Blues Skies

I was in the hospital the day the towers were hit.
My best friend was at my bedside ( as well she should have been!) so that my other best friend, the Rooster, didn't have to take off work to take me home. I had, just the day before, had a "minor" procedure on my heart, which entailed microwaving an errant electrical pathway that was causing my heart to beat at 240 beats a minute for up to 20 minutes at a time. Now, if our alloted time on this earth should happen to be the number of heartbeats, I was burning daylight! Besides making me feel like crap.
We were watching "Good Morning America", when Charlie Gibson announced the show was going to special reports.......the first tower had been hit already, and they began showing the footage. The princess and I turned to each other in bewilderment as to how something like this could have happened. Coming from an aviation family, I could see no good reason weatherwise for this to happen...and with all the backup systems a monster like that must have, how could it have been a mechanical error so vast that the pilot could not have prevented it from crashing RIGHT THERE!!?? It wasn't until we saw the second one hit that we began to realize that it was being done on purpose. And even then, our naive and somewhat arrogant sense of security couldn't wrap our brains around what was going on. It refused to sink in.
When my cardiologist/electrophysiologist walked in, a native of Syria, we asked him if he had heard what was going on. "No, what...." About that time, they were repeating the shot of the second hit, and we told him to watch. He did, and without skipping a beat, he turned to us and said, "We are at war." Just that simple. Just that matter-of-fact. Good doctor that he is, he recognized the symptoms immediately and diagnosed the problem. But, in this case, his doctorate came from life experiences, not formal education. And just in case you are wondering, the "we" he was talking about was the family of people in that room, not the pilots of the planes.
Discharging me from the hospital, he told me to take it easy for x number of days, no driving for x number of days, etc. BUT, the princess and I were already wondering what we should be doing. She's a widow, so anything to be done was on her shoulders, and my Rooster was at work.
She took me home, and the more we talked, the more we worried about getting supplies, cash, gas in the cars, etc, JUST IN CASE. Her daughter was in school "across the big water"in P-colaspeak and she began to feel the pull of needing to be at home. After promising her I would behave, she went home, and I promptly got in my vehicle and filled it up with gas. She and I had already bought groceries. (She lifted the heavy stuff)
At any given time in Pensacola, if you don't hear SOMETHING in the air, you notice. It's like living near the train tracks and not hearing the daily 10am go through, at all. It was eerily quiet. For too long a time. Being a Navy town, we wondered if we would be considered a target, especially since the Navy Aviators start their careers here. The quiet was reminding us that we are not safe. And that we may never again be able to feel safe. That our lives as we had known them had changed. And that, no matter how you might feel about the military and war, it might be coming to our own world. Where we, through that school my MD had attended, would learn to recognize those same symptoms without a second thought. And maybe, our world would no longer be the best place to live, even with all it's faults.
The roars I had no longer consciously heard became something I listened for. My protector from the school bully had been told to "stand down". I was on my own. I hung my flags on my house and my car. And watched TV like somebody with OCD.
I know in my heart that the VERY INSTANT the air was cleared for takeoff, the BLUES fired up and took off, announcing to our portion of the world that they were ready for whatever might come. I went to the yard and watched them fly over, and cried while I felt a sense of pride you cannot imagine, unless you are a Navy Vet. Even Fat Albert was in the air. Waste of money? Sure. But, had I been able, I would have paid that bill out of my own pocket.

I'm BAAAAACCCCCKKKKK!!!!!

So sorry, to those who loyally check and recheck to see if there is anything new here.

The month of May had something inked in for EVERY day, and we have been so shorthanded at work for so long that my checks have been nearly obscene (but only in MY frame of reference). Made for some really nice vacations......

The princess and I had another really great roadtrip to Gatlinburg, Tenn. I had forgotten how incredibly beautiful that part of the country is. We stayed at the Clarion right on the main touristy drag ( no cabins for us, I love her, but not in that way!) which was cheaper than I had anticipated, and very nice digs for the price. We were right across the street from some good eateries, and since we were right across the street, they became some very good drinkeries, as well. I am a very cheap date in that department, and have to check my nose regularly to keep a good evening's fun , a good evening's fun. When it starts getting numb, I have to back off, or I suddenly flip from everything is funny, to remembering EVERY wrong ever done to me, and I certainly don't intend to spend any money to go THERE!!! We were close enough to home that we didn't even need a DW. The desk staff would have come to our rescue, I'm sure.

