of what looked to be a cold. They must have mentioned pollen too because now he showers at night and tiptoes over the pollen in the driveway.

Pollen hangs from the trees, drops, and spreads its seeds all over the ground. It's a mess. You can sweep in the morning and have to do it again in the evening. We pray for April showers just to wash it away. 

Already our temperatures are in the late 80's here in my area. My A/C kicked in a long time ago. The only good thing happening in Spring for me is my pineapple plantation. I usually have at least one flowering plant. I lamented the fact that I didn't have any signs of fruit a week ago, but when I returned from my Spring Break travels, the plant from one of my homegrown fruits had sprouted.

My mother would be so thrilled. This plant started out in a pot, and Tom replanted it in August when we planted the top of our 2018 crop. He planted this one by the mailbox, so I'll need to keep an eye on it. People like to steal pineapples. As do the animals. I'm going to point my camera in this direction just in case.

Happy Spring!

Spring Break 2018 - Day 3

From the travel journal -

Cara - Notice I'm the keeper of the records. Sigh. If only Darcy were here--

We got out of the unit a half an hour over our ten o'clock morning checkout time. We had no elevator in our building, so I had to walk to Building Four to get the wheeled luggage rack. I took the stairs, got the item, and pushed the elevator button. A Wyndham cleaning crew waited with me, all of us staring at the elevator doors. 

It showed it was on the second floor. Five minutes later, it was still on the second floor. We waited another five minutes, and the cleaning supervisor went off to tell maintenance. I went back up the stairs, minus the luggage rack, to give out the bad news. We carried our stuff down the three flights of stairs in two trips.

No one has yet to bitch to me about checking out late, but I try hard to follow the rules as I know how it is to be on the other end when wanting to check in early. The earlier we depart, the earlier the cleaning crew gets inside to ready the room for early arrivals. So on and so forth.

We decided that today we would shop. Madison has somehow broken all of her shoes and is down to one pair. These she has worn until the straps are literally hanging by threads. She needs shoes. Desperately. 

SueG said we'd hit the Orlando outlets.

We ate again at Cracker Barrel, where the same two ladies welcomed us like old friends. From the Barrel, we looked up the nearest outlet and headed there. It was packed with European shoppers dragging rolling suitcases.

Shopping with Madison is quite the experience. SueG has had a taste of it, but her kids have not. I give credit to Sydney, who hung in the longest. She continued following Madison around while the rest of us sat and had a drink. We did not get in our 5,000 steps goal.

At first, we couldn't find any shoe stores except sneaker places like Nike and New Balance. While Madison owns a pair of sneakers, they are rarely worn, although she informed me in the New Balance store that the ones she did own needed to be replaced--for "the gym," which sent me into a laughing fit. She bought a pair of sneakers.

We walked and walked and walked to find a shoe store that sold other shoes. I thought maybe shoe stores didn't have outlets when Madison suddenly pointed and exclaimed: "FINALLY".

More laughter. We did not enter. 

Eventually, we found a map and some stores, but alas, left with only the sneakers.

Purchases made:

• Cara: Fossil sunglasses
• SueG: Ray-Ban sunglasses to use after her cataract surgery in April. Water.
• Maddy: New Balance sneakers and some clothes from Charlotte Russe, which is going out of business.
• Alex: A soda
• Sydney: Nothing

The trip home was uneventful and quiet. The youngsters were on their electronic devices, although Madison and Alex correctly answered the trivia I threw at them when we passed by Polytechnic College.

Me: "Name something we learned about Polytechnic College."

SueG: "It's the only one in Florida."

Me: "I'm not counting that as an answer."

Alex: "They have two dormitories."

Me: "Correct. Five points for Alex."

Madison: "It has is the only college with a fully digital library."

Me: "Correct. Five points to Madison."

SueG: "And ten points to me because my answer was right too. It is the only Polytechnic school in Florida. Remember, it's a long walk home from here."

And another traveling Spring Break is in the books.

Out of the mouths of someone else's babe

On the bus tour, Ken explained how NASA owned the largest beachfront real estate. Most of it is still unbuilt and in its natural state. It was beautiful and gave us an idea of what Florida once looked like. Even the launch pads that are built by the water were beautiful. A great idea to be near the ocean, for sure.

While we had a snack and sat outside at the visitor's center, I suddenly realized something.

Me: "We didn't think this through very well. We should've brought our bathing suits and traveled the twelve miles to Cocoa Beach. We could've seen the Atlantic. Done some swimming. I mean, have your kids ever seen the Atlantic Ocean?"

