Nearly two hours later, I was out the door. Oh, but before the temporary was re-installed, Peggy took out a mirror so I could see my shiny gold stub of a tooth. It was all polished up and really was pretty. She said she hated to have to grind or do any smoothing on the gold, because it's such a waste. The residue goes up the suction tool or down my throat, never to be seen again! As I wrote on Facebook, my million dollar smile is that plus a few thousand more!
My friend, Julia, had a birthday yesterday, but I didn't go up to the shop until today. I went after the dental visit to extend my birthday wishes in person. She told me about her marvelous birthday dinner at a ritzy place called Orsay, which took three hours to consume. Thankfully they had some gift cards to help defray part of the costs of this fabulous birthday dinner. As my lovely parting gift, Julia gave me a stem from her floral arrangement from Hawaii.
I got caught up on the e-mail before resting, and got an interesting one from Chris D., a former member of GS. He directed me to another person's FB page to read the postings. From what I could tell, a young man also named Chris had died unexpectedly in Australia, where he lived and worked. Chris D. and I worked with him in the early 90's at Sprint. No details of his death were offered but one comment after another on his page was that of regret for not keeping better in touch.
In my exchanges with Chris D., we discussed this, how FB does allow us to find and then reconnect with people in our lives, past and present. Sadly, though, we say we are going to do better with staying in touch or actually getting together, but then miss the opportunity to do so. Chris and Chris had actually lived together for a bit in Orlando, with a third housemate. He was just blown away with this news. I told him about the lady who invited me to lunch last week, fulfilling her resolution to catch up people she has said she would. Do it, people, do it!
*****
I knew full well about the two hour choir rehearsal this evening, sent a reminder e-mail to Sterling since he was absent from choir last week, and discussed it with Justin that I might be gone before he got from work. Well, I got so involved in The Five, watching it to the end, and then suddenly realizing I was late for choir!
As I dashed out the door, I tried calling Robbie to let him know I was on my way, but it went to his voice mail. Rats! I called Carol's cell phone then and she answered after many rings. I explained that I was on the way, blah, blah, blah, and she said, "I'm at Subway. Robbie said choir was at 7:00."
No, he did not---he said 6 to 8 with snacks in between. I called Kristi and she was there at church with Debbie and Sterling, plunking through one of the pieces as best she could. Yikes! Robbie had told Carol it was at 7:00 even though she knew he said 6:00 pm.
Anyway, I came flying through the door about twenty minutes late, telling the group how I drove through people's yards to get there. Robbie apologized for the mix-up and the frenzy, and once his mom got there, we began. Our four pieces for the next three worship opportunities went together nicely, and my confidence is in his piano playing. The louder he plays, the better we sound!
I didn't get home until 9:30 which drew Justin from his room. Two late church nights this week already. He asked, "Three hours of practice?" and I explained the mix-up in times. Monday night he was concerned for my safety but tonight he was fine. Oh, and when we left choir, Sterling asked me to send an e-mail to everyone to confirm the times for our rehearsals prior to the services for uniformity. I can do that!
Justin was dragging himself around, bone weary and worn out from his days' work. Jesse and he were extremely late with getting started due to traffic tie-ups which had no cars moving on Blanding or the freeway between Blanding and Hwy. 17. Only one lane was open on the freeway during rush hour, which is not good.
He told me they were going to try a short cut through the parking lot of the bank on Wells and Blanding, pulled onto Blanding. 25 minutes later, they pulled into a parking lot to find another route, the driveway being the next one from the bank they short-cutted through! No progress found in that attempt. It was all over the news, the traffic reporters trying to warn people away from this route.
Because of their delayed start, they ended up working later, spending the entire day on a commercial job, gathering up leaves. The good news was that they got to use the Hardees coupons I gave Justin from the week's mail. Great deals, and it was right near where they were working.
How about those tornadoes in Dallas??? I had read my friend's posting that she was trying to fly out of Dallas but couldn't because there were tornado warnings so I turned on the news. Sure enough, there was live footage of the tornadoes moving around in the Dallas metroplex, complete with Schneider Transport trucks flying through the air. Justin had gotten home already and we watched together. It was unreal!
One of our members drives for them so I sent Richard an e-mail asking if he was okay. Kristi told me at choir that he was actually at the depot when it was hit, but his truck was in the repair bay and not damaged, and he was safe where he was. He would send very brief text messages to her at their dad's house to let them know he was alive.Yikes!!!
I know of many folks who live in that area so I kept up with a map on the Internet, looking for the communities the weather guys out of Dallas were issuing the warnings. Kelly finally did get a flight for tomorrow morning, after many cancellations since the tornadoes, so she can get home to her hubby and baby. I hope she makes it this time. What a nightmare scenario, but thankfully, no apparent loss of life. Thanks be to God!
