Month: December 2010

Hubby and I locked up the house for Christmas.

That’s right, I left the rotting Thanksgiving pumpkins on the porch, not a Christmas light or wreath was to be seen from the Schichtel household. We got the heck out of Dodge.

Well, I had one Christmas decoration, a pink and white amaryllis. But it hadn’t bloomed and as we left I figured I would miss our amaryllis blossom this year.

Shooba…..but we do have rotting pumpkins in the front

We spent Christmas with hubby’s mom. It was a restful, quiet, uneventful, chilly, white Christmas in Virginia.

Perfect.

Our trip home was a little stressful. The east coast is under a blanket of snow and the earliest seat available to Denver is Thursday. People have become a bit nasty, sad and angry that they might not be home until Thursday.

And I can’t say that I blame them

I have never been so grateful for a confirmed seat and then… first class upgrade! I felt a little bourgeois boarding the plane early, enjoying a glass of wine and a warm cookie in seat 5B.

Two year ago this time, we huddled in the back of the plane with Samantha as we returned from Hubby’s dads funeral and ate sandwiches Hubby’s mom had packed in a hurry.

The movement from one type of life to another is quite overwhelming.

We got home tonight, opened mail and packages delivered while we were gone. As I opened a Christmas card, I noticed our holiday amaryllis on the table, two perfect pink and white blooms with two more one the way. The subtle pink bloom against the green stalk is fabulous, perfect.

Pink and green, Lil’ Miss’ colors, it waited until we got home to bloom.

It was a lovely welcome home present. Perhaps we were missed. I might just have to get rid of the pumpkins.

Hello Christmas,

I have decided that I will embrace you. This decision did not come easy. Easy would be to grumble in my hole, easy would be a grandiose pity party.

It is tempting.

But the Christmas spirit, the sense of what is important has shone through, bright as that star we see Christmas night.

Darn you Christmas spirit.

Darn you.

I have been embraced by stories of others’ hardship….stories of sickness and sadness and stories of moving on but never forgetting. I love the people you are. My gift this year is you and the raw, true emotion you have shared with me the last week.

Thank you.

Our ability to feel, to show compassion and empathy make us more human than any other trait.

This is my humble opinion.

Hubby and I celebrated Christmas yesterday, just the two of us. He gave me a ruby and diamond encrusted pendant. I pulled it out and started crying.

“The ruby is Samantha’s birthstone,” I said.

“It’s Jack’s too,” he said.

A friend of ours commented this summer, “When you two talk about your kids, it’s like they are here. You both talk about them so openly and let each other share.”

Thank you hubby for being a hubby who celebrates our family, no matter where they might be.

And thank you for the necklace. Bobbles are always lovely.

And the best present, last night I dreamt about Samantha for the first time. She was lying on the floor and I was tickling her belly. Her skin felt so soft and that cherub belly was magnificent. She would bring her hands together, tuck her chin in and smile as I tickled her. I kept thinking, Well you’re not sick, you’re not sick at all.

I have held onto that dream all day.

So darn you Christmas. Darn you for giving me a strong-as-steel support group, a hubby who embraces our family (and gives me diamonds) and for giving me the best present, a sleepy, lovely, memory of our girl. Come by and visit anytime Miss.

I am at peace, perhaps even a little grateful.

Darn it.

Today I found myself in Tulsa catching a flight for Denver and yet again facing the body scanner.

I thought I was a Pro by now. I stepped into my little pod, put my hands above my head and waited while they checked out anything and everything that could be on my person.

“Step to the side please ma’am,” TSA said, which I quietly and compliantly did. “Does your skirt have pockets?”

Well I don’t think so. As a general rule I try to avoid pencil skirts with pockets, I think they make me look too hippy. But I ran my hands around my skirt just to make sure.

“No,” I said, “No pockets.”

“Well I need to do a pat down. Would you like me to do it here or would you like to go to a private place?”

I smiled at this question. Would you rather have a bikini wax or your nose hairs plucked out? Either way, it’s gonna hurt and I’m gonna be red….one half dozen to the other.

