The price you pay

I jetted away to Texas on Thursday.  I arrived in Houston just as my mom and sister were pulling through the pickup line at the airport.  We hopped in and went to my uncle's house where I had enough time to change clothes and then head over to the church for my grandmother's viewing.

My mom is one of 7 kids.  Imagine 7 kids with children and grandchildren.  Some have procreated more prolificly than others have ever even thought about.  We spent the night with my brother and then the next day headed to the funeral.

My grandmother was a military wife, during WWII and Korea.  My grandfather would leave for years at a time, and correspondance was shotty at best.  She used to venture down to the post office twice a day with my mother in tow, to check for a letter from him.  They also listed those that had been killed, in the newspaper and you would have to check there as well.  I can't even imagine.

It was great to see my immediate family and my extended family and my mom and sisters and I headed back to Georgetown Friday night.  We had Mexican for dinner, and then for lunch the next day.  I could have eaten it every single meal.

While I was basking in the beautiful weather in Texas, Gunner and the kiddos were freezing in Colorado.  They got about 6-8" of snow.  While I was wishing I had brought sandals, he was bundling them up in their snow gear to go sledding.

While I was waiting to board my flight on Sunday, TSA was all over our gate.  They started doing random searches, and everyone was giving the other passengers a once-over to see if anyone looked suspicious.  We finally got out of there late, and I used my drink coupons to have a glass of wine on the ride home.

When we arrived in Denver, the ground was covered in snow.  I finally made it out to my car, which was buried under the snow.  The doors were frozen shut.  Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less.

I pried open two doors, and turned on the car, found Gunner's ice scraper, and then loaded my luggage into the trunk.  As I was going back for my second suitcase, I slipped on the ice and fell.  I hit my butt, whacked my head, and slammed my elbows into the ground.  I started to cry.  I laid there for a few minutes whimpering and realized I was out at the far end of the parking lot, it was dark, there was snow, and no one was going to care, so I got up.

I wiped my tears, loaded the last suitcase, and started shoveling the snow off.  I finally got the car in a driveable condition and headed home.  My windows were frozen shut and fogged up, and the car never got warm.  Time to check the radiator fluid.  I made it home almost three hours later (from the time my flight landed).

Before Gunner arrives home after a deployment, a TDY or field time, I scrub the house from top to bottom.  Apparently he didn't get that memo!  So although the house was a mess, the kids were happy and tucked into bed.  They had a great time with movie nights, sledding, trying to make a snowman, and just hanging out.  I'll clean the house, after all, he did keep them alive!

This morning when Junior got up he had thrown up in his sleep.  Lucky me.  It looked like he just did it once, and he seemed fine, so I called Gunner to see if he was acting sick at all.

Me:  Junior threw up sometime last night.
Gunner:  Really? (total surprise)
Me:  Yeah, was he acting okay last night?
Gunner:  Yep.  Although did I mention he at an entire tube of toothpaste?
Me:  Are you kidding?
Gunner:  No, I sent him to go potty, how was I supposed to know he would eat a tube of toothpaste?

So Junior is fine today, the sheets are cleaned, and I'm locking up the toothpaste.