SueG: "Um...wait, yes. Last year on our trip to Myrtle Beach."

Me: "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Okay then, but they didn't get to swim in it--not that today is a day we would swim in the ocean."

Alex: "What did you just ask? Have we seen what?"

Me: "I asked your mother if you'd ever seen the Atlantic Ocean."

Alex: "I just saw it on the bus tour!"

Spring Break 2019 - Day 2

From the Travel Journal -

Madison - I didn't get any sleep last night. Usually, Mom's snores are gentle and quiet, but NOT LAST NIGHT!

Cara - It's because I drank two cocktails. Which I should have done before Karaoke. Then I might have gotten up to sing. As it was, I shot all my excitement out with my BINGO win. Everyone was jealous, of course when I won. They were annoyed that they hadn't gotten up to get another card like I did. The AD kept saying we had terrible cards. Why not get another one then? Whatever.

The New Jersey Cowboys fan asked what building we were in at the end of the night. Maybe he knew about our plan to consider coming over every other week and wanted to make sure we were legit. Instead of lying as I've taught my children all these years, I gave it up. Building 3. Not a good thing and my kid was horrified. But the man was in a motorized wheelchair and never stood during standing Bingo, and Building 3 didn't have an elevator, so I figured he'd never find us if he came looking. Although as loud as the Glenn family is, he might have discovered us had he somehow gotten up the stairs. My bad. He was Building 11, by the way. We didn't go look him up.

We are now off to the Kennedy Space Center. Our time of departure was 7:30 this morning, and we blame Alex for being late--he took time to poop. 

 Madison and I did not. It might be a long day.

We took the back toll roads to avoid I4 morning traffic. We kept forgetting it was Monday. That's the problem with no school and with getting off our regular routine. We thought it was Saturday. Threw me off all day. We had no traffic issues and arrived before the place opened. Nothing looked familiar to me. We parked ($10 for parking) and hit the bathrooms. Having Madison along, rest assured you will see all the restrooms at every place you visit. God love her.

It was not crowded. At all. We were expecting a terrible crowd, but apparently, all Spring Breakers went to the Orlando Parks. We heard the lines at Disney were wrapped around the park. We were grateful the day was cool and overcast. We couldn't have asked for a better day.

5:13 p.m.

SueG: It was different then I remembered. I don't know how long it's been. I don't think I ever brought Santosh so a long, long time. It was different, especially the bus tour, and how you can't get off and walk around like you used to be able to do. It's amazing how big those rockets are standing next to them compared with how they look when watching on TV. And I was impressed with the KSC prices. Very reasonable compared to Disney and Universal. Even in the gift shop. Very reasonable.

Alex: Cara and I, in the end, got in a capsule. We had to lie down on our backs with our feet up like the astronauts did. Cara was impressed we got in there and did that with no incident. I was impressed we got out of there and were able to stand up without incident.

Sydney: Maddy and I went on the space shuttle simulator. We had to wait in line, and in the line, we went up a ramp and into a room where we got the basic rundown on an actual launch and what we could expect on this simulator. From there, we went into another room, stood on a dot that gave us our seat number. Then we went got on the ride, heard the safety rules, and had our belts checked. Then we were tilted back to 90 degrees so that we were lying back like Cara and Alex were in the capsule. Then they tilted us forward and then back again. The countdown began, and at six, we started to feel it. It started shaking and was very loud. After the boosers were released, the ride got smoother, which we were told would happen. The whole point we were told was to get to where the fuel was released. At that point, the ride ended, and we got off. It wasn't truly that long. It just seemed like it.

Cara: I'm with SueG. SO different from what I remembered from my last visit, which I think was with Tom and Madison, but that could be wrong. Tom believes we took both children, but I only remember Madison there. I've been to the KSC several times; with my parents and brother and with my friends during Spring Break trips in the 80s. I'll have to look for pictures to accompany this recap on the blog. Of course, that means I'll have to sift through pictures from my boxes that were supposed to be scanned long ago...Sigh.

1982 Family Trip

1984 Trip with my friend Michelle

The weather was great. Overcast, and 70 degrees. It was actually chilly at times in the air conditioning and with the breeze off the ocean. Quite pleasant and unexpected. I brought my Spring Break 2018 sweater (read about that HERE), and I wore it the entire time. Turned out to be an even better thing --the weather I mean and not the sweater --as we forgot the sunscreen. Luckily, we never needed it.

We had our picture taken, walked through the rocket garden, which was different from what I remembered. I remembered horizontal rockets, and these were all vertical.

