Transitions

If you ask most people, they will tell you that they don't like change. Why is that? Any theories? I have a few of my own, but I won't elaborate yet.

My family is going through some major transitions right now. Why everyone at once? Steve and Mish are moving to Vancouver, B.C. I've been reminded by Marj P. (Mish's mom) that it's only for graduate school, and we should view it at that. Seeing it in that light, yes, it doesn't seem like a major change. I've had all three children go off to schools that required some traveling time to see them. For two years in a row, we didn't see Steve much because he went right from Texas Tech to working at a camp all summer. Yes, he's going off to school, albeit a plane ride away. (And I've already checked fares on both Southwest and American!) But what makes it a bit more difficult for Bob and I is that he and Mish have lived just down the street now for a year and a half. They've been able to pop in, with or without Harley, just to say hello or to see what snacks we had laying around the kitchen. (Usually not much!) They've been a great help to us in many ways. Okay, so I'm being a little selfish here. BUT...I know they need to make this move. And it will be good. I'm excited for them to start off somewhere fresh as a couple. This experience will grow their marriage. Twenty-nine years ago, Bob and I did the very same thing. Now the difference is, we never lived as a couple close to our parents. We graduated from college, got married two days later, went on a honeymoon, and then moved from New Jersey to Texas, where we have been ever since. It required a major adjustment for us, but with God's amazing help, we worked through it and have grown closer to Him and each other because of the experience. We didn't have family here to fall back on when things got tough, though they were just a phone call and plane ride away. Bob and I had to depend on each other...and after becoming Christians, on our Lord. So, I see this move for Steve and Mish as a good one. I will embrace it, because I love them both very much, and I want them to be seeking God's will. They both believe that this move is part of His divine plan. And...like I said...they'll only be a plane ride away! To an area of the country I have never seen before. So, let me check my calendar. :)

Well, I'm not through yet. Then there's the other couple, Pam and John. Talk about transitions! They are leaving the city they have loved, Austin, for another, San Antonio. John will start something new, law school. Pam is in search of another job. It will be "tough" in the sense that she is leaving a job she absolutely loves, and will probably be comparison shopping as we say. They are both leaving a church, and many friends that have become part of their lives over the years they have been in Austin. And John will be leaving a home in Driftwood, while his only sibling, his sister Beth, moves with husband and daughter to Oklahoma. Does it seem like everyone is moving?? But as I said with Steve and Mish, this move will be good for John and Pam in strengthening their marriage. They are moving to a new city where they will seek out a church as a couple. They will build a home, atleast for the next three years, in San Antonio. I'm excited for them also. Okay, can I say also that I'm glad they are still in Texas? For now. Only God knows where they will all be years from now. They may not be like their parents who have stayed put in one place for so long. Of course, Bob and I thought we'd only be in Texas for five years! Yeah.

Okay, bear with me. One more transition. How can I leave out Becca? She's at Pine Cove right now. One more week of camp. Haven't been able to talk at length with her about her experiences there, but hoping and praying for transformation. Praying that God is surrounding her with people who will confirm in her His truth. She is planning on studying abroad in Florence, Italy this fall. Still haven't got the passport yet, though we applied in February, but it should be coming soon. Hopefully in time for her student visa. Another transition. One we are hoping will produce growth and maturity in spirit. I suppose we should hope that for all of our life experiences.

So how do you handle the transitions in your life? Anyone have any verses that they'd like to share that help them through these changes?

The Right Response

Something I read this morning:
"I think that I can trace every scrap of sorrow in my life to simple unbelief. How could I be anything but quite happy if I believed always that all the past is forgiven, and all the present furnished with power, and all the future bright with hope because of the same abiding facts which do not change with my mood, do not stumble because I totter and stagger at the promise through unbelief, but stand firm and clear with their peaks of pearl cleaving the air of eternity, and the bases of their hills rooted unfathomable in the rock of God. Mont Blanc does not become a phantom or a mist because a climber grows dizzy on its side."

