Our Anniversary. May 27, 2005. Five Years.

We went to Jim Thorpe, PA.

Jim Thorpe has nothing to do with the town. Asa Packer is the man of Jim Thorpe, PA. The town had been named Mauch Chunk, PA. (What a name.) It is a Native American name having to do with Bear Mountain, I think. So, it is different to our ears. Someone didn't like it and thought that Jim Thorpe would be better. Apparently, Jim Thorpe was an Olympic athlete back in the day. He probably never even heard of Mauch Chunk, PA. Anyway, the town's claim to his fame is that he is buried there. And to top it off, they paid to have his remains moved and buried there.

A bit odd in my book.

Here's the kicker.

It should have taken us three hours to get home.

But, no. We didn't pull up to our house until 4 hours and 23 minutes after we drove away from my friend's house. Give or take a minute.

We had construction traffic. We had toll booth traffic. And all after 9 pm on a Sunday night.

Our weekend was not as peaceful as we would have liked, but we were never told that our life would always be peachy keen.

We had circumstances that were less than peachy.

But as I try to remember, my life is as my attitude is. I wanted a positive weekend, so my attitude needed to be positive. I needed to look at the things that went right.

I was able to visit with my friend. She got to see my daughter crawl and growl. (Yes, I know, she really does growl.) We had some surprise adventures. My husband got a chance to see my friend's finished basement, and all the work she has put into the house. We are ready to go with our Mount Vernon passes. I got to play Phase Ten. We watched some movies. We had a great food selection and superb meals. I felt appreciated and loved. I didn't have to change as many diapers.

Look at that. Another fun yesterday.

Let's see……this day's adventure was assisted by the caring folks at Mount Vernon.

My husband has been trying to catch a glimpse of Mount Vernon for twice now. His eyes have been disappointed.

4:49 PM We purchase our yearly passes.
5:00 PM We enter the gates of Mount Vernon.
5:01 PM I read in the brochure (that was available only after walking through the gate) that Mount Vernon closes at 5:00 PM.
5:09 PM Discover the audio tour is to be purchased at the ticket counter.
5:10 PM Husband and I walk around to exit and to the closed ticket counter.
5:11 PM Walk back to closed entrance gate. Park man will not let us in, not even to get our
child. Tells us to talk with guard at exit gate.
5:14 PM Guard at exit gate will not let us in to get our child and meet our friend. Tells us
we have to wait for her to come out.
5:15 PM Sit on bench and wait.
5:31 PM I ask the guard what time they make sure all the visitors are out of the park.
Told that they should be getting people to leave now.
5:45 PM Go to ask the guard if they could at least call to guards inside to let my friend
know we were waiting at the exit.
5:46 PM We see my friend and our daughter coming to the exit door. We are reunited.

Several things could have been done differently.

~They should not have sold us tickets.
~They should have told us the park was closing in 10 minutes.
~They should not have let us into the park.
~They should have told us we only had half an hour to look around.
~They should have allowed us to get our daughter. If they didn’t want us in by ourselves,
they could have escorted us.
~The guards could have radioed to each other to helps us find each other.
~Someone could have gone and told our friend we were at the exit waiting. We did tell them
where she could be found.

Several things should have been done differently.

Why did no one care enough to help us?
Why did no one want to help parents separated from their daughter?
Was it too much to ask someone to help us?

I don’t understand.

Yesterday…..was an interesting day. I had fun trying to figure out how to run the “wet” part of a wet/dry vacuum. My friend had tried before, but all she got was a shower. The part she needed was thrown out by contractors working on her house. I found the instructions, looked at the parts list, discovered what was missing, and went to the store to buy it. I put the part on, and Voila! The machine worked. My friend could stop her back-breaking work of sopping up the water with a mop.

You see, it was raining. And raining. And raining. It rained most of the day. We thought maybe we would stay in and play games all day. Not the case. The finished basement was filling with water. There was probably ½ an inch already, and it continued to flow as we started mopping.

My friend filled at least four buckets of water through her efforts. Then, when we got the shop vac working, I started vacuuming the water. She took care of laundering the towels and blankets used to help dry the floor. But as we mopping and vacuumed, the water seeped and seeped.

And finally, finally, the water slowed. I vacuumed the area dry and my friend placed some towels and blankets along the wall to sop up the water that would begin seeping again at any moment. It worked for several hours. We changed the towels and blankets. At long last the water stopped. The second set of towels was still dry. The flooring was squishy for two days, though.

While we were bailing out the basement, my husband was stuck on a train for an extra two hours. One of the baggage car’s brakes were not working. Therefore, they needed to replace the car and switch the luggage. This change took two hours.

So, we went to Target. My friend and I, in a store, is a dangerous thing. I should think that the store loves to see us coming. We spent the entire time there, after the jaunt to the bank. We shopped our woes away.

My daughter rode the day well. She is a good baby.

You can see this day in one of two ways. A failure or an adventure.

I choose the latter.

My husband is home, and I am not. I will see him tonight. He is taking the train. I miss him.
My daughter and I have traveled to visit my friend. My best friend. I haven't seen her since January, though we talk nearly every day.
~
We like to play scrabble. We both like to win, which does not go well with losing. We are very poor losers. And not always good winners, either. We have a passion for games. Especially Scrabble and Phase Ten. Let's see......on my last visit we played ten games of Phase Ten. Sadly, I won only three. When I come to visit, we spend most of the time playing games and hoping to beat the other.
~
Kashi loves me. He is my best friend's dog. He greets me so exuberantly that his tail wags himself over. He takes his toys and naps with them on the bed I use when I am here. Even if I am home, just hearing my voice, sends him into a frenzy.
~
It is raining here. We are even more inclined to play games on rainy days. The day held promise to journey outside, but if the water continues to fall, we may be resigned to sit on the couch and the green chair indefinitely.

There is a bird on my head.

And because I love my friend, I will leave him there. For a short time anyway.

My daughter was taking her nap this weekend. She had bent over from a sitting position and fell asleep. She looked very uncomfortable. My first instinct was to straighten her out. But then I remembered my mother and her predicament.

She had come into my brother's room to check on him. And what did she find? A daughter being very helpful. I had climbed into my brother's crib toting lotion and powder. I put the lotion on him and gave him a good powdering. Apparently he was a sight. She didn't know whether to scold me or laugh. She never got a picture.

So, now when I see my daughter doing funny or goofy things, I run for the camera.

A scrunched up face. The "woe-is-me" look. Hands on the forehead. A very sad cry. Binkie on the floor.

All this and my resolve to not pick up my very tired child is nearly gone. She is in her crib and needs to take a nap. I look at her and want to sweep her into my arms and coo loving wrods into her ear, soothing her to sleep. But alas, she needs to get herself to sleep.

When I have given in, she thinks its playtime. Mommy's picking me up to play. She does not listen to my words of comfort. She does not hold still to be rocked. Back into the crib she goes.

And it starts over.

A Wood Thrush singing. A Hawk Soaring. The sound of deer passing by.

These are all memories I have of visiting my grandparents in the Poconos.

I am going there tomorrow. I love going to the cabin. The smells and sounds bring back wonderful memories of growing up years. Spending time with my grandparents was the highlight of my summers.

But for two years now it hasn't been the same. My grandfather died in September of 2003 and Grandmom moved into our area. She misses the cabin and Grandpop. They built the cabin and lived there for thirty years.

My daughter is 9 months old. I want her to grow up and know the special time of being at the cabin. I will share with her my memories. And maybe someday, my parents will be living there anticipating the summers when their grandchild will visit.