Day 37, Vacations and Friends.

It was nice to sleep in one last time and I woke up at 7:55am. I must admit it was an awesome feeling to not have anything pressing me to get up and I wasn’t looking forward to the return to the early morning work schedule.

Robin had departed home at 6:30am hoping to get work done in the office before jetting off to Long Beach, California for work. Her day would be a whirlwind and have returning home at 3am Wednesday morning. She is then planning on going to the office and working until noon and then taking the rest of the day off. Her vacation starts on Thursday when she, Brad, Dr Nick and Ann will be coming to Oregon.

Brad schedule is not much better as he flies off to Kansas City Wednesday morning and back the same day, so he was out the door early so he could get some work done before Thursdays trip out west.

Here I was lazing around their home and they were hard at work. My only contribution to helping with their busy schedules was I met the treadmill repairman at 9am. Robin’s bathroom faucet was dripping, but I wasn’t able to fix it without removing the entire handle and running to Lowes for replacement parts. I would be happy to do that, but wasn’t sure what I was going to run into, so I didn’t want to start something I wasn’t sure I could finish.

I had one errand I needed to run and that was to the UPS store. Robin had bought me a very interesting birthday gift and I needed to get it home. The gift is a very large wood carving (4’ long, by 14” high by 5” deep) that was once part of a doorway or a large piece of furniture. The piece is Bavarian with carvings of three faces that look slightly like goats with alpine hats. I know it sounds unusual and it is, but it is very unique and I am sure I can find a spot for it in my home. I had spotted this item several years ago at an antique store on Western Ave and I have made several return visits over the years to see if was still there.  I have always want to buy it, but I just wasn’t sure how to get it home. Well, Robin bought it for me and now I was shipping it home. I called American Airlines to see if I could just bring it with me as an oversize second piece of luggage, which I could for $150, so UPS it was.

Brad picked me up at 2:30pm to take me to the airport. I felt bad to make someone who is so busy go to the trouble of making an airport run. Brad and Robin are two of the most caring, gracious and giving people one could ever ask to call a friends. These two people are a part of my family and there is nothing I wouldn’t do for them.

Today’s travels were going to take me from Oklahoma City, to Dallas, to Seattle, to Redmond. The flight to Dallas was coming in from Atlanta and it was running late, causing a ripple effect that would cause me to question if I would make it home as scheduled. The flight arrived in Dallas 30 minutes late. The flight to Seattle left 40 minutes late and the arrival and close departure time from Seattle to Redmond had me concerned.

The connection from Seattle was close, but I was able to get home as planned with 15 minutes to spare. I must admit it is always nice to be home and thanks to my parents and Amy the chickens and cats were in great shape.

Flying home.

As my vacation came to a close it was nice to think back over the last 6 days. It was so nice to spend time with good friends. Cutting apart a tree that fell into a pool, building a chicken coop, attending a football game, floating in a pool, overeating to the point of misery and just hanging out with friends, the kind of friends that last a life time.

True friends really are the most unique and treasured part of life, they help make up who we are.  They are there for each other and share in life's ups and downs, the good and the bad. And I can't help but think that those who are truly blessed are those who are lucky enough to have friends all around them, or just a plane ride away.