It's embarrassing to admit this, but my mood this week has been one of unbelief. I'm home from a great trip abroad with my husband. Now I've let my mood sink. Jet lag may have something to do with it. Waking up at 4:00 in the morning doesn't help, but really, I'm letting my acl injury steal my joy. The negative vibes are everywhere. I've started trying to rehab my knee, and it hurts. I feel broken, physically and emotionally. And this makes me mad. And scared. I'm afraid of what I need to do to "fix me." And then I remember...with a little help...

At the 5:00 service Sunday night, Dave suggested we read 2 Chronicles 20: 1-30. So I turned to that this morning after reading the above in a devotional. It was obvious to me that I had previously read this passage, as I had underlined and astericked the whole thing. The passage relates about Jehoshaphat, whose situation looked bleak. He and his people were faced with an attack by their enemies, who definitely outnumbered them. "Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord." (20:3) That was the right response. Jehoshaphat knew God. "O Lord, the God of our fathers, art thou not God in the heavens? And art thou not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in thy hand, so that no one can stand against thee. " (20:6) "Thy will hear and deliver us." (20:9) "O our God...we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; not do know what to do, but our eyes are on thee." (20:12)

And God said, "Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's." (20:15)

Wow.

And God said, "Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you."

Wow.

And how did Jehoshaphat respond? He fell down and worshipped the Lord. He praised Him in a very loud voice. And said, "Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting." (20:21) "And Jehoshaphat was at peace, for God gave him rest on all sides." (20:30)

Peace. Rest. These can be ours. These can be mine. Always. God has not changed because of my mood. His promises are everlasting. What will be my reponse to Him today? What will be yours?

Back in the States

I'm blogging from the Admiral's Club in the Raleigh-Durham airport. Bob and I are waiting for our flight to Dallas. The flight here from London wasn't bad at all. We were very lucky to get the bulkhead seats again for the extra leg room. But we're going to fly first class on the last leg to Dallas! Yeah, I'm excited. Bob upgraded, and technically, since his flight was the only flight we paid for (mine was on his miles), they usually only upgrade the paid ticket. But again...we lucked out. Yes!

Last night we stayed at the Hilton at Gatwick Airport. We were given a brand new room. It was lovely, and nice and quiet. But when we checked out, we gave them a list of things that needed to be fixed in the room. The bathroom sink leaked on the floor. Two lights needed new bulbs. The shower door didn't close properly. And the shower hose almost fell off the wall. Nice room, but...

So after flying six different legs on this trip, we'll be glad to climb into our own bed tonight. Traveling is great, but it's always nice to come home.

Stockholm

I think I may have a new favorite city. Just a few pictures of Stockholm, the capital of Scandinavia.

A typical cobblestone street in Gamla Stan, the Old Town, founded in the 13th century.

One of the pedestrian-only shopping streets going from Gamla Stan into the city centre.

At the Vasamuseet (Vasa Museum), the warship Vasa, built in 1628, was salvaged after 300 years in the Stockholm harbor. It sank on its maiden voyage in 1628. It was supposed to be the world's mightiest ship.

Just a view across the canal from our hotel. Sightseeing cruise ships are all over the harbor. This canal freezes over in the winter!! Rock solid! That's how cold it gets here.

The tower in the background is of one of the oldest churches. In it are the burial vaults of most of the Swedish monarchs.

Built in the late 1800's, these buildings house the Swedish government and Prime Minister's offices. Very typical of the style throughout the city.

The square that was the scene of the Stockholm Bloodbath in 1520. Some 80 people were beheaded here. (And we just had dinner at a restaurant there!) It was a major meeting place, with a well built in the center of the square in 1778.

There is much to see in this city. It's pretty clean and did not feel very crowded. Though expensive by U.S. standards, it appears to be cheaper than London. Most people speak English, and for the most part, have been very friendly. There are alot of tourists here, particularly Spanish and Italian. The weather was great today. Bob and I had to wear layers as the temperatures were in the 60's. The winds off the water can make it seem cooler.

