June 3, 2004
Dear Everyone:
Mother’s Italian Adventure, which turned into
Mother’s California Adventure, has come to an end.
Last Sunday, I flew up to
“Richard” had pointed out to me that a one-way ticket automatically gets you flagged for special security measures. This is true. I had requested a wheelchair when I made the reservations. A wheelchair was duly provided, but not anyone to push it. Since I was “traveling” with Mother, I was informed that I could push her through security and to the gate.
So we rolled up to security and got redirected to “special security”. There, they let me walk through the metal detector, then had Mother walk through. Then they checked through all of our bags, just to make sure that the silver-haired little old lady wasn’t hauling explosives along with her meds.
Seriously, if you were a terrorist, and you knew that a one-way ticket would garner you special notice, wouldn’t that motivate you to just buy a round-trip ticket and “waste” the return leg? I realize that the authorities found one previous terrorist, some years ago, because he came back to claim his security deposit. But wouldn’t that be the exception rather than the rule? Penny-pinching terrorists afraid to spend a few extra dollars just doesn’t seem right, somehow. I expect they learn from their mistakes. Those that survive, that is.
Apart from that, and a crying baby on the plane,
the trip was uneventful.
Mother’s friend, “Penny”, met us at the airport and drove us back to
The “Red Rocket”, by the way, is the envy of
Mary’s Woods.
Everyone was impressed with it.
Equally, everyone was thrilled to have Mother back.
A few were disappointed that she hadn’t made it to
Just as we had a wonderful time having her with us.
Apparently, one day last week, “Jeannie” had asked
Mother if there was anything I could do for her while I was in
So I extended my vacation through to yesterday. On Monday, I did some simple straightening out on the back porch of Mother’s apartment. (By the way, the cat, Gus, was just fine by himself for three-plus weeks. The neighbor fed him and the self-cleaning litter box self-cleaned until it was full enough for the kind neighbor to empty the waste container and put in another one.)
Mother and I went shopping and got her a shredder that actually works, as opposed to the two “cheap” ones she had picked up that didn’t. I took some things up to her storage area and rearranged matters so that it will be easier for her to get to things when she needs to.
On Tuesday, we went through a number of papers and mail and got all of that sorted out. A year-and-a-half’s worth of Weekly Letters were sorted chronologically, 3-hole punched, and placed in a new D-ring binder.
Finally, we parked the “Red Rocket” in Mother’s
parking space in the garage and drove out to the airport.
I watched Mother drive off and checked in with the airline.
The
The annual ARMA
June dinner meeting and Silent Auction is this month.
I thought I would pick up a few “only in
When I returned to
So yesterday, I drove back up to “Jeannie’s” place to fetch my bag. I couldn’t put on any makeup until I got it back. It was around this point that I suddenly realized that the annual ARMA June dinner meeting and Silent Auction was next Tuesday! And I had only three items purchased!
So I grabbed my trusty credit card, which has been working especially hard these past weeks, and went shopping. I spent my entire budget and got a bunch of really nifty things, most of which I’d be happy to outbid some people on, in just a couple of hours. I only have two more things to pick up this weekend and I should be set and ready.
In other news…
That DRB meeting I had last Thursday? (DRB=Decision Review Board.) We not only survived, we passed with flying colors. The managers gave us the go-ahead to run our pilot project (also known as a “proof of concept” run). Of course, they couldn’t resist changing the parameters on us, but that’s what managers do.
Love, as always,
Pete
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