Home > Chewin' the Fat > Archives > 2008 > April
April 2008
Cell phones, stop signs and the finger
I practiced good patience Saturday toward a driver who decided it was more important to talk on a cell phone than actually pay attention to the automobile this person was supposed to be driving.
Trying to turn left out of the Lowe’s parking lot is bad enough on any day let alone a Saturday, but what made this day particularly complex was the person in front of me who opted to carry on with a cell-phone conversation rather than turn when the coast was clear.
Instead of laying on my horn I simply let it go. Then, at the next opportunity to turn, this person was still chatting and not turning. I then went back to my old ways and laid on the horn.
I got the finger.
At this point, the car behind me was honking his horn and finally, the person in front of me decided to turn, continue the phone conversation and still hang the finger on me.
I turned and sailed past this person to the next light where, ironically enough, my phone rang. Before I answered it, I looked in my mirror and there was same car and the same finger.
Instead of taking the call and staying parked through light until it hit red at a shot of revenge, I simply drove off while this person ripped by me on North Avenue, yelling at me as if I did something wrong.
I guess I was wrong for being impatient while this person was on the phone at one of the busiest intersections in all of the Grand Valley.
How rude of me!
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Flying is for the birds!
I guess we should have all saw it coming. The airlines are starting to fall from the sky and the delays in airports around the world are becoming more and more nonsensical, not to mention a pain in the you know where.
And my ever-growing fury of flying officially began the day my mother-in-law was supposed to arrive in Grand Junction from Michigan. As you’ll soon learn, that day was a double-whammy for us.
My mother-in-law was scheduled to arrive for a weeklong stay on Friday, April 4. She had booked this flight months in advance. Kelley and I were both eager to pick her up at the airport, but of course at the last minute, my wife calls me and tells me her mother won’t be coming - the airline booked too many passengers and because no one wanted to volunteer to sit that flight one out, Linda and two others were selected to be bumped.
Although my mother-in-law was compensated with money and vouchers to fly in the future, it’s the principle of the matter, which irked us all. As soon as we were able to calm down and digest the new schedule, my wife got an email from our travel agency with even more bad news - the airline we were flying to Hawaii in July had just gone bankrupt and closed its doors.
ATA airlines, which was our connecting flight from Los Angeles to Hawaii, sent out a mass email and took down its Web site Thursday, April 3. It did this while its last flights were still en route. The email we received suggested we call one of four provided airlines in an attempt to re-route us to Hawaii, which was supposed to be our belated honeymoon.
So my wife and I were using two separate phones trying to piece back what was once a trouble-free puzzle. We were told by each airline we called we would have to pay an additional $200 per person, per flight. In other words, from Denver to L.A., to Hawaii would have ended up costing up another $800 on top of the thousands we had already spent. The bigger problem was we would have had to arrive two days later and come home a day earlier. Thus, we ultimately canceled our trip and to our amazement, got a full refund.
Since then, I have been glued to the news when it comes to the airlines. Because of the rising fuel costs, inspections on planes or whatever - flying has rapidly become more of an inconvenience than a convenience. For this reason and this reason only, my wife and I have decided to hop in the car in July and head West. We’ll take our time, enjoy the scenery and will be free from the migraine that is flying - once the easiest way to travel.
By the way, getting back to Michigan was more difficult than arriving in Colorado for my mother-in-law. Her return flight was canceled twice. It gave us all four extra days together, but assured our collective judgment that flying is for the birds.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
No stitches, no energy
For a little over a week, my dog Buddy was stuck in a state of “can’t do anything” because of the seven stitches he had in his leg from his cat-chasing experiment. Normally, we go to the park each day and I let him run wild and free. However, for eight and half days, Buddy was stuck to walking slowly in the backyard and a lot of long naps on his favorite bed in the living room.
Thursday was a big day for my boy. He got his stitches out and I was told he would be able to again run wild and free by Saturday or Sunday. I took it easy on him Friday and Saturday, but Sunday, I gave Buddy the green light. Early in the morning, we went to the park, but he didn’t go nuts as he often does. He did run a little and was obviously tired pretty quick.