Well, tomorrow will be our last day in Stockholm. We are going to try to do a bit more sightseeing before we leave for the airport to go back to London. We are thinking of taking a boat cruise around the canals. We'll see what the weather is like in the morning. Adjoo!

Swedish Fish Anyone?

Bob and I, along with his business associate Paul, took a flight on Ryan Air to Stockholm this morning. Ryan Air markets itself as the cheapest airline in Europe. Well, you get what you pay for. Yes, the fares are cheap, but you don't get much for the ticket price. The airport is not Frankfurt Main, but Frankfurt Hahn, an old U.S. air force base almost an hour outside the city. You can still see the old air force barracks and family housing. Not very pretty. Ryan Air charges you for your baggage. Any refreshments on board will cost you. There are no magazines; not even a holder for them behind the seats. You walk out to the plane to board it, even in the wettest weather. No seat assignments; first-come basis. Since I had the brace on my leg, I wanted to be able to pre-board. The older gentleman at the gate with the sour face said I couldn't because I didn't have a priority ticket. He even gave an elderly lady with a walker a hard time because she didn't have a priority ticket either. I waited until a young lady came to the gate, and then I asked again. Atleast she said I could board after the priority ticket holders, but before the rest of the passengers. This was the first airline that didn't let me pre-board because of my leg. The flight was fine otherwise. Did you know they can sell lottery tickets on the plane? And the money goes to charity? Yeah, no free food, but you can buy lottery tickets on Ryan Air. As we touched down on the runway in Stockholm, passengers started clapping. Odd. Isn't the pilot supposed to land the plane? Do they not usually do that with Ryan Air? Hmm.

Well my first impressions of Sweden is that it is a land of forests and lakes. At this time of year, it is very green. But apparently in the winter, it will look barren. It's cool here, literally. The winds are strong off the water and the air temps are in the 60's. People here think that's balmy though. Again, as in Germany, lots of bike riders. They have their own bike paths through the city. We are staying in Gamla Stan, the Old Town. It is filled with old buildings set along long, narrow cobblestone streets. Very picturesque. Across the street from our hotel is one of the many canals that make up Stockholm. In fact, Gamla Stan is an island connected to the city by bridges. Bob and I are hoping to do a little sightseeing tomorrow. I think we will take another bus tour since the walking may be too much for my leg. We can see a larger area by riding those double-decker buses. Bob had a business meeting today, so we just went out to eat when he got back to the hotel. We had really good gelato here. Seems many Italians have populated Stockholm and brought their own ethnc foods to the region. Many more people speak English here than in Germany. And that's soooo helpful!

Well, hopefully the weather will be nice tomorrow to get some photos of this beautiful city. I still can't believe I'm here.

Palace Smalace?

So today I got to visit the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich, the summer residence of the kings in the 1800's. It really has nothing to do with nymphs. It doesn't look all that spectacular from the outside, though it is rather large. But it has the usual Baroque ornate appearance on the inside. Complete with paintings and ceiling frescos of naked baby angels. Lots of portraits of the kings and their queens. One wing of the palace was the king's, while the opposite wing was the queen's. One of the rooms of the palace was particularly interesting. It contained about 50 or so portraits of women, women the king at the time thought were the most beautiful women he had ever seen. The same painter was commissioned to paint each of these women's portraits. The women were from all walks of life, ranging from a lowly shoemaker's daughter (I thought she seemed one of the most beautiful.) to the most aristocratic. I was able to hear some of the stories about a few in particular. Very interesting. One of the kings that lived in the palace during this time period was King Ludwig II. He was a very strange man. One of the largest and most elaborate castles in all of Germany, Neushweinstein, was built for him. This is the castle that was the model for the Disney World Magic Kingdom castle. Bob visited it many years before while on a business trip. Back in 1998, on my first trip to Europe, Bob and I were able to visit another of Ludwig's castles, Lindehof. Lots of gold and glitz everywhere. But this guy had a very disturbing life. Could that be why he never smiled in his portraits?

