State side short stay

In December my grandmaw took a turn for the worse and her heart started really giving her some issues.  Near the end of the month she passed away.  I called my contact here in china to make sure that I could go, but however it was more of me telling versus asking.

Anyway, in my haste I bought a plane ticket, then called my dad and opps they decided to post pone the funeral a couple weeks because of cremation, so I changed the flight.  Yup that was a costly mistake.

But work was a little happier because the other american was gone mid dec-mid jan so they were only really messed up for 2 weeks instead of 4.  Not that I really cared, it’s my grandmother and I’m going no matter what.

Luckily for me the company has it in the contract that they do pay for a round trip america visit once during my year contract.  I was hoping to use it more around the time of this blog posting but hey you have to roll with life.  And now that I’ve delayed writing this post for so long, I can end the post with some extra cool news.

Back to the sadness.  I fly into Detroit to catch a flight to Houston, however, a huge winter storm rolled into the east and central states.  One hour delay to 10pm turned into midnight turned into 130am. I went up to the counter and was like so what time do you just cancel the flight due to pilot sleep requirements…30 minutes later it was fully canceled and luckily I got a voucher for a hotel and a meal.

Went downstairs to get the hotel bus but because so many people were going to hotels it would be close to 45 minutes wait, plus the trip is 45 minutes plus waiting to get checked in with all those ahead of me, settle into bed, get up and take the 45 minute snow/ice road back to airport to catch the over-packed flights from all those that got canceled and factor in it was in the (-negatives) …i decided I would get more sleep and less stress by sleeping in the airport (I had first flight out to houston).

Sister-in-law and the best nieces I know of picked me up and off we went to my parents. Then to MS where my grandparents lived for most of my life.

I was gathering stories about my gmaw’s life for about a week because I was giving the official eulogy.  Let me back track for a minute.  She was in/out of the hospital for about 2 months and then one day she had a real heart attack.  It was pretty bad and we didn’t think she would make it.

God put it on my heart to write her a “what you mean to me, your legacy, memories we shared” type of letter and then I decided I will record it.

At the funeral/memorial, a few people went up and shared some really great stories and a cousin sang and the eulogy was given.  I almost made it through without choking all up, but that didn’t happen once mentioning real family members and legacy.  That’s okay, it’s a memorial service.

Great slideshow of gmaw was showing in the lobby and got to see pictures of her that I never seen before.  Plus, being in the south, we had a great spread of food and were able to see family that we haven’t seen in 20 years.  Spread her ashes near Pop and Dale’s memorial wall and headed to dinner.

To quote my mom, “turn the page”… I have like 3 weeks in the states.  My best friend leaves for a long vacation a week after I get home and I got to go see him.  And I want to go to Colorado to revisit all my friends I made over the past 6 years and that’s coming up in like 5 days.  So, although I would have liked to have spent the first week with family, then BFF, then CO, then last week in LA again… it didn’t quite work out that way.  Needless to say, I left the post funeral dinner a little early and drove to Alabama.  Took two naps, drank some coffee and ate sunflower seeds.. But hey I made it and I even got to listen to the last quarter of the Saints game and see the last 2 minutes at my buds house.

I think we all have that friend that we never get to see enough, but can talk on the phone all the time with and when together you can just relax and regardless of what you end up doing, it was fun.  Bike ride, bbq, driving around, seeing a minor surgery, touring the facilities of his work, chatting with the wife, and just plain enjoying each others company and catching up.

Because I drove up there instead of meeting ½ way, I was able to spend another day  with him before leaving (oh and I got Christmas gifts yippie).  Well now its off to Louisiana and visit two of my good buddies in Baton Rouge.  Always good catching up with those guys.  One has kids so its fun to see how much his life changed and how he is handling it all.

This guy came visit me in CO just a few months prior to attend a review class for a big test, and he passed it.  I don’t know how you take classes, study and have 2 young children, but he did it and I’m proud of him.

The other friend is always up to something new tech wise and has an amazing wife.  Always fun to get the low down on what he has in the fire.  It’s a secret but I think he has some ideas that will be quite profitable.   He is one of those friends that, we don’t need to talk every week or even every month, but when we do, it’s like old times and the catch up and all that is a blast.

Colorado was a whirl wind  of visits.  A HUGE THANK YOU to my dear friends in Old Arvada.  They hooked my up with not only a place to sleep (when they weren’t even in the state for ½ the time) but also saved me a bunch of money by letting me borrow their car. Who does that? They do!

Great times catching up over a few pints and “bar hoping” at noon LOL.  Everyday was 2-3 events hanging with friends.  Got this cool dog picture at one house.  Did a house warming party and was blessed to meet a bunch of easy going, fun, professional and hilarious Christian women.  Note to self, find out how to meet more professional ladies when I return.

Two people teamed up and hosted a biz party and I was also able to spend a bunch of time at a breakfast with 2 of my favorite people in all of Westminster.

The boss sent me home with a copious amount of tea.  Some of it was already aged by 7 years and they told me it’s like wine… the older it is the more expensive it becomes… I’m talking 10,000 dollars expensive in 25 years…and its all that premo quality Pu’er tea.

Back in Louisiana I spent a lot of time walking, since i got real used to it.  Ate a ton of food  too.  One afternoon, mom and I ate at a lunch joint and i noticed that the couple across from us were talking in a strange language and looking at a USA tour book.  Struck up a quick conversation because I was like of all the USA and of all the South, how did you end up in my little town.  I believe they were from Swiz and were kind of doing a I-10 road trip from Houston to Florida.  I think they have good taste, the south is underrated in my opinion.

To wrap up this amazing blog , NO seriously fantastic blog, I will now summarize the past 3 months.  Jan was spent all but 6 days in the states.  Feb  had about 7 days of spring festival and so no real work (even though as written previously i kind of worked but mostly ate 2 big long meals a day), then got pneumonia and so just had to show up for work for about 4 days, I adjusted patients about 10-12 days in Feb and the rest of the month I was just hanging around because the hospital was trying to get a certification, then Feb 26 until as of 4/1/14 I am still off work (took a 15 day 6 city vacation) as they finish that.  I’m getting paid so that’s okay with me.

Oh, and before April 23rd I have to leave the country to renew my visa and I hope to go to Phuket, Thailand…if not then perhaps I will do Hong Kong and potentially check out Disney.

That is all.