A Taste of Fall

Well the weather this week has be crazy. Last week it did nothing but rain. I was so sick of the rain after twenty-four hours that it starting to affect my mood. Everyone noticed that it was weather. You see I suffer from SADS (Seasonal Affective Disorder,) simply put, I get depressed when it grey and cloudy for an extended period of time. Normally this doesn’t occur until winter rolls through. At times it’s a crippling disorder. Causing myself and millions of others to not want to get out of bed or do the norm for us.

So yesterday (Monday) I was excited to go to work because it was sunny outside. It was also cold and the wind had a bite to it. The previous week, the air was still warm enough for me to turn my AC on just to cool off my place enough to breathe without breathing water. Yes it was that humid.

Now I love fall, between all of the seasons spring and fall are my favorite. Fall more than spring because there is more color. The rich browns, golds, and red, the warm earthy colors that tell you snow is coming. I enjoy the crisp mornings and standing outside to smell the seasons. That’s right I said smell the seasons. Try it some time.

Winter has a cold, crisp smell. Everything smells fresh and new. It also looks pretty when the snow is piled up and still coming down. Yes I know the dangers of the roads I grew up in Philadelphia, and have seen what a blizzard can do to a city that large. But it doesn’t fail to impress me.

Spring has that fresh, wet dirt smell. New flowers filling the air with their fragrance. Life of all sorts waking up or in some cases being born. I remember the first spring I had when I was out of high school. I saw the world in a whole new light. Everything looked brighter and green. It was amazing to watch the yearly flowers coming into bloom seeing them start out as little bulbs and becoming a hyacinth, daffodil, tulip and even lilies. I was lucky enough to live where I could see new life beginning. It was truly a cool thing.

Summer smells like heat, that musky dry smell with a spice kicker. Summer is a great season too but not a favorite only because it’s too stinkin’ hot at times. Humidity kills me, but it’s a sign of great things coming. Like cookouts, outdoor activities, swimming and for kids it’s a mark that school is over for several months. The other good thing about the summer is everyone in my immediate family has a birthday in the summer. Dad is July 8, Brother is July 16, mine is July 23. I’m older by five years and fifty-one weeks. Finally there’s Mom, she celebrates her birthday the 26 of August.

Now on to fall. Fall has that earthy smell without spice. It’s more of a mellow decay smell. My favorite smell is that sun baked leaf smell. Just after it rains and the sun dries the leaves. The leaves falling, while messy, looks amazing . Sure it’s a closing of warmer months, but it a kind reminder that family celebrations are coming. Halloween, Thanksgiving. My only thoughts when the month of November hits is ohemgee where’s my turkey! I love Thanksgiving, not so much the family part but the food part, oh yeah all over that.

So as I was saying, last week my AC was on, this week I open my windows and put the fan in. It’s cool enough that it requires a warm coat to step outside in. I’m sad to see the vacationing season close, but excited that my fall is just as busy as my summer. It will bring about a new set of things for Rhys and I to do. Like collecting leaves. This year, we’ll be able to save those leaves that finds and press them.

It’s also a time to head to the apple orchard for some fresh cider, apple butter and of course apples. Then there’s hay rides and my favorite holiday. Halloween. It’s become cooler since I’ve had Rhys because I still technically get to go trick or treating. It brings up a lot of good memories and helps to make many more.

Keep it real and rockin’

❤

 

The Epic Adventure to Save My Dad

Let it begin!

It all started last night, it was a cool and breezy night. I had just got off work and was relaxing in front of my favorite toy, the computer. I was doing my usual thing, checking emails, the lols, and getting ready to play City of Heroes with Tim and Mort. When all of a sudden boyfriend told me that Dad’s truck broke down.

Well crud.

Now my dad was stranded somewhere in Pennsylvania with no money and no way home. Not even two seconds later my telephone rang. Dad’s ears must’ve been ringing because it was him on the other end. I answered “Hello, where are you?” He replied with “Hello, State College.”