Just some other thoughts on Germany:
- the Germanic language is hard to understand when the language you've learned in school is a Romance language
- credit cards are NOT always accepted, so you'd better have euros handy
- the tram system (train) is great and seems so much more convenient for all ages. I saw lots of middle school/high school age kids use it and thought how smart that they don't have to have a car and pay car insurance! Wish we had this system in the US.
- EVERYONE rides bikes here. All ages. I saw women wearing long skirts riding bikes. And men and women in their 70's and up. And the bikes are not necessarily new or in great shape. People don't even lock them up. Wish we had this mindset in the US.
- Not every place is handicapped friendly. I had to climb alot of stairs with my brace. We were on the 4th floor (top) of our hotel in Munich. The elevator (lift) only went to the 3rd floor. We had to lug up the suitcases using the stairs to get to our room.
- A/C is non-existent, as is ice, period. Drinks come lukewarm. I am sooooo craving a Chik-fil-A sweet tea right now. I never drink Cokes at home, but I've had a few here because they've been somewhat cold in the glass bottle.
- the sun is up and bright at 5:00 in the morning. What's up with that?
- Lots of churches here, but pretty empty. Antje told me that the Catholic church automatically deducts 10% of your income is you are a member. Hmmm.
- The countryside is very green and lots of things grow here. Seems every town of decent size has their own brewery...or more. Hops grow on the hillsides as well as grapevines. Bob and I were told that the Germans don't consider beer as alcohol. They think of it as "liquid bread." Yeah, okay. Whatever.

I love traveling. I love seeing other parts of the world and learning about other cultures. I appreciate the similarities and the differences. But I love coming home. I love living in the U.S. and wish more people would appreciate the freedom and conveniences that we have in our country. I feel very blessed. I don't need a palace. I've got a home.

A Day at the Museum...in Munich

Today while Bob was working the laser show exhibition, I went into the City Centre of Munich with Antje, a friend of a business associate of Bob's. She's a great traveling partner as she is German and speaks English very well. We took the tram(above ground rail train) from right outside the hotel into the city. Our first stop was the Art Museum. It has been a long time since I visited an art museum, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself on this visit. With my headset on, I was able to hear commentaries on some of my most favorite impressionist paintings. My Art History class at Rutgers, one of my favorites, didn't fail me. Renoir, Monet, Manet, Cezanne...make note to self to tell Bob that we need to visit the Dallas Art Museum. After the museum, we took another tram into the Marienplatz, the main pedestrian shopping center in Old Town Munich. Even though it was just Monday, the area was very crowded. We ate at a little cafe just outside the Glockenspeil. We walked afterwards to an open-air market that is frequented by the locals. Here you can buy all kinds of foods and other items. Very interesting kinds of meat. Some I know I would never even try. Bob is more daring, so I'm sure he would. I have to say, the smells around the market were wonderful. If you like pork, you are in the right place. I think they use every part of the animal. Appetizing?

So now back at the hotel to take a little rest before the guys come back from the show. We'll go out to dinner at some point. I'm hoping to try a little Bavarian cuisine. Bavarian food is tasty, but a little on the heavy side. I'm sure it builds strong bones! Yeah, right.

Tomorrow Antje and I may head off to Nymphenburg Palace, just a tram ride away outside of Munich. Then we will meet up with the guys in late afternoon before heading by car to Weisbaden, about four hours away. Weisbaden is the home of Antje and Paul, Bob's Marlow associate. Bob and I will spend the night in a hotel there, and fly out Wednesday with Paul to Stockholm. Until then!