We had a spa day......OH MY. My first spa pedicure!! Put my mp3 player on, and just went away while my tootsies were filed, sanded, decuticled and painted a very sexy color. Legs were defoliated, massaged and oiled, arches massaged.....all while sitting in a vibrating chair. It won't be my last, I can tell you. I should be able to claim these on my taxes, as I am sure they could extend my nursing career by a couple of years or so. We went for the whole shebang....facials, massages, pedicure, and I even got a haircut thrown in as I had been too busy pre roadtrip to get it cut, and it was at that frustating stage where I wanted to just put it up a la Pebbles Flintstone style.
Two full days communing with God's beauty in the mountains. We saw 2 male turkeys vying for a little girl turkey's affections. I would have had trouble choosing, I can tell you, they were both quite the magnificent specimens! At least if they had bags over their heads..... We saw several deer, and were able to come within just a few feet of them for pictures. They know they are protected...... We saw a black bear, seemed to me to be a young one, but I am not a black bear expert by any means. Now, I can answer a question for you, but not the age old one.....deer DO *&@# in the woods, I have proof. The bear didn't oblige us.

There is a tourist shopping area that is well worth visiting. I am not a shopper....I think I am more man in that dept than woman....I hate malls,etc. BUT, I DO like seeing the atypical sort of thing, and places like Nashville Indiana and this place are my cup of tea. We were parking to visit several shops, and saw a woman walking a canine type creature. The princess and I looked and wondered out loud if it was a wolf. We went into the shop where we saw the woman go, and yes, it was a beautiful Timber Wolf, named Shadow. She came up to the swinging door and leaned in to us as we scratched her ears, but split the second we pulled out our cameras. Shadow's Momma explained, "she's over it." Shadow's Momma was in the process of fashioning Native American wedding garb out of deer hides, probably Cherokee. Incredibly beautiful. She also confessed to being a former Northwest Florida resident, about halfway between my and Greybeard's abodes. We invited her to come stay again anytime she would like, and of course, Shadow would be welcome as well.

We also went to Dollywood, and while it is more shopping than I would like, not a waste of time. Got some interesting souvenirs. Saw a really good "Birds of Prey" show, with an onsite sanctuary for Eagles, Hawks and the like who have either been imprinted by humans, or injured so badly they can never return to the wild. Right up my alley.

I would like to take the Rooster there, probably would go for a cabin this time, but learned you need to be careful when renting the unknown. Saw many places that had cute little cabins, alright....they were smack up against each other, and blocking a good portion of those beautifully scenic views they advertise on their websites. Will have to "Google Earth" them to make sure what we are getting is as advertised. Ain't technology wonderful?

Upon returning to work, found that my world had been turned upside down, shaken, and dumped out in another area. My co-workers thought I would be doing a "Mommanurse dance", which by now are famous throughout the hospital, but when I heard the particulars, I think that IF they do it the way they say, it will be a big improvement. BIG IF.

Only worked 3 days, then went for our anniversay vacation. 13 years, and I still like him. A very novel idea, for me. We went to Adventures Unlimited, camped, kayaked and played. My best kind of world, I could live there. We take the behemoth, have some of the comforts we enjoy, and pretend the world is always this beautiful and this fun. If you ever decide to come our way, and it is the right time of the year, we will be suggesting a trip there, I assure you. They have everything from airconditioned bunkhouses to cute little cabins with screened in porches overlooking the creek, bathrooms and half kitchens, they also have tent sites if you are they really back to nature kind of folk. They will take you "up creek" for tube, canoe/kayak trips, as long as you want, pretty much. You can even do overnighters on the creek. Lots of fun. Anytime I can be near, on or in water, I'm a happy camper, so to speak.

Immediately, and I do mean immediately on return, I took my Mom for a very stressful trip to rule out an evil disease, which, Thank You, God, was ruled out. I didn't even have an idea how uptight I was about this whole deal until it was over, and we could relax. At 81, the outlook was not good if we didn't get good news. Even the best outcome would have been NO fun. She can now change her plans about the rest of her life, and include some fun in it. Me too.

So, there was my Month of May. I will try to do better. Didn't want to blog unhappy stuff, and didn't have time to blog the happy stuff.