Good Morning TEAM:
OK, I'm trying to catch up with everyone, but I still haven't read much of the past two weeks threads.
WWDave- No, I didn't see the Mouse Skywalker avatar you found. I'd love to see it if you don't mind reposting it.
Krista- Happy Birthday!!!
OK, last I really posted was back before July 4th. The family and I were going back to DW's father's and step-mother's cottage on a lake on the PA/OH border for the weekend. We were there from the 4th until Friday, July 6th. We met up with DW's brother's family there too. That was all OK, I got a 8 mile run in while I was there too.
We came back on Friday because I had to go into the lab on Saturday, July 7th. DW needed to get ready for part two of our "vacation" as well. Little did I know this would be the vacation from hell... From Sunday, July 8th - Sunday, July 15th we were planning on going to the Finger Lakes for our annual family gathering down there. DW's mother was coming to our house on Saturday, July 7th to go grocery shopping for the upcoming week. It's been getting tougher and tougher for this trip to be enjoyable. DW's mother rents a cottage there and our family, DW's brother's family, DW's sister, and sometimes DW's grandmother all go down and gather. It has been getting so there's too many people there in one cottage, and it's not really very relaxing and enjoyable anymore.
This year we decided to do something different. We decided that I would stay at home and meet the family down there in the middle of the week. That way it would be one less person in the cottage, one less opinion thrown in the mix, and DW wouldn't have to worry about how I was doing dealing with all of her family. That seemed like a good plan. Plus, if I didn't go to the lake, I could run the Utica Boilermaker 15K on Sunday, July 8th.
On Saturday, July 7th, DW broke down. She came downstairs in tears because she was so stressed and upset about the upcoming week at the lake with her family. The tipping point for this was her realization that she would have to drive down by herself, unload the van at the lake, and most likely unload her mother's car at the lake too. This is a lot of work, a lot of hauling up lots of steps and a big hill. It really is a big job, and DW has some health trouble that has her legitmitely concerned whether she can really do it. I held her for a time while she just cried. At that point, I decided NOT to run my race on Sunday, July 8th. I would help load the van, drive everyone down to the lake, unload the van, unload her mother's car and drive back.
So I did not run the Utica Boilermaker 15K on Sunday, July 8th. I was a little dissapointed. It was the first time I did not run a race I paid to register for. Plus, I paid for a bus trip our local Fleet Feet organized for the 4 hour round trip drive from Rochester to Utica. I was a little dissapointed losing my registration fee and the money I paid for the bus, but that's OK I didn't mind if it would help my DW's piece of mind. However, it does make me wonder what kind of vacation is this if it's so stressful that I can't go the whole week, and my DW is breaking down in tears the day before going. That's not my idea of a vacation for sure.
Sunday, July 8th, I drive the family down to the lake, unload the van, unload MIL's car, and DW's brother's family shows up - so I help unload their van too. I hang out for a little while. Go for a quick swim (in frigid water) to rinse the sweat off me, eat a quick dinner, hit the road to head back at 7pm, and get back to Rochester around 8:30pm.
Monday, July 9th I go to work - normal day, nothing unusual going on. I get home at 5pm, head out for a run at 5:30pm, and get back to the house around 6:30-7:00p. I'm in the basement changing out of my sweaty running clothes and I hear the phone ring. I figure it's DW just calling to check in, and I'll let the machine get it, I'll finish changing, and call her back. The machine picks up, it is DW but she is sobbing, in tears, asking me to come down and get her that she can not take it anymore. Oh No!!! She hangs up, my cell phone rings, it's DW, I run upstairs to get it but miss the call. Our home phone rings again, I pick up (mind you I have very little clothing on). I talk to DW briefly to calm her down, tell her I'll put clothes on and call her back.
I put clothes on, jump in the car, call DW back on my cell phone, and tell her I'm on my way to the lake. Evidently, DW had a HUGE fight with her brother that ended with him yelling at her "well if it's so bad why don't you call your absent husband to pick up you and your kids and go home!" Whoa, where did that come from? I get down to the lake, DW's been shut in her bedroom by herself. The girls come running to me saying they don't want to leave. I say I need to talk to DW to see what's going on. We have a big sit down talk with DW's brother and his wife at which point he get's really irrate and yells at DW about how she is equating him with her father and blaming him (brother) for everything bad her father has ever done. DW loses it, says she can't stay, we grab the kids and go home. The girls are in tears, DW's in tears, everyone cries all the way back home. We get back about 10:00p and put the kids to bed. DW's brother has left two messages on our answering machine apologizing and asking us to come back to the lake. Uugh, way too much family drama...
Now it's Tuesday, July 10th in the morning, I need to get into work. I stay while DW calls back down to the cottage to talk with her family. DW's brother apologizes, they work things out, and he offers to drive up to pick her and the girls up and bring them back down to the lake. I go off to work, and everything get's back to some normality after that.
I decide at that point that my family needs a real vacation just for us. DW has been talking for a long time that she wants to go on a cruise. So I start looking for affordable cruises I could get for us for our own vacation at the end of the summer.
On Wednesday, July 10th, I head down to the lake to rejoin the family. I've now driven back and forth to the lake way too many times... The rest of the week is relatively uneventful, but there's a lot of tension in the air and everyone's on pins and needles.
So, that's my story, and why I haven't been on the boards too much. Nothing major was going on, but just a whole lot of family drama. Between traveling, being at places with no internet, and when I'm home trying to get caught back up with work, I haven't had anytime to even look at the boards. Oh, and when I was on the computer, I was searching for cruise ideas for my family.
Guess what? I found one... I found a cruise our family could afford. It's a 4 day Caribbean cruise on the
Royal Caribbean Sovereign of the Seas from Aug 27-Aug 31 out of Port Canaveral. Yesterday, DW asks me "so how much would a cruise cost? I think our family really needs a vacation for ourselves." I print out the confirmation/reservation information I had, hand it to her, and say "Here's an early birthday present." Her birthday is Sept. 9th, and the cruise is my present to her.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. I'm so sorry I made people worry here. Thanks for reading this family drama, and I promise to be back to posting regularly again soon.
Oh, and
Carrie, it is DW's brother that lives in Ann Arbor, and we've been talking about running the Crim 10 miler together in Flint in August. Uuum, that's not going to happen now - plus it happens to be the same weekend we leave for our cruise. Oh well, sorry brother...