One Day in London

Well, we only had one day in London, so what to do on a Saturday in the city? We decided that since I couldn't walk very fast, taking a bus tour might be our best bet. There's a few bus companies that do the city tours. Two of the most popular are The Original Bus Tour and The Big Bus Tour. We decided on the latter one. You've seen these buses before. They are the double-decked red buses. Other big "tourist" cities have them. It really was a good choice for us. On our trip to London last June, Bob and I were able to see many of the big tourist sights. But to do that to that required alot of walking and really two full weekends in town. The bus tour gave us a chance to see alot of the city, some parts we hadn't gotten to on foot before, and it was most enjoyable not having to walk with the brace. The weather was a bit rainy in spots, so at those times, we just moved from the top deck to the covered bottom one. A ticket on these buses allows you to hop off and on all throughout the day. There were actually two long tours, the red one and the blue one. They overlapped a bit, but if you took both and didn't get off the buses, the whole tour took over 4 hours. We did hop off at one point to go into the Churchill Museum and War Rooms. That was a very interesting exhibit. The war rooms are located below the Treasury Building. This is where Churchill conducted business during World War II. There's also a wonderful interactive exhibit all about Churchill. Highly recommend it.

London seemed extremely crowded this trip. I don't know if it was because I felt I couldn't keep up with the crowds or what. But Bob agreed it was much more congested than last June. Well, then we found out that it was the Queen's 81st birthday, and there was a big parade and celebration that morning which brought a huge crowd into the Buckingham Palace area. Lots of important people besides the Queen were in attendance, including Prince William and Margaret Thatcher. The police were out all over the city. But I think London would be crowded anyway. Bob and I both decided that London has New York beat hands down in the shopping department. The bus tour brought us through shopping areas that we hadn't seen before and there is definitely more shopping here than in New York! And again, everything is very expensive. We went into a big department store called Selfridges. It's not quite as big as Harrods, but also not as pricey as Harrods. Some interesting facts about Harrods Department Store: it employs over 6,000 people! It has its own water and electric company! It has 11,000 lights on the front of its building which are illuminated every night, making for a very pretty sight. Yes, Harrods is quite an experience. Only people with a huge amount of shopping stamina should enter its doors. My big purchase of the day was actually at a Boots Pharmacy where I was able to find (on sale too!!) a face/wrinkle cream that you can't find in Target since it was on the news in the states. Target can't keep it on the shelves, and it's been out of stock for awhile. You can't even order it online. It's made by a British company called No.7. So I thought I should be able to find it over here. Yeah, that was my big purchase, but I am excited!

We ended our evening with dinner at an Indian restaurant back in the Notting Hill area of London. The next morning was an early one as we had to catch an 8:00 am flight to Munich. The alarm went off at 4:30. Not fun. Then when we got on the plane, they couldn't get the engines started (British Airways), so we had to sit for awhile. When they finally got the problem solved, we had missed our take-off slot, so we had to wait another hour. Things got better after that though. The flight was short (under two hours) and we got picked up by a business associate of Bob's. He invited us over to his home for a barbecue where we spent a lovely afternoon with great food and drinks. Now at nearly 11:00 at night, Bob is working on an"ops review" that needs to be into the office sometime tomorrow. The hotel is nice, but no A/C, and Munich is a bit warm tonight. Hopefully sleep will come soon. Aufviedersehn!

Pictures from Lindfield

Just some pictures from the quaint village of Lindfield in the UK.

The duck pond in the middle of the village. Very pretty old houses around the pond.

Typical style home in Lindfield. Beautiful gardens! This house actually had grass and flowers growing on the roof.

This house was called "The Old Place." It had an actual thatch roof. I think the sign said King Henry VII stayed here.

Looking from the pond into the village. The main street, High Street, was a major road back in medieval times.

This was our inn called "Limes", named for all the lime trees that lined High Street. The first floor is a bistro. Bob and I stayed in the room just above, overlooking the street. Just next door was the bakery, established 1796. It was a very popular place at all times of the day.

Well, we're in London right now. Just chillin' in our room. Will have just Saturday to see some sights. Then onto Munich. Till then...cheers!

