Made It
This trip was different than the last few trips. Jet's Spring Break was right before we left, and for the first time in years I've been really working hard before getting out here. Allie and I finished an editing pass on the book that was sold, were working on the big edit pass for the second book we wrote, and trying to get the third book organized just so that it could get our heads clear on what is involved. Doing all that and all the things I was supposed to be doing to help Jet with school, OM, and just living, and I have been kind of worn out and uncertain about taking this week and the time after to recover as well.
There was so much still to be done with respect to the writing, but... I finally realized that that's always true of work. That it will be there tomorrow and the week after as well. And I really needed the time away, completely away so that I could just stop thinking writing and do the work that needs to be done, still, in the Gulf. And it was great to have Allie's blessing to just go.
I was a little more concerned this year than the last few, and ended up doing a lot more sleeping as soon as Isabel and George arrived on Wednesday. It was really nice having them here, and Jet was fascinated by having his grandparents around, so it helped immensely. Allie was very understanding about me needing some time to just rest. We've been doing a good number of late nights, and working pretty hard on the editing, so it was kind of good to just sleep, walk with Jet and the grandparents, cook, and take care of myself for a while.
I managed to get the Winter War chapter up and some of the editing done, and get the whole manuscript of the whole of David and West's first book to her, which was really nice to see together. And then spent most of Saturday packing. We took a little time for a walk at Golden Ponds with everyone, which helped my hands, and I played some Crash Bash with Jet as he really wanted some time with me before I left. I played a little too much Wii and Crash with Jet for the whole of the Spring Break, and ended up with a left elbow and arm that just aches. The right hand and arm is doing better, but I was icing the left up to the last day.
Saturday was really odd, in that it was warm. Usually April 2nd averages about 55 degrees, and the record high for the day was in the low 70's, but Saturday shattered the records and was 86! And then today it snowed... and is now about 33 degrees.
John was up at 6:15 and I followed just fifteen minutes later. We had to meet at the church by 7:15, so it meant we had to be up early enough to eat a bit of breakfast and get the very last things packed that needed packing. We all showed up so that we could get to the airport at the same time and leave from the church, so that it would be easy. Just early. I said good-bye to Jet, and missed the shot of all the kids and moms and grandparents waving to those that were leaving. About a dozen of us showed up at the church and we all drove in two vans with all the luggage in a trailer to DIA.
I slept. *laughs*
I slept on the flight over as well, which was nice. Compared to flying over the Rockies there weren't that many bumps, and to continue the trend, I slept. I knew that once I got there and started working, I'd not be sleeping nearly as much, so I took advantage of what I could get.
Once we got off the plane, the humidity hit us, and it's mid-80's here. I was the driver of one of the vans, and we circled about the airport area looking for food and finally found Roscoe's Po'boys and Seafood. They were pretty popular and active for their crawfish and shrimp boil, and we all got sandwiches and things for our lunch. We crowded the place pretty thoroughly, as the seafood place across the street had an hour long wait for a group our size. As it was we did quite well, and I had a crawfish po'boy with pickles, tomatoes, and salad on it. It was nice and spicy.
Good food, with refills on the sweet tea, which was very good for the drive over to Biloxi. Before that, however, we had to wait for Christina, and we sat in a park off of Lake Ponchatrain for an hour and watched the planes come in over the park and the water. We actually recognized the Frontier plane she came in on, and after it went overhead, she called us minutes later as she landed. That was very cool.
I took the direct route to Biloxi, using the GPS, we just hit 10 to the East and didn't take the waterfront route. We arrived at The Back Bay Mission just a few minutes behind the other carload of folks. After unloading, unpacking and getting our orientation meeting at 7:30 pm we headed to the Blow Fly restaurant, and had a wonderful reception from a lovely gnarly waitress who took no guff and gave it in full back. *laughs*
We were late, too, as they closed at 9, and we arrived at about 8:30. But we had a wonderful dinner. I had the grits and shrimp "appetizer" and had more food than I could eat. It was rich and creamy with sausage, onions, sweet peppers, gravy, and shrimp galore on a big wedge of fried grits. It was lovely and huge for the amount of money. I loved it, and also had a slice of their blueberry mascarpone cake for dessert. I actually brought it back to the mission to eat while writing this. *laughs* But it was good and a wonderful welcome back.
