When you're a Jet, You're a Jet all the Way.

When I last posted I was on my way to Nevada under whirlwind circumstances. I have since returned home, returned to work,  dealt with some iron deficiency, learned Willow had gotten a mild concussion, drove to CT and back to visit a friend and have returned once more to work.  This year is just flying by at an extraordinary clip.

Even so, I have found a few minutes, here and there, to squander away at the keyboard and record these moments with a bit more depth. Unfortunately, I didn't take a whole lot of pictures seeing as I was busy spending my time in the moment rather than observing the moments.  And , this trip, my picture taking was motivated by unique reasons. A coworker at work has never been on a plane and has never really travelled anywhere other than in our immediate geography and she asked me to capture some things for her. 

The three flights to Nevada were uneventful, however, 6 am to midnight makes for a long day. 

Mom and Daddy Dan picked me up and a few short hours after landing the snow began to fall.  13 inches of it.  

The following days were filled with visits with my grandfather. How amazing is it to have him alive and kicking at 92. Despite a body that is beginning to fold in on itself, his mind is super sharp and he spends his days reading and painting. His world may be small but he is filling it beautifully. 

Mom and I did lots of art. She has just started playing with Acrylic Fluid pours. They were fun and I might just start playing with it myself. But first I need to finish up my incomplete "Angels" and get them homed.  When we were not painting, we were watching the new version of west side story and compared it to the original. Or we were chatting as we ran errands.  We also did the obligatory thrift shopping and had lunch with my Auntie.  

During the mornings and evenings, I would take strolls around the neighborhood and revel in the mountains. The high desert peaks ring the valley and form the walls of "Home",  I shivered in delight as I drank in what views I could while inhaling the clear crystal cold breeze. 

While there, I was also able to get in some good visit time with a handful of dear friends and dear family. I spent an afternoon, drinking tea and chatting with my childhood friend Terri who turned 50 that week.  Towards the end of my stay, Terri and I were able to enjoy some sushi with Sid, another of our childhood friends. It is wonderful to be able to pick right back up with these dear people.

I got to visit with Vince.  I was super glad to see him alive and just turned 51. A week after our last visit (at our HS reunion) He went into the dr for some shoulder pain (to be expected after a life of solid manual labor) which turned out to be the only discernable symptom he had of some brain tumor.  It was estimated that he would not have survived another 3 days had he not gone when he did.  What time we have is precious. 

I enjoyed a fabulous dinner with my cousin Josh and some of his family.  Time with Joshy always includes a fancy display of arms,  discussion of gardens and prepping, not to mention the general catching up. Its nice to see where he is at in life and spend time with his lovely wife. 

I also made it out to my other cousin, Kaleb's, before being dropped off for my flight home. We wondered around Midtown. Strolling the residential streets and admiring the cottages.    We also enjoyed an imaginative movie called 3000 years of longing. And that effectively brought my trip to an end. Kaleb dropped me off at the airport where I spent the night in a state of waking dream and people watching before boarding my first flight in the long series that would bring me home. 

And what news was waiting for me when I arrived? Well, to start, the news that greeted me on my journey was that Willow had taken a job as a caretaker for a ladies 3 children (one of which is Autistic). Returning home, I learned that the oldest of the children, who was 9, had begun banging his head against the wall very aggressively. She became concerned as the wall was starting to chip and so she stuck her hand in between the child's head and the wall to provide a buffer. This infuriated the child who then grabbed her by the hair, knocked her to the ground and then proceeded to beat her head in. She wound up with a minor concussion. She believes that this was more of a PTSD reaction than an Autistic reaction. Here we are a week later and she is still struggling against the resulting headache.  Needless to say, she is not going back.

I returned to work and life was basically back to normal. But it wasn't. Perimenopause has left me with a somewhat Sanguine impression about the change of life. I started my "monthlies" in the middle of December (Before Christmas!) and, with the exceptions of  2 brief spotty "lulls", they have been carrying on continuously since. By Thursday, after 8 or so weeks, I had reached a point of exhaustion and iron deficiency. My Doctor got me established on hormones and iron supplements and I spent Friday doing nothing but sleeping. The supplements appear to be bringing my system back into a state of equilibrium.  My hemorrhaging is tapering off in a way that seems natural to my typical functioning.   A couple more days should bring it to an end. Knock on wood. Well, maybe not on wood. Im afraid I have been avoiding it considering the situation. 

Greg had to work Saturday and Sunday. There was some Maintenace work involving a crane and, as a safety requirement, he is expected to be there.  I took Saturday and drove down to Connecticut to visit with another old friend from High School (Boy did my old friends disperse all over the world. Some found there way back home but for quite a few took to the wind and found other places to grow roots. One thing that is evident, after all my visits this month, is that the rather harsh climate we grew up in has made us all resilient and hardy. Anyway, Aimee and I had a massage, enjoyed a steam sauna and had traditional Peruvian cuisine in a repurposed McDonalds Building. 

And that about brings us right back to the present moment where life has returned to the "go to work, return home" routine. There is not much to speak to in those arenas. Salt cave has been put off a few times due to life circumstances for both Wendy and I.  We are aiming to go again next week. 

This weekend, Greg will be working again and I will be doing taxes. Yuck. I guess it can't all be play.