Maybe circus is too big a description. Certainly traveling chaos is coming in the next month or so. I've been down the road to pick up youngest son for the summer break, #2's year with AmeriCorps is finishing and he'll return on July 27th, and on July 30th I'm off to Japan to pick up the girl and tourist around for a week. I'm excited and a little nervous. Europe is in my comfort zone (a Vox neighbor is in Paris and I'm longing for a cafe creme on the Champs Elysee). Japan will be totally new. "No problem," says the girl, "you'll love the trains." The only thing I'm dreading, really, is the switch in Newark--my least favorite, most confusing airport. At least I have a long enough layover so I won't have to run barefoot for my next plane like last time. I hope.
06/19/2010
03/26/2010
Best of Friends
Sometimes I get so caught up in making do, and handling the curve balls that life tosses my way, and just keeping it all going by myself. The hardest words for me to say are, "I need some help."
For years now the back room of the house I live in has flooded whenever there is a good rain (hurricanes or nor'easters have been known to send it ankle deep or more). The solution has been out of my reach due to the divorce and lack of funds for big projects. But.
Two weeks ago my friends Deb and Liz volunteered husbands and sons, labor and materials, and with my available boys french drains were dug and installed around the house. Just in the nick of time, as we then had 5 days of continuous rain--anyone on the east coast of the US may remember that monster storm front that just wouldn't blow away. There was no water in the back room, none! Out in the backyard beyond the berm suggested by one of the guys a lake almost swimmable existed. It was amazing to watch all of the water that would have ended up in my house flow down the driveway to the street.
The best of friends know when to step in despite your pride. They leave soup in your fridge for you to find when you come home from work on a sleet slick night. They know that they can count on you, too. It is a comfort to know you are in their hearts and on their minds and they in yours even if life gets in the way of seeing each other for weeks.
Lucky, lucky me.
Posted at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
01/10/2010
2010
No vast and deep thoughts on the coming year, which looks to be as busy as the last. My eldest son turned 26 yesterday, next month my youngest turns 20(that is so weird to me). #2 is doing well in Denver, heading to NOLA for 8 weeks to work on Habitat houses, #3 returns to college Tuesday after an enforced hiatus with promises to pay attention to what is required to graduate, my girl is having a great adventure in Japan but I wish we would get more than a quick once or twice a month blurb on Facebook. Keeping up with the neighborhood here less because my work schedule is chock full; I do scroll through to see what everyone is up to and who has moved on. Hope all is well wherever you are, and it's warmer than here! No snow, but frreeeezzziingg. Gasp, my Yankee blood has thinned out, y'all.
Posted at 08:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
10/31/2009
Fly away...
Another one out of the house and far away: Rob is now in Denver working with AmeriCorps for 10 months, and may be doing anything from disaster relief to Habitat for Humanity houses. It doesn't make me feel better that yesterday's news mentioned a huge snowfall in Denver. With limited computer access, Rob's updates are brief and far between.
Can't help worrying a little, it's a mom thing. I'm sure he's fine, but does he need warm socks sent? Scarf?
The funniest thing about everyone clearing out is that only Christopher and the dog are left at home. Christopher is not very socially adept, usually lives on his computer and video games (umm that's why he's been put on academic probation at college for the semester but that's another story...) and he is generally not very chatty. The quiet is getting to him, though. When I come home from work every night, he greets me with at least 20 minutes of conversation and follows me around as I make my tea and wind down. This week he volunteered to carve pumpkins for Halloween...never happened before. What a treasure it is to be able to know him all by himself.
Posted at 07:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
09/11/2009
September=emptying nest
It's very quiet around the house. After a rushed August getting Patrick and Libby re-set for school, this month is depressingly still. Patrick went back to Lynchburg two weeks ago, and yesterday I watched Libby meander through security at Dulles to catch a plane to Japan.
