Death is not worse pain than an empty life. -- Lun Tha

You can meet the COOLEST people waiting for a plane.

But only if you're uptight enough (yep, that's me) to stand in line to board about forty-five minutes before the plane actually arrives.

Yes, friends and neighbors, I have returned.  In time to wish the Spousal Unit a happy day (I left his gift on top of our dresser, in a plainly marked box, with card, but told him he had to keep his hands off of it 'til Father's Day) and to just miss some major "weather" here in our wet corner of the world. No flight delays, thankfully!

Yes, my guys missed me. This is evident in the utter chaos that reigns in the living room.  It was evident in Cartoon Ranger's major bounciness until late in the night.  It was evident in the "The dishes are clean..." beginning to the State of the Kitchen address from the Spousal Unit, and evident in the interest Cyclone had in looking at a newspaper Mums had saved for me from before I was even born.  This paper, scraps of ads and local gossip, was dated over forty years ago.  It's in good shape.  Mums is cool.

I had a stellar vacation. I have to, have to share with you a couple of really great people I met at the airports of America, though.

First, Fluffy. I call her Fluffy here because she said I could. It is a name she adopted for some online usage, and she chose it in honor of her dead cat. I kid you not.  Fluffy.  Yep.  I met Fluffy while waiting for a plane.  She's got a vibrant face, engaging personality, and we talked for hours.  In line.  Yes.  We saw a flight leave for Nawlins, ours was next on the list, so we lined up in "A" (Southwest Airlines travelers will recognize this) and laughed at ourselves for being so silly as to line up so early.

We were still laughing, eons later, when we found out at boarding that our line was NOT for Nashville, as we had supposed, but for Raleigh!  The "list" at the gate had been changed while we had been laughing and, silly us, we hadn't thought to move to go check it!

My face was hurting by the time we actually DID get on our plane.  Oh, and she was very clever or we were extremely repulsive, I'm not sure which. BUT we did manage to keep chatting the entire trip, without someone coming to sit "between us" in the middle seat.  I'm chuckling just remembering.  Fluffy, if you're reading this, I was still grinning when I found my folks at the end of that Way Too Long Walk from the gates to the parking lot.

P.S. Thanks for the great ideas about Life With Cartoon Ranger, my younger son. Your professional experience with children like him is wonderful and I thank you for letting me benefit from it for free. While spilling soda. No, um Bob did that. Right....

The other folks I met are from The First Baptist Church of Oatmeal.  Yes, that's the name the daughter of the family eventually gave me. <smile> Okay, not EXACTLY, but it sort of morphed into that.  In order to allow them to retain their dignity, I shall refrain for the nonce from saying exactly where that church is.  I thank them, though, for the standing invitation to visit that church. It's a couple hours or so from here, but it might be fun if I'm out thataway at some point.  With a daughter going into the sixth grade and a son going into the ninth, those charming, brilliant young people are right in "my age group" and I loved talking with them.  So cheers to you, Family.  

~*~

In between airports, I visited with my family. I was pampered, feted, and allowed to be a daughter and sister, shedding the wife and mom hats for a couple of days or so. No shoes to tie.  No lunches to make. No bouncing to sleep at night...  But I did get a call about how long a banana could be eaten after purchase... 

Should I worry? Nah... Everyone is fine.

Mums and ShoeWoman took me shopping. I don't like shopping.  It consisted of me showing them my spending money and saying, See this? Dress this.  They did. I left with two pair of shoes and came home with FIVE. Me. Yes.  The mind boggles.  And dresses and skirts and tops and all that fun stuff.  Oh, and Cordelia? We put a huge dent in the Starbucks card.

I had a WONDERFUL time. No, I do not plan on liking shopping in the future, never fear. Family makes all the difference for me.  Oh, and the lady at one of the stores said it looked like Mums was dressing her Barbies as both ShoeWoman and I were trying on clothes at the same time. We even liked the same skirt. So we both got one.   It was fabulous, excellent, and altogether exhausting.

I can only do that once a year. Or once a decade!

~*~

Additionally, I was able to see both my dads for Father's Day.   We had good meals, good talk, and even the promise of a visit later this year by The Crunch. Coolness.

The Princess and I had a delightful time, too. She's four now, but starts Kindergarten next month. She is a gymnast and is getting very strong with this activity.  She's also brilliant at making funny faces.  She invited herself over for a sleepover Saturday night and we got our nails done.

I met my nephew for the first time! He's ADORABLE.  Biggest blue eyes I've seen on a boy in  my life, and dimples that will kill, I'm sure. 

But would you believe, ladies and gentlemen, that I did not get any pictures of all of this?????  I do apologize, profoundly, because I would have liked to share what I could (careful blogger that I am with faces) of all of this stuff.

Okay. This has gone on to epic lengths. If you are still reading, please feel free to take a total thumbs-up from...The Fonz!

(Found while looking for a "good job!" graphic on Google. Not my fault!)


Heyyyyyyy....



Off for coffee... Be back soon!