Okay so he was some place I was familiar with, but not that familiar. He promised me he was safe and tucked in for the night. He must’ve been lonely because he kept me on the phone for a good twenty minutes letting me know what happened and where exactly he was. Finally he was tired enough to pass out and we said good night.

This morning, I get up at 5:15am to let LGIB in the door so her mom can get to work. Back to sleep I go once I get her settled in. Then at 6:30 my alarm clock goes off telling me it’s time to get up and moving so I can get Rhys on his bus and LGIB on hers. So I slap the snooze button.

Twenty minutes later the phone rings, blinded by the light of the phone I answer groggily “Hello?” It’s dad on the line “Gooooood morning.” I can only grunt at this point, mentally thinking to myself, the sun isn’t up yet and you are telling me good morning.

“Is your computer fired up?”
“No, I’m not even awake yet?”
“Okay, I need you to…”
“Wait dad, lemme get out of bed first and get the computer started up before you list me off things to do. I’ll call you in a few minutes.”
“Alright, bye”

So I rolled out of bed, begrudgingly I might add and started my day. I got Boyfriend up and made his coffee, pulled Rhys from his sleep and got him in the bathroom and started up my computer. While the coffee was doing its thing and my computer doing its. I got my son ready for school. Socks, pants, shirt and shoes. By this time it’s 7:10am, so we go outside and wait for his bus. I send the kidlet off to school and go back upstairs to call dad. Still groggy and missing the warmth of my bed, I open up my firefox.

“I need you to go to Chase and tell me how much is in there.”
“‘kay.” *yawn*

Last night I had told him there was nothing new to the account and he told me his check should be in this morning. Me not remembering this at that time was expecting to see x amount of dollars again and hear “Aww what the piss” from dad.

I logged into his account and seen there was more than last night. I told him this and this is where the epic adventure to save my dad begins truly.

“I need you to go to bank and then to walmart and wire me some money.”
“Can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Zach has the car and is at work. He won’t be home until 4ish.”
“Dammit there goes that plan.”
“Is there a Wal-mart near by?”
“I don’t know.”
“Alright lemme check.”

So I go to walmart.com and use the store locater and find there is one just down the road a piece from where he was sitting at. I tell him it’s 3 miles away and if he could get a ride I’ll figure out a way to get to walmart.

“What about what’s her name?”
“Donnella?”
“Yeah.”
“Uh lemme call her and see if she has the van.”

Once again we hang up and I call Donnella, turns out her boyfriend has the van and won’t be home until lunch time. Crap on a stick. So then it clicks, oh yeah there’s a bus and it goes to walmart! So I let her know I’ll take the bus and talk to her later.

I call dad back and tell him it was a no go with Donnella and explain my clever plan to ride the bus to wal-mart. Which I could easily have walked, but they’re lacking sidewalks in this city, at least down this end of town. I get dad to activate the debit cards so I can use it to send him some cash. Yes that’s right, the debit cards are here. He was already on the road when they came in. So he got them activated, and called me back. He informed me that they are bussing him home via greyhound and I’ll just have to pick him up in Indy.

Great. I hate Indy.

Anyways, we get the cards sorted and I get dressed, pull my hair back and out the door I go. I stand at the bus stop and wait and wait, and wait some more. I’ve ridden buses before. Everything I needed to get to was within a bus route as I was growing up in Philly. Two other passengers show up, I’ll call them the mumblers, because any time they spoke it was mumbles. And man did the mumblers stink. The wind was blowing west to east and I was standing downwind of body odor. Gag. Finally the bus shows up and I get on. The bus driver didn’t recognize me and asked me if I needed a transfer. I told him no and took a seat at the front of the bus since I wasn’t going to on long.

I asked the driver if there was another stop on the front side of Wal-mart he said yes and let me off there. I kid you not when I say I paid a buck to ride 4 minutes down the road to Wal-mart.