Of the two, Libby's leaving is the hardest. Not only is she literally half the world away, she's my only girl, the one I roll eyes over the boys with, shopping partner, have-you-any-chocolate conspirator. She'll be gone for a year and come back with experience and vision that will in some ways make her a stranger to me. I want that adventure and growth for her, but I'll miss my girl.
Military parents do this by the thousands everyday; send away that boy or girl who leaves a space in the heart. Proud, worrying, waiting for the e-mail that says everything's fine. I wondered how they did that.
It occurred to me that I've spent the last seven years sending one child or another off into the rest of their lives. Two have circled back for a little while; economics and uncertain academics causing a re-evaluation of what they're doing and how best to move on. They will, when they're ready, and I'll pack them up and say goodbye again.
Posted at 08:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
08/05/2009
06/27/2009
Health care reform?
I have been stuck in health insurance hell for the last few weeks. When my divorce became final and I was no longer going to be covered under the ex's insurance, I elected coverage under COBRA. That meant I paid both the employer and employee's share, but although expensive it was still at a group rate. I should have had the coverage until December 31st 2009.
Fast forward to this past April, when it became clear that the company was going belly-up. The first week of June I received a letter that the board of directors of the now defunct LandAmerica terminated the health plan. No company, no health plan, no more COBRA. Through no fault of my own, I'm losing my health insurance.
I've been scrambling around trying to find private coverage. Because COBRA is exhausted in my case, I'm eligible for HIPAA, the health insurance portablility and accountability act. This is a "reform" that allows you to apply and be accepted by an insurer as long as you have had previous coverage within a certain time frame; there is no underwriting with HIPAA and for that priviledge all you have to do is pay the most expensive premium the carrier charges.
In my case, that's a little over $1,700.00 a month. Who can pay that?
I've been turned down for a non-HIPAA plan that's only slightly more affordable; I can appeal, but truly my high blood pressure isn't going away and I'm going to have to stay on the Lipitor to keep the cholesterol in check, so I don't have any ammunition on which to base an appeal.
The President uses the word onerus quite a bit when he talks about the need for health care reform--I know what that means.
Posted at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
05/24/2009
Hey, y'all!
It's been a busy couple of months and this is really the first chance I've had to catch up with the blogs.
I've broken in the new car, and since the toilet paper holder epiphany of a few months ago I have been throwing something out everyday. Lately it has literally been material goods--fitted sheets that are worn through and have no elastic left on the corners, sun-faded curtains (navy blue once, now white in the middle), clothes that I'll never wear again even if I could fit into them.
Treated myself to a good camera, a Pentax D-SLR, and have been having fun learning how to use it. If I ever figure out how to unload the pics, I'll get some on the blog. Yesterday my neighbor and I went on an expedition (we were running away from home) to one of my favorite spots. There was a swan involved, and a snake, and a couple of Cheerios-begging ducks. You know, if a swan starts to growl at you, you shouldn't stick around to figure it out. Or take just one more picture.
Otherwise, just working and sleeping. Too uncomfortable to sit at the computer for long--lots of rainy weather-- so I've been reading, as ever. Work is irritating me lately which is a sure sign that I need a break. I've been on the same case for over 2 years; maybe I just need a change. I'd really like to not work at all, but still not an option.
I'm going all Victory Garden in the front garden bed a la the 40's and tying into the White House grow your own theme. I don't seriously think I'll get much out of it but maybe the row of corn will get tall enough to hide the porch that needs painting! Son 2 has done a great job on the upstairs 1/2 bath, patching and painting, the next thing to tackle is the downstairs bathroom which needs some serious painting and a couple of new faucets, and a new toilet, which I picked up today at Lowe's. It'll be fun watching the boys install that, I'm just going to hand them tools.
All of the kids are here, another reason I've been away from blogs was having to travel and pick 2 of them up from Lynchburg. The house is full of boxes to sort through, especially important for my girl, who will be spending the next school year in Japan. I don't want to think about that yet.
No other big news; waiting for the results of more bloodwork since the first batch came out a little off. Which could explain the general malaise lately. We'll see.
Hope all is well with you!
Posted at 09:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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