Great News, Good News Twice Over, Sad, Sad, Sad News, and a BIG WHY

OK we will start with the GREAT news that we just found out about tonight.  The financing for the young family who is buying our house did get approved.  Closing date is scheduled for Friday, 17th, tomorrow we will see if everything is ready by the bank for that date to proceed or not.  If not, early next week will be the closing, and the end to that part of our life.

Good news is that we made it to Holiday, Florida, 900+ miles, without any food spoilage, without any problems, and with a good nights sleep in Dothan Alabama at yes, another La Quinta.  Another reason to like La Quinta....with a La Quinta Card, you earn points....we have stayed at so many La Quintas lately that last nights stay was a whole $15 plus $1.50 in taxes.  And we still have points coming in from our last stay in Little Rock.  Sweet!  Of course, some of us can remember when Motel 6 was only $6, a bit more if you wanted a better room that included toilet paper (just a joke there....about the toilet paper, not the price....)

Other Good News, they have made some progress with the Motor Home.  Found a broken wire, found a better place to wire into to replace that wire, but still unsure if it all will work once the new wire is run, and unsure if more things got broken than that which did brake while they diagnosed the problem.  Told the guy that we were on our way to Wednesday night church and that we would pray for the motor home and all the workers at Cummins....he said thanks.  Bad news, we forgot about the baptisms they were doing at the beach, so when we got to church no one was there.  So we enjoyed our Chic-fil-A and headed home.

Now for the Sad, Sad, Sad News.  Being home in the Condo means that my little Skruffy cannot be with me.  Condo HOA rules don't allow it.  I know she is in good hands over at Marcia's brothers house....and I know I am in GREAT hands myself with Marcia, but I think both of us are going to have some big time separation anxiety.  Skruffy came into my life 3 1/2 years ago....a rescue saved from the dangerous streets of Pine Bluff, Arkansas.  (In 2009, Pine Bluff was ranked by Morgan Quitno Press as the most dangerous metropolitan area in the U.S. and included on the Forbes list of America's ten most impoverished cities. -- source: Wikipedia)  She immediately latched onto me, and we have not been apart very often since then.  She went to the Library (I was a Library Director) just about every day.  We went on trips together where she would stay in a doggie day care while I attended meetings.  She welcomed Marcia and Bubba into our home back in 2011 with open arms, err, paws.  The good thing for her, she is in a house with three other dogs and two cats, three adults and two kids.  And they are only ten minutes away, and I plan to see her every day.  But there is no doubt that both Marcia and I will miss not only little Skruffy, but Bubba too.  Speaking of which, Bubba's leg is much better, the daily medicine we got from Pet Smart really helps his joints working.

With that....I just have to share one of my favorite pictures of Skruffy....ya gotta love that look...

Now for the WHYs in life.....

Monday night Marcia and I were just headed over to the Chili's Restaurant near the motel we were at, and my daughter Stephanie calls.  She is in Little Rock, not too far away, and I invite her to come eat with us...which she does.  Since she is headed to Utah in a few days, she asked that I look over her car, which I do.  All looked good, except for the need for window washer and her spare mini tire needed air.  She drives off and we head to the motel.  Shortly after I get settled in at the motel, there is a call from her...she got in a wreck on the freeway....and the words that a daddy cannot ignore...."can you come down here???"   "Of course, will be right there...what exit are you near....you sure you are ok....." and out the door I go.   Bottom line....guy stops in front of a pickup, which rams into that car, and she hits the back of the pickup but keeps the guy behind her from hitting her by not slamming on her breaks all the way.  No one is hurt.  She gets a ticket.  Her car is totaled.   She does not carry collision since the car has over 200k miles on it.