I went to the money center and filled out all the boxes so I could send my dad his money. After waiting for the woman to not be distracted enough, and send the right amount, we were good. Then I had to hunt up a pay phone because I don’t own a cell phone that actually has minutes on it and call him with the information. Finally we get that squared away and I go back into wal-mart to break a ten so I could take the bus back. I kid you not when I say I’m too lazy to walk the whole mile back to my house.

Standing at the bus stop, there was a gentleman who was kind enough to tell me the time and that the bus should be here soon. We joked about how I would save a buck just by walking home. We chit-chatted about our families and how hard the economy was being. Then we fell silent, awkwardly and I put my nose in a magazine I bought. The bus shows up about ten minutes late. I grew up in the city and never take actual times for what they are and consider them approximate times. I sit on the front again and take my four minute ride home.

The bus driver was nice enough to tell me not to walk in front of the bus and wait for it to pass, that there had been numerous people hit by cars that went around. So I stepped off and waited for it to move, thanking the bus driver for the lift as I was taught to do. You’d be surprised how much better their day is when people say thanks for the ride.

Once the bus passed, there were several cars waiting to go. The woman in the car just behind the bus saw me get off and waved me across the street. It’s people like that make me happy I live in Bloomington. Surprisingly enough, this town still impresses me with the amount of polite people it has.

Finally I walked in the door to await a phone call from my dad telling me he got the money.

I just received said phone call, he’s got his money, and he’s on his way to the bus depot to come home. I pick him up at 3 am in Indianapolis.

Keep it real and rockin’

❤

 

First Day of School

Today was the most exciting day of Rhys’ life. It was the first day of school for him.

We started last week, with an orientation and filling out paperwork. Then the bus driver, came over to the house. This was to explain how the bus works, and show the child and the parents how the children get on the bus as well as how the safety harnesses work. Rhys became really excited about school. After the bus left, his teacher came over to visit and meet with Rhys and to fill out paperwork that is needed for school.

Ready for the first day of school

Last night, Rhys kept asking everyone if it was time for school. He was so excited that we all felt bad telling him that it would be next day. After he ate his dinner and played a little bit, I tossed him into the tub and took a me break while he played. Finally it was bed time and break from the “what time is it?” and “Go to school now’s.”

I woke up this morning about 6:30. Got dressed, woke Zach up and then went to get the little one out of bed. I didn’t have to worry about getting him breakfast since he was going to eat at school. He got dressed, put his coat and book bag on and then we went out to wait for Missy, his bus driver.

Ready to Go!

She arrived at little after seven and Rhys was ever so excited. Carefully, he got on to the bus, holding the railing like he was told to. Once he was strapped in safely, he was off to school.

Stepping off the bus like a big boy.

We arrived at the school before his bus did, and waited a few minutes until his bus arrived.  When I seen my little boy step off the bus I realized then that he was growing up so fast and I was happy about it. He looked so excited and happy getting off the bus that he didn’t even notice that I was there until I said hi to him. There were several children who were on the bus, that looked terrified, and scared. But the bus driver and the teacher aids helped a great deal in keeping the children calm.

Rhys and several classmates

I walked around the classroom to get a feel for it and it brought back so many memories of when I was preschool. Right down to the wooden see-saw and the wooden building blocks that seem to come with every school. There was painting and puzzles, bright cheerful designs all around. I knew that he was going to learn and he was going to love it.

Rhys and several classmates

It was sad to leave. I hugged and kissed him, told him I loved him. I felt myself tear up but I held back. It was a big step for all of us but it’s worth it knowing my son will have a great time learning. It’s just the start of many years of schooling, I can only hope that he will be more fond of school than I was. Surprisingly, there was no fighting or crying when Zach and I left. He was too interested in new toys.