It's nice to be in a familiar place again, with familiar jobs in the morning. There's new crew this time through, along with the folks I've been doing this for the last five years. I'll try and introduce them properly tomorrow. As it is, though, it's nice to be back.
There was so much still to be done with respect to the writing, but... I finally realized that that's always true of work. That it will be there tomorrow and the week after as well. And I really needed the time away, completely away so that I could just stop thinking writing and do the work that needs to be done, still, in the Gulf. And it was great to have Allie's blessing to just go.
I was a little more concerned this year than the last few, and ended up doing a lot more sleeping as soon as Isabel and George arrived on Wednesday. It was really nice having them here, and Jet was fascinated by having his grandparents around, so it helped immensely. Allie was very understanding about me needing some time to just rest. We've been doing a good number of late nights, and working pretty hard on the editing, so it was kind of good to just sleep, walk with Jet and the grandparents, cook, and take care of myself for a while.
I managed to get the Winter War chapter up and some of the editing done, and get the whole manuscript of the whole of David and West's first book to her, which was really nice to see together. And then spent most of Saturday packing. We took a little time for a walk at Golden Ponds with everyone, which helped my hands, and I played some Crash Bash with Jet as he really wanted some time with me before I left. I played a little too much Wii and Crash with Jet for the whole of the Spring Break, and ended up with a left elbow and arm that just aches. The right hand and arm is doing better, but I was icing the left up to the last day.
Saturday was really odd, in that it was warm. Usually April 2nd averages about 55 degrees, and the record high for the day was in the low 70's, but Saturday shattered the records and was 86! And then today it snowed... and is now about 33 degrees.
John was up at 6:15 and I followed just fifteen minutes later. We had to meet at the church by 7:15, so it meant we had to be up early enough to eat a bit of breakfast and get the very last things packed that needed packing. We all showed up so that we could get to the airport at the same time and leave from the church, so that it would be easy. Just early. I said good-bye to Jet, and missed the shot of all the kids and moms and grandparents waving to those that were leaving. About a dozen of us showed up at the church and we all drove in two vans with all the luggage in a trailer to DIA.
I slept. *laughs*
I slept on the flight over as well, which was nice. Compared to flying over the Rockies there weren't that many bumps, and to continue the trend, I slept. I knew that once I got there and started working, I'd not be sleeping nearly as much, so I took advantage of what I could get.
Once we got off the plane, the humidity hit us, and it's mid-80's here. I was the driver of one of the vans, and we circled about the airport area looking for food and finally found Roscoe's Po'boys and Seafood. They were pretty popular and active for their crawfish and shrimp boil, and we all got sandwiches and things for our lunch. We crowded the place pretty thoroughly, as the seafood place across the street had an hour long wait for a group our size. As it was we did quite well, and I had a crawfish po'boy with pickles, tomatoes, and salad on it. It was nice and spicy.
Good food, with refills on the sweet tea, which was very good for the drive over to Biloxi. Before that, however, we had to wait for Christina, and we sat in a park off of Lake Ponchatrain for an hour and watched the planes come in over the park and the water. We actually recognized the Frontier plane she came in on, and after it went overhead, she called us minutes later as she landed. That was very cool.
I took the direct route to Biloxi, using the GPS, we just hit 10 to the East and didn't take the waterfront route. We arrived at The Back Bay Mission just a few minutes behind the other carload of folks. After unloading, unpacking and getting our orientation meeting at 7:30 pm we headed to the Blow Fly restaurant, and had a wonderful reception from a lovely gnarly waitress who took no guff and gave it in full back. *laughs*
We were late, too, as they closed at 9, and we arrived at about 8:30. But we had a wonderful dinner. I had the grits and shrimp "appetizer" and had more food than I could eat. It was rich and creamy with sausage, onions, sweet peppers, gravy, and shrimp galore on a big wedge of fried grits. It was lovely and huge for the amount of money. I loved it, and also had a slice of their blueberry mascarpone cake for dessert. I actually brought it back to the mission to eat while writing this. *laughs* But it was good and a wonderful welcome back.
It's nice to be in a familiar place again, with familiar jobs in the morning. There's new crew this time through, along with the folks I've been doing this for the last five years. I'll try and introduce them properly tomorrow. As it is, though, it's nice to be back.