May 11, 2006

THIS WAS THE WEEK THAT WASN'T

I can't believe it's been an entire week, seven whole days, since I've posted any updates! I think I'm going through a severe case of writer's (I wish!!) block.

Let's see. It's Thursday. Tomorrow we head back to New Orleans to bid farewell to Fr. John. We are sad, and not looking forward to seeing him leave for his new parish assignment. While home, Patti and the kids will be in Orlando. Our grandson is attending the sports banquet at the school he attended briefly, post-Katrina. He represented them so well as their soccer goalie that they insisted he come back for the banquet. Way to go, Ian!!!

And let's not forget little BB. Only her second year of dance lessons and they're already paying off. At the May festival last weekend a woman was overheard (by one proud papa) commenting that little BB was the best performer in her class! Way to go, BB!!

We are thanking God in a big way, today! It is Patti's birthday (Happy Birthday!!!), and she got the test results from her amnio and the baby is ok, and is going to be a GIRL. BB gets a little sister, and Ian gets ANOTHER little sister. We are SO thankful that everything is alright!

Linda has come to a crossroads in her career. As I've mentioned before, her job moved permanently to Millington, TN after the storm. The command she works for, EPMAC, is merging with NPC, and tomorrow is the disestablishment ceremony, although it isn't official until September. In the meantime, she has until next Friday to either agree to stay or leave. If she leaves, she will be forced to take early (read almost NO $$) retirement because she falls within the minimum retirement age for the federal retirement system. So, even though she doesn't want to retire, and while others who opt to leave are given severance pay and a letter that gives them priority for job openings in New Orleans, it appears that she's out. No $$, no letter, no cigarette.

My job, on the other hand, is making plans for the move back to New Orleans. We are expecting to pack up our things and load up our PCs on June 15th, drive them to New Orleans and unload them on the 16th, and report to work in the refurbished buildings on June 19th. I can't wait to see how that turns out. The best laid plans, and all that...

The weather here has been horrible the last few days. Rain, rain, rain. Today was nice, but cool. And very windy, too. Still, the sunshine was a nice change. As pretty as Memphis is, the gloom of clouds and rain takes the pretty right out of it.

It's time, I guess, to get back to the constant struggle of trying to adapt to life as it is now. Being away, living in Memphis and not New Orleans, lets you keep holding out for when life returns to "normal". It keeps you disconnected from the reality that New Orleans has a whole new "normal" now, and it ain't even a little bit like it was before the storm. We need to get back and begin the process of adapting, and healing, and rebuilding.

And, I still can't believe I went to TWO Zephyr's games and they lost. Heck, they practically didn't even show up!!!

Ah, well. C'est la vie. Take care, and God bless. Oh, and congrats again to Big J and his perfect attendance. And Kudos to his lovely wife, too, who I'm sure plays a huge part in his success!
I can't believe my lunch bunch went to NOFS without me... sniff... sniff.

Anyway, later y'all!!

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