We don't know WHY tragic things happen to people...they are just part of life.  You travel down a highway, your motor home goes dark, and everything is in an upheaval.  Or like her, you are just traveling home after a nice get-together with dad, and BAM, your life changes.  Oh, it could have been way worse, and we all know that.  We are all thankful that Marcia and I were just traveling a small business freeway, and not stuck out in the middle of a rush-hour freeway, or headed down a 9% grade.  We all know that there are many traffic accidents which end up in injury, even death.  But here my little daughter, who I love way more than I love my dog....but don't let Skruffy know that, just wrecked her car.  She has been working two jobs for many months now trying to get back on her feet so that she can return to her 5th+ year of college.  She has two jobs lined up in Utah, she HAS to have a car to get to the jobs.  And her car has just been totaled.....   The good news is that she has cousin who is going to let her live with her and her family for awhile.  She has a friend who has an extra "beat-up car" that she can drive until she can earn just a bit more money to buy another car.  But she asked me WHY.....and I just don't have an answer other than to say that the Lord has blessed her in so many ways, and that trials are a part of life....and trials last an entire lifetime....you just have to make the best of it, try not to let it get you down, and if you are lucky, you have family there to help, and if you believe, than you KNOW that you have HIM carrying you along.  I am just glad that she knows that....and that she was not hurt....and that I was able to be there for her in her time of need.

Love Ya Girl!

Little Rock Bust, now back to our condo without our home

Sunday we drove from Fayetteville to Little Rock.  Next to the La Quinta is a Hooters, and Marcia twisted my arm very, very hard and made me go over there and get a "to go order" for us to eat in the room.  After doing the online ordering (oh no!  Hooters now has my email address), I go over there 20 minutes later.  Now many of you know that I was in the Restaurant business from the age of 16 to 31 years of age.  Mothers Day is like "THE BIGGEST DAY OF THE YEAR".  But not at Hooters.  I walk in and see about 10 skimpy girls in orange shirts so tight that I wonder if they are able to breath....and about 50 guys sitting around the bar, at tables...not a female customer in sight.  As the bar girl (lack of any other word comes to mind) gets my order together, a very young "Hooter Girl" comes up behind me waiting to talk to the Bar Girl.  I say to her, "I'll bet Fathers Day is much busier than Mothers Day at a Hooters, huh?"  This young thing looks up at me, smiles a bit, and says, "Gee, I'm new here, I don't have any idea....."  I decide to end the conversation at that, and get the food and leave, giving the place one good look over again.  (This is my second time to a Hooters, never stepping foot into the place until I married Marcia, who FORCED me to go the first time, and then again on Mothers Day....)   :)

Now this is where it gets funny.....  As I walk over to the car, I spot this man, with a young child in his arms, another toddler walking next to "dad", another child, the oldest I'll bet, following them, and then there she is....the mother....walking a good 8 steps behind them all...with her arms swinging like she is very upset....no smile...a big, and I mean very big, frown.   She gets to the door after all the others have gone in, she swings the door open hard and wide, and enters....

Hmmm....make note to myself.....gotta be sure to teach my kids to NEVER pick HOOTERS as the place to take mom (or their children's mother whenever that might take place) for Mothers Day.

Monday I go over to the Cummins place, and it does not go well.  They have to order some parts for a some things that they busted while checking out the motor home.  I go back to the La Quinta and tell Marcia...she and I both feel like that lady entering Hooters the evening before...

We talk about things Monday night, wake up Tuesday and decide that we need to go back to Florida for both of our sanity, especially Marcia's.  A person with MS does not need stress...and this has been very stressful for her.  We go to a Krogers and buy some dry ice, and then to Walmart to get three $5 ice chests, and over to Cummins where I empty out the fridge and freezer, dumping just a small amount of stuff (left overs) in the trash, and get some more clothing and some odds and ends, and off to Florida we go.  Tonight we are at a La Quinta in Dothan Alabama, a 570 mile trip with a late start of 11 am by the time I got everything crammed into the HHR. 

I tell the guy at Cummins that once they get it fixed, that I would like them to hold onto it for a couple of days giving it a couple of 10 minute rides each day just to be sure it works...he agrees.  After we are confident that it is fixed, I will come back with the HHR and bring it back to Florida where we are going to regroup and think things out....we currently and contemplating stepping down to a Class C.  I have lost all confidence in driving a Class A that at any moment can loose all power, leaving me driving with no power steering, no way to down shift, and just breaks to stop us.  Imagine doing that on I-80 coming down from Donner Summit?  Or on I-70 coming into Denver from the Rockies.  Oh, the list is endless.....I just don't want to think about it.   We love our American Eagle, it has been a great home for 18 months.  But we both have lost confidence in driving it, especially in a mountainous area....So it is going to be an interesting couple of months ahead of us.