Back in the UK

Bob and I left Dallas on Tuesday, flew nine hours, and arrived in London at 9:00 in the morning Wednesday. Having a brace on a leg affords you a few advantages when flying. I had a wheelchair from our car to the plane. We had bulkhead seats which gave me the extra leg room. The flight attendant used three serving trays to keep my leg elevated for the flight. Getting off the plane in the London airport, I was greeted by a gentleman who drives those passengers in the terminal that can't make the long walks. I sat next to a woman flying from Honolulu to Greece who had hurt her knee also, but opted not for surgery. She advised me to go for the surgery. Easier said than done. Bob and I were picked up at the airport by the manager of the UK office, Tim. Driving was nice, but have you seen the cars in Europe? They're half the size of U.S. cars. Getting in and out with the brace is a trick, but one I'm perfecting.

We are staying the first two nights in a lovely, quaint village called Lindfield. It was founded in the 1300's as a medieval market village. Our inn is actually just 4 rooms above a bistro. The place is owned by a young couple. The outside of the inn is old, like the town, but the inside is very modern. The main street through the village is called High Street. On both sides of the street are buildings from the 1700's mostly. It appears that every house is named "____House" or "______Cottage." They seem to all have beautiful gardens. Everything grows here. Flowers grow even through rocks. While Bob was in the office today, I took a walk through the town. There's a pond in the middle of the town, and it is home to lots of ducks, including a mother duck and her five ducklings the size of my palm. There were two women sitting at the edge of the pond, sketch pads in hand. They were a picture themselves.

People here walk alot. They buy their "daily provisions" at the local store, which is very, very tiny compared to Tom Thumb. The village has its own butcher shop, complete with sausage hanging up in the window. Next door to our inn is a wonderful bakery that has been in existence since 1726. There was a line of people out its door this morning. Air-conditioning is rather non-existent here. Windows remain open, and there are no screens on the windows. Lace curtains in the windows are everywhere, and people seem to try to keep the original look to the homes. Not much remodeling, or refronting as they say, to the outsides of the structures. It makes for one very pretty village. Apparently Charles Dickens used to frequent this town.

I had the real English fish and chips today for lunch. Here in the UK they give you the whole fish, battered of course. I wasn't expecting that, so something new. I didn't have fish and chips the last time we were here, so I made it a point to order it this trip. I think once was enough for me.

Bob and I leave for London Friday evening. We'll be there until Sunday morning when we take a flight to Munich. We are hoping to be able to see Robyn Eubanks, who used to live in FM and now is a missionary in Germany.

So that's that from the UK. Oh, it's nice and cool here right now. Enjoying the change!

Well, here we go!

So the bad news first: (that's what I usually ask for when someone asks, "Do you want to hear the good news first, or the bad news?" I tore my ACL. Yeah, pretty good. I saw the MRI and it's just a floppin'. My MCL is partially torn. Everything else looked fine. The orthopedic is pretty conservative. He told me he would do nothing for atleast three or four weeks. Then it's my decision about having surgery or not. He said many people can live without a working acl. I told him I like to dance. He said then I'd probably need the surgery. So right now, it looks like I will probably be scheduling surgery in August after planned vacations. I'll be back with PT for a few months. The brace will be my partner for awhile. Oh well... Okay, so in my last blog I said I was NOT going to Europe with Bob. Well, we are both leaving tomorrow. Yes, I decided that if the orthopedic said it was a go, I was going with Bob. We had planned this trip as a couple, and brace or no brace, I'm in. It took a little convincing from a bunch of different people (and some prayer!), so now I'm packing. We shortened the original trip a few days, thinking that I would be a bit more tired. My knee aches some and if I'm not careful how I walk, a sharp pain reminds me. But I've got my meds, ipod, and sudoku book, so I'm ready for the plane. Bob even bought me one of those cushy neck pillows. I'm going with no expectations and no agenda basically. It's kind of nice. We know we won't be doing the major sightseeing we did last June, but that's just fine with us. We will be moving around a bit because of business, which makes me somewhat nervous. Bob got us the good seats on the plane because of my knee. And we are flying alot, to London, to Munich, to Stockholm, then back to London. I'm just excited about spending this time with Bob. I'd rather be hobbling around in Europe with him, than sitting home in muggy Texas without him. So off we go. I'll keep you posted.