1982

While we walked through the rocket garden, one of the NASA people took our picture with some new technology. Apparently, we will be able to see ourselves from the space station or something. I just now realized we never looked that up while we were there. Bummer. I bet it was a great picture that we could've purchased. The lady suggested we hit the bus tour first, so we got in line for that.

I chatted with the guy behind me in line. It was his first trip here, and he was really pumped. He was from Dallas. I asked if he was a Cowboys fan, a bit worried now after Mr. New Jersey from last night, but this guy shrugged and said he didn't follow football. Okay. I could deal with that. We chatted some more.

We were first on Ken's bus. He told us it was the Happy Bus, which brought to mind him gassing us with marijuana fumes, but turned out he wanted us to literally be happy.

Happy that we were alive thanks to a spiritual being. Then Ken got maudlin and a tad religious as if something had occurred in his life recently that had him rethinking things, but then he suddenly shook it off, hopped in the driver's seat, started the bus and off we went. All of us breathed a sigh of relief.

I didn't realize how much land NASA owns. Prime ocean real estate no less. It's part of the Merrit Island wildlife refuge, and Ken made sure to point out alligators, the largest eagle's nest ever, egrets, and birds.

Ken stopped right under a bald eagle sitting on a pole. It was the coolest thing ever. He was just sitting there looking like the photographs one sees of bald eagles on television or National Geography magazine, and I handed Madison my phone to capture the moment seeing as she insisted on the window seat. She and I do not agree with her photography skills. She got him as he took flight.

Madison: "An action shot. Ted's Nature Photography has nothing on me!"

Uh huh. You people can be the judge on that. Here's my nephew's SITE. Those are Madison's pictures of the bald eagle above. Sigh.

The tour was about an hour. We had a TV that gave us information on NASA and everything we were seeing. Ken would occasionally pause it to add in his two cents. It was an excellent tour. We got to drive around Elon Musk, and his Space X rented pad at launchpad 39. Space X is renting for twenty years this pad and is planning on launching a rocket in April.

A U.S. Airforce rocket is launching from a different pad this Friday after being pushed back from Wednesday launch. Jeez, so close to seeing an actual takeoff. That was an item on my mother's bucket list. She never got to view it. It would've been cool to see it for her. Maybe one day, I'll send her ashes into space. She was really into NASA and the space program.

We also drove by Boeing, who rents a pad. Soon these companies are planning on taking people into space to hang out at the International Space Center. Not something I'm going to save up for quite yet. Maybe one day, my great-grandchildren will do that. That'd be cool.

We finally were dropped off at the Apollo building, where we could wander around. Apollo is housed there, and WOW, that thing is HUGE. We watched a movie about the history of Apollo and then got to walk around and under it.

We had lunch at the Cafe, made the same walk the astronauts take to board their aircraft, and we explored all sorts of exhibits before we boarded Esther's bus for the ride back to the visitor's center. It's hard to jot down all that we did. There was so much to see and do. Tons of historical movies. Real footage from takeoffs. We didn't get through the entire park. We missed out on the Heroes and Legends section and another theater. I'd say it's a definite two-day affair if you want to see everything. I'll come back someday to do that. Maybe when a launch is happening.

For me, the coolest thing to see was the space shuttle. It was hanging in one of the buildings, and I took a panorama view of it. I probably hung out there over 45 minutes just checking it all out. I mean, WOW. That thing can hold several buses inside it. 

 

We left before it closed at 6:00 p.m. because we were tired and sore from all the walking. We drove home and got into some five o'clock traffic, but it wasn't too bad. Of course, I wasn't driving after spending all day at a park, but SueG is the master driver after all.

We had dinner at Cracker Barrel, made some junk food purchases, and headed back to Cypress Palms. We forgot about checking in on the activities for the night. We played another Madison made-up singing game and then showered. Alex went to bed first, and the girls stayed up talking. I caved first, and I slept well. The only regret I had was not being able to sleep in late on this trip.

Favorite Thing at KSC

• SueG - I liked the bus tour and the Imax movie
• Alex - The bus tour
• Maddy - The Imax movie
• Sydney - The Shuttle simulator ride
• Cara - Seeing Space Shuttle Atlantis

Least Favorite Thing at KSC

• SueG - The Mars Experience talk
• Alex - Mars
• Maddy - The Lunar Theater. They gave a lot of clips but failed to contextualize.
• Sydney - The Mars Experience
• Cara - The fact that the coffee and pastry place closed at 3:00 p.m. I could've used a pick-me-up about then and had to settle for a Pepsi instead. Oh, that and Alex picking on Sydney, which got on my nerves after a bit.