Whew! What a weekend!
It all began on Friday afternoon when I got a call from my Mom...someone had thrown a rock through her car window and stolen her GPS and her purse! Of course, my first thought was "why on Earth would you leave your GPS and PURSE OF ALL THINGS in your car when you are in the ghetto of Springfield? Even if the car is locked? Even if you are in a populated area? Are you crazy???". But, I figured that saying that to my Mom would not make her feel any better and would not help the situation. So, instead I left work to meet her at the police station to file a report, and then we spent 3 hours walking around some of the worst neighborhoods I've even been in looking in trash cans, dumpsters, side of the road junk, etc... hoping that the thief would have taken the valuables and ditched the rest. No such luck :-( We left the city as the sun went down sad and defeated. My Mom was especially worried because she had a set of keys to my brother's jeep keys in the purse and she was afraid that the thief, armed with her home address in the GPS, would show up looking for the vehicle. As scary of a situation as that was, there was nothing we could do about it.
Saturday was a busy day for the G Family. We began by taking our girl Bailey to her annual vet appointment (where she completely freaked out as usual), and then after dropping her back at home, J and I headed out to look for a new "Bail Jail"...a gate to go in the back of my SUV to keep her contained. We had one that we used in John's Explorer and my Santa Fe, but now that I am driving my beloved X3, I wanted a gate that wouldn't completely dig up and destroy the back of my car as the old one did. We went to Petco, Dave's Soda and Pet Food City (weird combo, don't you think?), Pet Supplies Plus and the finally to Brown's (a small town pet supply store in East Longmeadow) where we finally found what we were looking for. It was on the drive over to Brown's that we got the fantastic news...a postal worker had found all of the contents of my Mom's purse in a mailbox! The GPS was obviously still missing, and the leather purse that contained all of my Mom's belongings was MIA too, but all of the contents...licenses, credit cards, checkbooks, personal photos, and yes, the car keys...were there! What incredibly good fortune!!! She was beyond relieved to get it all back, and so was I. Someone was definitely looking out for my Mum :-) After all the excitement, we got Bail Jail all set up and took our girl for her inaugural ride in the X3 and went to the park. We played fetch and walked around and enjoyed the beautiful day, just the 3 of us...our little family :-) It was perfect!
Sunday was a wonderfully nostalgic day. My Mom, Brother, Aunt, 3 cousins and myself went up to Historic Deerfield to a sugar house for breakfast...there is nothing better than pancakes with fresh maple syrup! Yum!!! We, of course, got the tour of how maple syrup is made (even though I've been on the tour a million times before, I still love it!) and then we had the most delicious breakfast ever! After stuffing ourselves and loading up on maple syrup, maple cream and maple candies, we went to the Old Deerfield Country Store and poked around at all the neat, unique items in the store. Sometimes, just poking around in little quirky stores like that is my favorite thing to do. I love to just check stuff out :-) We did purchase a few things, and then headed for home. It was so great to see my Mom in such a good mood after having gone through such a bad thing just 2 days before.
Life with the G's won't be getting any less hectic in the coming weeks and months. I'm sure I'll blog lots more about these things as they come up, but here are a few of the highlights:
- My old college roomie, Amelia, is coming to visit this weekend. I haven't seen her in months, so it will be nice to catch up.
- I will be going to see a world-renowned blues harmonica player with my dad at the Iron Horse in a few weeks...such a great venue and I love going to live music events!
- I have a bridal shower coming up this month...the first of several, as we are going to 3 weddings this year. Love is in the air!
- My Septoplasty surgery is on the horizon...it will either be at the end of April or the end of May. I am not looking forward to it (obviously) but I am looking forward to getting it over with.
- I am hoping to be spending lots of time in Florida this summer (and beyond), as our condo should be closing in a few weeks! If I'm MIA in the coming months, I'm probably at the beach :-)
- And, last but certainly not least, after much thought and consideration, J decided to take his business in another direction. He is going to be partnering with his best friend to form a construction and real estate investment company. While this is still bringing him in the same direction that he ultimately wanted to go (to own multiple income-generating properties), it's just taking him a different route to get there. I personally think this is the best decision that he could have made for himself. I think part of him feels like he's quiting, but I keep reminding him that our goals are always changing and evolving and changing your mind is not necessarily a bad thing. It wasn't working for him...he wasn't happy doing what he was doing...so why continue? Life is too short to be unhappy. Although it was a difficult decision for him to make, I think doing so has lifted a huge weight off his shoulders and will make him happier. All I want is for him to be happy, so I am fully supportive of anything he does to get there. So, more details to follow as he embarks on this new journey!
Well, that was some update! If you actually made it this far, kudos to you! TTFN!!!
Today I am thankful for the challenge and opportunity that my job has been providing to me lately. My hard work is recognized and I think it will pay off for me in the not too distant future. Let's hope, anyway!!!