Accidents (@#$%) Happen

Yeah, my summer plans have taken an interesting turn. Now I've been told by my daughters that when I use the word "interesting" it's usually in a negative manner. You might say that's true in this situation.
Monday morning I felt very industrious. I decided to go over to my new room at Valley Ridge and try to do some organizing before August rolled around. You see, this summer we get two extra weeks because the state decided to make a mandatory start date of August 28th. I wanted to use every bit of my August doing something fun, and that didn't include setting up a new classroom. Since Bob was in Mexico this week, I thought it would be a good time to jump start the new room. Now I consider myself a hard worker, but I'm not necessarily the most careful. I sort of go at things like a bull. And I don't like to procrastinate. Oh, and did I say I'm not very patient? Anyway...it took a little skill to put up some wall decorations, well, actually a word wall, in my class. It required that I use a chair, one shelf and then a 4 foot high bookshelf to reach the wall. Are you getting the picture here? Yeah. Well, all was going well until I made a huge mistake. I stepped back, expecting to step on a chair only a short step away, when actually, it was alot of space away. I had forgotten to step down onto another level before the chair. Yeah. Not a pretty sight falling through the air, over the chair, and onto the floor. Even better yet, when I knew immediately I couldn't stand up. I crawled out of my classroom to the hall, which was empty since I was the only teacher crazy enough to be there working. There were, however, construction workers lurking about because of our new wing in process. When I didn't see anyone, I called out "hello?" A man peered around the corner and I yelled "Would you please go the office and get my principal. I fell and I think I broke my leg." He went quickly and my principal came with wheelchair and another teacher right behind her. I called Mish, my darling daughter-in-law, who ran out the door and into the car, with Aleve in hand. In the meantime, I called the Riskey house and got Dan on the phone, asking him about Baylor Grapevine ER, knowing Donna had been there before. We don't go to Lewisville if we can help it. Since my stress level was naturally a bit elevated, I closed my conversation with Dan with "love you, bye!" I got off the phone and my principal asked, "Was that your husband?" I immediately replied, "OH NO! I just said "love you, bye" to my friend's husband!!" We all had a good laugh as I got into the wheelchair.
Mish came quickly and whisked me off to the ER, fighting bumper-to-bumper traffic on 121 and 114. She put the hazard lights on and drove most of the way on the shoulder of the road. Playing classical music, she hoped to calm both of us as the rain poured down in the traffic. At Baylor, x-rays showed no broken bones, so with knee stabilizer on and crutches, and prescriptions in hand, we left the ER. As we were driving out, Dan and Donna were driving in. Dan was so hoping to come into the ER and be asked if he was my husband, to which he wanted very much to say "No, I'm her lover." He couldn't wait to see the reactions of both the nurse and myself. Very funny guy!! That's why I love him...AND Donna!! But not in THAT way.
Now, all of this would be just an interesting way to start the summer, except that...I was scheduled to travel with Bob to Europe on a business trip on Monday. Yeah. Not likely to happen. I went to the orthopedic today and will get an MRI tomorrow. Most likely an MCL, but not ruling out torn cartilage, so says the ortho doctor. But this monster of a leg brace if not very condusive to sightseeing around not-so-handicapped-friendly Europe. So it looks like Bob will be traveling alone again.
Good things will happen again. I've been blessed to have an absolutely wonderful daughter-in-law in Mish who has been working like a dog these past few days helping me. She will make a wonderful mother. I have the best friend in Donna who cooked us a great meal last night. What a blessing we kept saying as Mish and I ate it together. I have a awesome daughter in Pam who got someone to take her workshift so that she could come in a day early on Thursday night to help out. And I have a husband who I know will do what he can so that a trip like this will happen again. He cares for me and wants to share life with me. And right now, I'm so very glad that he is the kind of man who wants to serve the Lord by giving his time on a mission trip. He left not feeling very well, but I'm praying that he's a bit more careful than me!