Sunday afternoon, my wife and mother-in-law decided to plant flowers outside. Expecting Buddy to run wild and free around them and being in the way, he instead was calm, cool and very relaxed.
This is how Buddy spent the afternoon with the ladies…
“Hey, ladies? I could use another cold one.”
“Am I in the way here?”
That’s my boy!
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
I miss you Drew
People often ask me how I’m doing and always telling me to stay strong. People always tell me stories about my brother, Drew, and as a family, we always spend time talking about Drew, the son, brother and friend.
On April 5, 2005, my identical twin brother passed away in Kansas. I can remember the exact moment I got the call from my mother - I was getting ready for a budget meeting in the newsroom. People I work with have told me they could tell something was very wrong just by the look on my face.
Three years ago, the nightmare that could tear a family apart made its unwanted way into our family. My brother, my best friend and the person I turned to for advice, help and a good laugh was gone and I didn’t know where to turn, what to do or how to act. Three years later, I still have troubles figuring out how to deal with the loss of my brother.
Three years later and I am still rehabilitating myself. I still struggle. I still cry and I still feel emptiness. However, the one thing I have learned is life is very delicate and you never know when something like this can happen to you. It added a certain appreciation for the things I once didn’t value like enjoying a warm summer day outside with my dog, Buddy; snowshoeing in the wintertime on the Mesa; taking more vacations; paying more attention to my future rather then spending time wondering why I did some of the things I did yesterday and spending much more time with my family.
In October of 2005, I fell into a dark hole shortly after I bought my first house. It was my first birthday without Drew and it was then I began to feel the real pain and suffering of what had happened. I spent a lot of cold and lonely days in that house. I quickly learned, however, I have people in my life who care and are suffering with me. Good friends and family slowly pulled me out of a rut that was destined for more darkness and who knows what else. I was living in denial and needed a good shove into reality.
Not long after I got myself back together I met someone who literally took me to a new level of life - a place I didn’t think was in the cards for me. I met my wife around my brother’s second anniversary and I started to, for the first time in a long time, feel secure and safe. Was this my brother’s way of creating a whole new world of happiness for me? I like to think he certainly had something to do with it.
And now, three years after my brother passed away, I still find myself dealing with a lot of pain and suffering. However, the way I deal with those emotions have changed, or if you will, improved. I struggle with dreams where I can hear Drew, feel him when he hugs me and when he tells me he’s proud of me. I struggle with thoughts of was I as good of a brother as he was to me and did I say and do all the things I should have said and done?
When people do ask me how I’m doing, the answer is generally the same - It’s getting more manageable but the pain will always be the same.
Have a good day, Drew. I miss you dearly!
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Catching up
The trouble with having family spread out all over the country is that we only see each other once, maybe twice a year. That is never good enough for me and I often struggle with not seeing my father more, who lives in Pennsylvania or my sister and her family who live in California. My other sister and her family recently moved back to Grand Junction from Kansas, which has been wonderful, but there are still some family members far away.
My wife’s family all live in Michigan, which is where she grew up. We were there last June for a week and it was a great visit, but not long enough. It seems when you go on vacation; the time almost always seems to pass you by quicker than you want it to. Then, before you know it, you’re back at your office wishing you were still with family.
I haven’t seen my in-laws since our wedding in August. And even then we didn’t really get to spend much time with them because weddings are usually have some chaos to them, and ours had us going here, there and everywhere. It’s tough for me not to be able to see my in-laws as much as I would like to. My wife, Kelley, has it made here. My mother and Kelley are great buds and spend a lot of time together.
Friday, however, I’ll have a week to make up for lost time with my mother-in-law, Linda, who is taking her spring break to visit us. My father-in-law, Jack, couldn’t make the trip because of work commitments, but one is better than none.
My mother-in-law and Kelley
So Friday is going to be a great day for us. Family has always been the most important aspect of my life and it became much more important to me after my brother passed away three years ago. It’s difficult having to form the majority of my relationship with my in-laws through phone conversations, letters and Christmas presents. As difficult as it may be to have it this way, we have to take what we can get and I can’t wait to sit down on our backyard and have a glass of wine with my mother-in-law and catch up on lost time.
See you soon, Linda!
