Putting in the Hours

What's kept me busy lately?

Sorry it's not well lit, it was late when I finished so it was dark. 

It's a map of the world -- not to scale.  Hawaii and Solomon Islands were right next to each other, and Australia was pretty close to Machu Picchu.  But it was a fun puzzle. 

Aside from the puzzle, just the usual, running and working, some travel.  The best part was last week working in Miami -- beats the usual Philly trip by miles! 

The Miami trip was weird.  It didn't go well work-wise, but at the same time, we left the door open, so maybe in the next week or two, we'll get it done.  But the extra fun aspect was that my husband's cousin and boyfriend also happened to be in Miami so I got to go out for drinks with them.  I felt mildly guilty because my boss was Miami-bound and had a horrible trip (flight posting a 4 hour delay, then cancelling, getting rebooked on a flight that posted a 3 hour delay (bad weather in Dallas), that had him landing around 2 am, getting to our hotel at 3 a.m.).  Needless to say, he wasn't exactly on time to meet me in the lobby to go meet defense counsel for breakfast!  He was so grouchy all day, I felt bad that I'd had such a fun night.

But running there was kind of sucky.  It was flat, but the temp was in the mid 70s at 5:30 a.m.!  Dallas has been up and down lately, typical February for us.  Run cancelled on two weeks ago due to a winter weather advisory, our group Tuesday run was around freezing (for me, that means tights and two long sleeves!), then the Thursday run was 66 degrees with 85% humidity, so shorts and a tank.  But going up the extra 10 degrees in Miami hurt, I felt like I was sucking wind!  But it was so pretty to get to run along the water. 

Views from the run:  City Hall, and along the water. 

The Miami skyline on my way home. 

We drove past this road, named long before the school shooting (which was the reason for the lowered flag at City Hall).  When we drove past the street sign, we asked about it, and defense counsel told us about Marjory Stoneman Douglas, whose claim to fame is largely for her work for the environment, getting the Everglades protected (the "river of grass"), but who also championed lots of other important causes. 

One cool part of my room was a full-sized fridge!  I bought beet juice for breakfast.

And I had a legit suite.  Separate bedroom, full kitchen, living/dining area, porch with seating for two.  Kind of fun, if I hadn't been gone working, running, or hanging out with my husband's cousin all the time I was there...

2018 Joy

It might have been just me, but growing up, my folks put a lot of restrictions on soda and TV.  We basically got soda once a week as I recall, and we could watch TV on Saturday mornings and most days after school, but we couldn't watch PG13 or R movies and we couldn't watch TV late at night.  In fact, we couldn't stay up late -- I remember getting caught reading in bed by flashlight so many times and getting in trouble (and then later, when I got to high school, getting caught on the phone after bedtime). 


So of course if I was at a friend's house, I would suck down gallons of soda, watch Nightmare on Elm Street, and stay up as late as I could. 

I feel like I'm perpetually at a friend's house now that it's 2018.  I know I posted about this before, but I am so DUCKING HAPPY not to have to check my voicemail every day I'm in the office anymore!  That was seriously a painful resolution.  It's now Friday morning, I'm sitting on a conference call, and my voicemail light has been on since Monday at 10:35 -- and best of all, I have no idea who the message is from!


I know, I know, I actually really do need to check it.  It's kind of part of my job.  But I feel like I'm rebelling.  Maybe I'll give myself through the month of January to recover from my 2018 resolution, and then I'll try to get back in the habit of not letting it sit for more than 2-3 days? 

Of a Certain Age

Things have been hectic.  Over 10 days for me in three separate cities, not a single night at home, a total of 6 flights (there was a connection).  Yow. 


But several things in particular were amusing at my father in law's funeral.  A few moments of levity.  Recording here to remember. 


By way of background, my mother-in-law came to the visitation but not the funeral.  She was fine at the visitation, totally not comprehending what was going on or why we were there.  She seemed to recognize him in the casket, but she didn't really have any emotion.  She also recognized everyone else -- her twin sister, her sons, their wives, her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren.  Her sister pushed her around and she accepted condolences. 


At the visitation, one of my husband's high school friends came up to my mother-in-law and re-introduced himself since it had been 30+ years... "Mrs. X, I'm Rich."  She said "Good for you!" 


Next up, someone was saying that it was nice that Louis (Lewis?) from the nursing home had accompanied her to the visitation.  She said, "he'd be a pretty nice guy if he were white."  Louis was standing right there!  As were the only 3 children in attendance, one of whom asked his dad what that meant. 


Finally, after the second visitation, my husband's nephew was leaving the funeral home with his kids, and his middle son (age 7ish?) said, "That was fun! I had a good time!"  Makes sense -- he was floating around talking to tons of people (very social) and everyone was happy to see him.  That gave everyone a hearty laugh. 


Guess all of those things can only be funny if you're over 80 or under 8? 


I have a feeling all of those things would have made my father-in-law smile.  It was nice to say goodbye to him.  In many ways, I give him credit for bringing my sweet husband into my world -- my husband learned Italian from his father, and I met him in an Italian conversation group.  I hope he's at peace.