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No longer on the river and, again, an empty nester. Back to living on Fleming Island and making some more friends!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Getting the hang of it here.....

It’s Tuesday morning, and about 18 degrees above zero so far. It will ‘warm’ some before Mom and I go to church for the afternoon Bible study, soaring up to the low 30’s. Many here find that quite pleasant but one grumpy girl does not! These days I especially enjoy my gloves when venturing out.
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I do not remember if I wrote about my ‘flu’ bug, my stomach distress or whatever to call it, other than describing it as ‘my lost day’. Let us rejoice it was only one day! Justin very nicely took his grandma to help with the church newsletter and took my place at the table, collating and stacking with the ‘widow ladies’. They were impressed with him, and several told me on Sunday how much he reminded them of me! And they also told HIM that! In between outings, they stopped in to check on me and then went shopping at Wal*Mart, getting, among other things, something for my distress. I must have been in a stupor because I gave Justin my debit card and cut him loose with it! He did well, brought me Pepto and Imodium, and stocked Mom’s larder with soups, cheeses, and other foods for us to rely on after he was gone home. Justin also got himself some fruit, yogurt, and frozen veggies but did not eat them all before leaving. Mom can finish off whatever we do not. That evening, as he was getting stir-crazing just sitting around, Lynn and he went to see/hear Alayna in a concert at her high school, and enjoyed perch sandwiches from Late’s beforehand.
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Friday I was up on two legs again so Justin and I went to Copp’s to get my cookies and see if Susie was working. Neither Susie nor Cindy, the cookie lady was there, but we managed to find some more items for the larder. We had lunch at Dr. Dawg, a new hot dog place on the order of 5 Guys, where I cautiously ate half my Chicago dog and some fresh-cut fries. Justin had an Italian meat hot sub which he really enjoyed. From there we went to Kohl’s, of course, Justin’s hunting ground, where he talked me into buying him new shoes and a partial-placket pullover top, both on sale. When shopping with his grandma Thursday, he found a zip-open expandable duffel bag to use for his extra garments since his suit had traveled here in his father’s garment bag. I had no extra room in my luggage either, hence the $10 bag to tote his clothes and extra pair of shoes. I would NOT want to carry those huge shoes around if I did not have to, not even on my feet! Size 13 in a sneaker is quite the shoe!
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Friday evening the entire family in this area congregated at Time Out for dinner, and even the Jachimstal’s came at the end of the meal to join the fun. Lisa and family came up from Sheboygan and even Kerry from Oshkosh, her first visit since Thanksgiving time. We ended up with 13 people at the tables which was delightful, but sadly, and amazingly, they were out of perch!!! No perch??? On a Friday night??? I was getting teased for not eating earlier but, in the first place, Lisa’s family would not have been there earlier than 6:30 or 7:00 pm. Justin and I are not accustomed to eating so early in the day, normally taking our evening meal closer to 7:00 or after depending on what the night holds. That is no excuse at all for an eating place to be out of perch, however.
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Saturday we enjoyed breakfast at Mom’s with Lynn and Kerry joining the fun before taking Justin to the airport for his trip back to Florida. Lynn asked if she should drive and I readily accepted her offer. She does better driving than being a passenger because of car sickness and I am a great passenger, if I do say so myself. I hated saying “good-bye” to my boy, not seeing him for about three weeks but he promised to keep in touch via text message, which he has. When he landed in JAX he tried sending me a text message reporting thus. I was on the phone with Suzanne, so he called me to report his safe arrival. I took the call, thanked the Lord, and then went back to Suzanne, telling her how he told me I got the first text message and then his new friend, Cortlyn, got the second one. In that order…..It had better stay that way, too! He sent me a late night message on Saturday to report a car had gone over the rail of the Buckmann Bridge, and that the Navy was helping in the rescue. Later, in checking the area news reports on-line, I found out she had been forced off after being hit and run, the runner being followed to her home miles and miles away, where she was later arrested. The woman in the car, forced off the road, died from the accident. How terrible! This will really freak my Justin out, at least for a while….
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Sunday was worship at 8:00 a.m. where we sang a hymn which had been written out on the back page of Arno’s funeral service folder. Before his service I asked Harvey about the hymn stanza and he asked, incredulously, “You don’t know???” I just could not place it, not at first, looking it up in the hymnal. Dennis, the mortician, could not either. Later, in the pews during visitation, after reading through it and trying the melody, came up with it. And then, two days later, we sang it in church! I just found that incredibly interesting that it showed up again, and so soon after the funeral. It was CW 434:3, in case anyone wishes to look it up. “Lord, let your angels come at last…”, it was perfect for a funeral service. Following worship was a pancake breakfast sponsored by the Lutheran Pioneers and it was yum! Lynn had the two boys overnight and they sat like angels in church. They also liked their pancake breakfast, with Gabe eating like a thrasher. She was taking them back home to their parents all sugared up! “Sweet” in every way. The rest of us came back here and chatted before Kerry left for Oshkosh. It was a nice weekend with the various family members going and coming, but not the ‘going’ of my boy!

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