Keep it real and rockin’

❤

 

Success After So Many Dead Ends

I’m really proud of my dad. It’s one of the few times I have actually told him. Usually it’s the parents telling the child how proud they are due to some success in life. Things such as graduation from high school or getting into a great college.  So for me to tell my dad I’m proud of you means so much to him simply because it’s something that is rarely said daughter to father.

Today my father passed his DOT physical, which now allows him to go over the road and drive trucks like he’s wanted to do for years now and has done in the past. There was so many roadblocks preventing him from getting this before he moved out here.

Firstly, he worked for US Food Service for five years before he had to take a family medical leave of absence on account his back looked like a C from sitting so much. Several weeks of physical therapy and time expired from family leave and the job was considered abandoned. So they let him go.

After that it was all down hill for my dad. Recovering still and working at a dead end delivery job that he did for so many years while still working for the food company was awarding him next to nothing for pay, and barely enough to live on. He tried to get back to work driving trucks and getting more than just the little amount of pay from the pizza place. Don’t get me wrong, there were nights when he would bring home a few hundred dollars, only if it was busy.

Once I moved out of dad’s house, I should have kept up on him and made sure things were paid for. Unfortunately, I was expecting and really could do much. When I did ask him if things were paid up, he told me yes they were.  When I moved to Bloomington after my divorce, it only got worse from there. I received a phone call from my brother informing me that my father had been toss in prison. When I discovered the reason why I was really let down.

Dad called me not so long after he got out and he explained to me what was going on. He promised me that things would get better and that things would go up from there. However, things didn’t go the way he wanted. He moved in with his mother and brother, having no where else to go. It was painful to listen to the crap that went on there. They tried to control his money, and tell him how to live.  Dad is very independent and that was working to well for him.

He was looking for work but only coming up with dead end minimum wage jobs. Fast food and grocery stores. Nothing spectacular. This isn’t to say that Dad wasn’t looking for better. It was just nothing was available where he was that he could get to easily. See when Dad got out of jail, they suspended his license for a year and he had to rely on his feet to get him around. Then when he got his license back, he didn’t have a car and relied on his mother and brother for use of their vehicles when it convenienced them.

Finally, Dad came out to visit me the end of July, shortly after Tim left. While he was out here, he began to look for work. I had no issues for it. I’m pleased that he was planning for the future. I knew how much he didn’t like living with his mother and brother, and I knew how much better he could do out here.

That job came about a week later. They processed the paperwork, played phone tag and pushed for my dad to get into this trucking company. It wasn’t the only one he applied for. He did reapply for US Foods and was told he didn’t meet the criteria of what they wanted. Even though he had five years experience.

A road block came early last week with my father’s blood pressure. it was upwards of 180/101 which is really really bad. Stage 2 hypertension. They had him come back the next morning and sure enough it was still very high. So they set him up with a doctor in a nearby town and he went there. The doctor there helped him get the meds he would need, as well as a new inhaler. As it turned out a big reason my father’s blood pressure was so high was due to the fact he was using Primatine Mist.

Thankfully everything went well. I’s were dotted and T’s were cross. Hopefully by the start of next week, dad will have a truck under his but and I can go back to worrying about him normally rather than excessively.

The last time Dad was out on the road doing over the road trucking, he had a list of rules. When he pulled in for his evening meal, he was required to call us at home. That rule still applies. This time he’ll have a cell phone so that if we need to get a hold of him we can. But he’ll also be packing a phone card so he doesn’t waste his minutes calling us.

Dad getting this job has made me extremely proud. I’m ecstatically happy that he is finally getting his life together and back to where he was before all these dead ends hit him. I hated seeing my Dad down in the dumps and would go out of my way to help him anyway I could. I also seen the toll it took on him when it came to raising us kids as well as not being able to help us whenever us kids needed it. It made him feel less than himself and took a slice out of his pride each time.

Him getting this job will give him so much more freedom. And for that I am most thankful.

Keep it real and rockin’

❤