So she starts patting me down. “I need to feel up your leg,” she said inching my non-hippy, no-pocket pencil skirt a little higher. “I thought I saw something metal around your hips.” Her hand continued to move up my leg. “If I can even get up there!”

If I can even get up there….any higher up my conservative, black, Nordstrom suit and I could ask the security line for dollars.

“Hmmmmm,” she stood back and looked at me perplexed. “Well there’s nothing, you can go.”

Well now hold on a second Honey, let me put myself back together. I pulled my jacket down, smoothed my skirt and felt my no-fail, holder of loose rolls, and container of that which cannot be contained…..my Spanx undergarments ….

….the one thing sitting right at my hips.

Could that be it? Could it have been the Spanx? It’s not metal but maybe my magic hold-your-tummy-in with-copious- amount-of-elastic-and-lycra-wonder-slip was just enough packaging to set the machine off.

That was the only thing at my hips.

This is my theory, the scanner does not like my spanx.

Any more spanx induced pat-downs and I might have get rid of my super tummy slip and start doing sit-ups instead.

Now that’s just crazy talk.

One word accurately describes my current travel expertise.

Rusty.

My road-warriorness needs a little polishing.

This week finds me in Ohio, driving to West Virginia. It is cold, frigid and icy with a lovely wind that freezes my nose hairs.

It is so cold and icy that my manager and I upgrade to a four-wheel drive vehicle, the Ford Expedition, not an Explorer, an Expedition. It is huge, bigger than my first apartment. I found a family of four living in the back. And since I’m staying in the mid-west a little longer, it is in my name. I’m driving.

It’s a far cry from the Malibu Max with no seat warmers. My tushie is still cold.

I dropped my manager off at the airport yesterday afternoon. His last words to me were, “Don’t forget to fill up the car before you drop it off tomorrow. This thing’s a beast. I can’t imagine what Avis would charge us for gas.”

I laughed. Of course I would remember to fill it up! I’m an ex-road warrior driving an Expedition from Ohio to West Virginia and back again. Of course I’ll get gas, Really, what kind of rookie does he think I am?

I took my time getting ready this morning. I had a two mile drive to the airport, my flight was at 10:00, all the time in the world, easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.

8:50 I pull the behemoth Expedition into the Avis lot and jump out. I have enough time to get a latte’ before the flight

As soon as the attendant got into the car to check the mileage, it hit me. I never filled up the Expedition.

A couple of choice words filled my head. “I forgot to fill it up,” I said to the attendant, “how much do you charge for gas?”

“$7.50 a gallon.”

This time I murmured my choice words. It was 8:55, I had an hour, could I do it? I couldn’t turn in a receipt for $200 in gas, I just couldn’t.

I zoomed back out of the Columbus Airport, the Expedition in full speed, searching for a gas station. 20 gallons later, I triumphantly hit the button for a receipt.

The machine mocked me “Please see attendant for receipt.”

NOOOOOOOO. I became one of those rude, business travel people barging into the Conoco, requesting a reciept. I needed an ass pass. Sorry World

9:10, back in Avis lot. “Hello Miss. You made it back!”

I grinned at the attendant and rushed to Security.

I’ve heard a lot about the new scanners at Security and haven’t given them a whole lot of thought. I now think they are awful. You stand in front of the machine for 70 seconds with your hands above your head while your body is being scanned. You are then escorted to a ‘holding area’ while they review the scan.

You can only imagine what this does to the security line.

My precious minutes slipped away. What would be worse, I didn’t get gas or I missed my flight because I did get gas? Neither option was appealing.

I made it to the plane, boots still in hand as they were loading seating section 4. I thanked the travel gods for giving this rusty flyer a break.

In the plane, I asked a man if I could move his jacket over a bit to fit my bag. He didn’t say a word looked at me like he would rather kick me in shins and took his jacket out of the overhead.

“Oh thank you so very much sir. I really appreciate your help.” I said to him giving him my best syrupy smile.

He said nothing but continued to glare at me, perhaps hoping I would self-combust.

I gave him a wink and thought bite me.

I sat back and felt the plane heaving into the air, catapulting 120 souls off to Chicago.

What a funny, funny world.