Seeing an old friend

Or, really, a young friend. A few weeks ago I was contacted by one of my Facebook friends, Ashley, who was going to be in the area on business. She wanted to get together and spend some time catching up. I love it, of course. 

A little history: Ashley's older sister, Megan, used to babysit for us when we were neighbors in EH. We have many connections, actually, with her dad having been my manager at Sprint, they were customers of ours in Fiddlers Ridge, neighbors when we lived in FR, we took their kids to VBS, and we were friends as well. Bob accepted a transfer to TX after I had left Sprint when Timmy was born. We met up with Bob and Beth once when we had traveled to Dallas for a Builders' Convention. That was it. So, I will guess it has been 20 years since I have seen the family, though Facebook allows some of us to remain connected. 

Ashley works for a major hotel chain and visits the hotels to help the staff get up and running on new programs used for booking, etc. She gets around! Now 30 years old and married a couple years, her home is near Denver. The whole family lives there (even some grandparents, I think) and all her in-laws. I told her how I am joined by students from Rocky Mountain Lutheran High School in the summer and she knows their school, which is cool. 

We met at Grumpy's for a late breakfast, still having to wait for a table. I was so glad the rush sort of let up which allowed us to sit for two hours and visit. There was never a quiet moment, so much to talk about! I heard all about her folks, Mom is a teacher of special needs kids including the physically handicapped, and Dad still works for Sprint but as a sideline works for a small airline which allows for travel perks. They are getting close to retirement time, not age, which is cool for them. Ashley's spouse works with many of his family members in a local business. And, they bought a house, in the process of finishing touches. 

Justin was invited to join us but he is still laid up with his goofy back. Ashley asked how old he is as neither her dad nor she could figure it out. When I said he was 27, she laughed. She is only 3 years older than he and wondered why she babysat for him. I said she most likely was there for Timmy, and Justin was not old enough to care for his brother or to stay alone. Now it made sense to her. 

Anyway, we had a great visit, talked about all sorts of things besides just catching up, and the time flew by. Very nicely Ashley picked up the tab as she has an expense account just for such occasions. She had other plans for the day, former classmates to catch up with so we parted company. She would like to perhaps stop by later to greet Justin but he is really not up to visitors. I feel so badly for him, but she understands. 

After we left Grumpy's, I went to Winn Dixie as they had the best price on Diet Cokes. As I pushed a little cart from the parking lot to the store, I hit a rut and the cart popped back, hitting me in the right shin. Yikes! I was hoping no one saw this---got it straightened out, and kept on pushing along. Bet that will bruise! Loading my cart with six cartons of soda, I was sad I had to take a flavor which was not my favorite because of being out of regular Diet Coke Decaf. As I came around the corner, I met the distributor counting cases on the end cap and asked him if he had any diet decaf coming since I had taken the last one. He said he would go check and came back with 5 cases for me, transferring the other ones out and reloading my cart with the 'good' ones. I was so very thankful to him, a nice young man. 

Since my boy is home resting his aching back, I asked him what I could get for him. Justin said he needed some DayQuil and I got him some throat lozenges as well. A person doesn't need a sore back and throat at the same time. I picked up a few other items and headed for home with my purchases. The rest of my day will be here at my desk.

Justin injured himself on Tuesday and has worked everyday since, coming home all doubled over from back pain. Friday he worked a half-day (about 5 hours) and came home, having had enough. His boss asked him to dinner last night to Whitey's as usual, but he declined, thinking the wood benches would not be good for him. His boss should have known better than to tempt Justin with chicken wings when he's got a bad back! Justin is supposed to go to his friend's house tonight for a birthday dinner but am not sure that will happen either. The ice packs and heat pad have been his friends for now, and me, trying to be helper but not a pest!