Now I am comforted

Justin checked my tire when he went home on Wednesday night and called to tell me that it was getting pretty low again. This was not a surprise to me but it did make me sad because I absolutely need to have the utmost confidence in my car and its tires! I decided that in the a.m. I was calling David Victor back again to have him refill the tire and then head over to the dealership to get the tire checked out. I had asked Jen where her brother-in-law worked but his shop was more toward the airport so I decided to just stick with my dealership for the tire exam.

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I called Griffin Ford and they said to just come in when the tire is re-filled, that I did not need to fixed appointment (but I did need a "fix" appointment!). Linda decided to come with me and wait while the repair was being made so we could just go out and stay out. We had a nice chat while watching Fox News in the waiting area, but it did not take long for them to figure out that the culprit vexing my bliss was a nail in the tire. They plugged the hole and made it good again, for a slight cost of $10, out the door!

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I felt confident again in my car and off we were on our adventures. We took a ride through some of the areas where I had considered town houses IF I would have to sell my home in The Palace someday, and the headed for Wal-Mart. Earlier in the week I knew I would need a trip up there and asked Linda if I should wait until she got here to do that shopping. She wished to go, too, so we went together in order for me to replace some of my dainties. I also found a red sweater on the sale rack (see that, Mom???) as I did need something more to keep me warm these days. We got our recipe ingredients for the French toast we are making for Saturday's function plus a few other things Linda was hungry for, like yogurt raisins and fresh fruit.

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After our shopping adventure, we stopped in at Great Hang Ups to say "hi" and see who was available to have a bite with us. Dee and Julia took turns joining us at the table, which was the first time Linda had eaten tappan-style at Koko's. It seems the previous times were Sunday buffet or something, and she REALLY liked the meal. We ordered the dinner veggies for lunch and my personal chef always makes me an onion instead of veggies. They looked so good that I shared some of my onion with Linda. We took food home, of course, and Linda is eating her leftovers as I write.

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We spent some time with the ladies in the shop afterward and then headed home, forgetting totally about our planned stop at Scrap 'n Stuff. Once getting the majority of our purchases upstairs, we again wrapped in blankets and watched some more "Seinfeld". Occasionally my outbursts of laughter would shake Linda from her cat naps, but that was okay, too. There are just some things that really tickle my funny bone, the more outrageous the moment, the better. That is one reason I find "Apples to Apples" such a fun game---it begs the absurd!

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Before leaving the house yesterday morning, I had put my country-style ribs in a bath of bbq sauce and plugged in the slow-cooker to do its thing for our comfort foods dinner last night. We were expecting mac 'n cheese, mashed potatoes, my ribs, meatloaf, chicken 'n dumplins', and brownies. Yummy! Linda felt no dinner was complete without dinner rolls so we bought a couple tubes of biscuits which were fresh baked just in time to serve. Sadly, late afternoon, Betty called to say she was not feeling too great and had to miss the dinner. Too bad! Brenda N. had already given her regrets and then called me Wednesday to request prayers on behalf of her brother who was ICU. Ah, now it made sense.

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We had a nice full table of dear friends, though, all ladies except for one very handsome young man....as always, Justin! He loves all these ladies dearly and especially wanted the time with Linda before he left for his pirate adventure this weekend with Jesse and friends. Supposedly they are meeting his friend's fiances' parents down there who will house these creatures and provide seating for a pirate event that takes place annually. When I asked him for the names and phone number of the girl's parents, he said, "Mom............." just like I would say it!

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Back to the table----we ladies laughed and laughed and talked over the top of the others, and laughed some more. It was great! Not to worry, I had plenty of towels to go around in case we laughed too hard..........inside joke there.

As always happens, though, some people had to leave and then soon all were heading out the door. Like I told Linda, it makes me sad when the ladies go home because I want the party to go on and on. But, as Jimmie expressed to Brenda, it is a "school night" so they all had to go home and prepare for the last day of the week. The last day for those NOT in real estate, that is!

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One tragic thing did occur though----just as we were about to sit down to dinner, my phone rang, showing the name of my sister-in-law, Barb, in Green Bay. Thinking it may be about Arno, I took the call. She was calling to tell me that my nephew, Tommy, who is in the Army and stationed in KS, had killed himself. This was so surprising to me as I had just communicated with him at CHRISTmas and he was planning his marriage, and landscaping and such, seemed like he was settling down at bit. Evidently his father had contacted my former spouse with this information, informing him that Tommy had killed himself on or about the 27th of January. Yes, this info was shared on the 5th of February. Not what I would call a close family situation there....

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To my knowledge, I was the one on his mom's side of the family who had semi-regular contact with him any longer which his father most likely did not know. They were estranged since his mother died in late 2002, with minimal contact. Tragedy upon tragedy in that household. While I was talking with Barb, Justin got a call from his father, filling him on the same story. Justin said he did not know if his father knew I had been in communication with Tommy or not, but Nancy, my sister-in-law, knew it, as she called this a.m. to make sure I had heard the news. Her kids wanted to go to the funeral, once the body was returned to Detroit, under the guise of him "being family" but if he had walked in the front door of their home, they would not even know him. I took the opportunity to expound on the value of "living" family and instead of making the trip to Detroit, that they go visit the family that they do have (i.e. Sharon and Grandpa) and re-connect with their siblings/aunts/uncles/cousins!!! I cannot stress it enough, and I have done this in person as well as via e-mail how valuable it is to keep your family around you, physically if possible, every other way available!!!!! Hear me, and hear me well............