Tess

Ethel,
Maggie the basset, Whiskers the cat and I all send hugs your way--Maggie sends a special 'Arrroooo' to you in honor of Hector. I still get a lump in my throat when I think of our schnauzer who left us 8 years ago--they really are members of our families, aren't they? Give yourself time to grieve and know your Fodors' friends are thinking of you.

Rave: My cousin, whom I haven't seen for 20 years, is staying with us tonight as she makes a cross country move 'back home.' She was my maid of honor way back when but we've drifted apart the past few years. Here's to families and the power of love.

Rant: (re: Bennnie's post) My very smart daughter who DOESN'T do well on standardized testing! Never had a B in her life, is in the top 1% of her class but appears scholastically 'average' on testing. Grrr. Way too much emphasis placed on standardized testing IMHO!!! We think she's just right, anyhow

Rant: That Bill Bennett's remark was taken completely out of context and those eager to skewer ANY conservative didn't have the cojones to post the sentences that came AFTER his remarks.

Rave: My mom, DD and I are going to see 'Lord of the Dance' tomorrow in Rapid City. DD competes regionally and nationally with her dance group in Irish Tap so is wildly excited to see this production. A girls' weekend in the beautiful Black Hills!

jorr

Hey thanks everyone for your concern. Last night I didn't get to sleep until 3 AM. I was thinking about starting the the thread but just felt like junk. Anyone else out there have Restless Leg Syndrome? It can keep you up all night and it is passed down through the generations. My mother and two grandparents have had it. It didn't have a name and diagnosis until about ten years ago. So this morning I was pretty drained out.

Ethel, I'm sorry about your cat.

mms, You will love Scotland. We went there a few years ago. Hope you will not be driving a car. If so get your will in order!

PM, thanks for starting the thread. I will be in full swing next time.

Rant: living on a dusty gravel road with cars flying by.

Rave: living in a rural area with gravel roads!

Fodorite018

Jorr--I have RLS occassionally. Usually a Tylenol PM helps to knock me out, lol! We have been to Scotland before, and yes, driven...even right after arriving from Seattle. No rental car this time though, most likely. My girlfriend has never been to Europe and is a bit leery, so I am trying to ease her into it. Of course most people don't visit in the dead of winter!

elizabeth_reed

Glad to hear that you're all right, Jorr, and sorry about the restless leg problem. Hope there's something that can be done for it.

Statia

Rave: No longer working 10+ hour days at the office. It's been nice to go home on time this week.

Rave: Successful business and personal shopping trip to Miami last week. The traffic was wicked, though.

Rant: Ran into Rita there and she made us miss a whole day of business which turned the rest of the week into a zoo.

Rave: My family in Houston suffered no damages from Rita, but my sister is getting quite tired of running from hurricanes lately.

Rant: My extended family in Nederland/Pt. Arthur/Port Neches/Beaumont don't yet know what damage they suffered from Rita.

Rave: All new living room furniture, new widescreen notebook computer, fancy digital printer and all sorts of goodies for my house! Needless to say my baggage was seriously overweight upon my return home.

Rave: I'm now wireless and can be online all day long. No more dial up for this chick! Our island has entered the 21st century.

Rant: Still waiting for the furniture to arrive at my frieght forwarder in Miami. I hope it's not lost. At least I brought the computer, printer, rugs, vacuum and other larger items home in my checked baggage.

Rave: Being back in Fodorville after nearly two weeks away. I've missed you guys.

Rant: My Fodor friends who are going thru rough times. My prayers go out to you.

Have a good weekend everyone.

GoTravel

Statia! Welcome home!

""Rant: Still waiting for the furniture to arrive at my frieght forwarder in Miami. I hope it's not lost. At least I brought the computer, printer, rugs, vacuum and other larger items home in my checked baggage."""

How do you get all that in your luggage?

Statia

Thanks GoTravel. Congrats on your mileage, as well! You go, girl!

Regarding the packing, I have a couple of "body bag" size duffle bags that fold up quite small in order to fit in my carry-on baggage. I fill them up well on the return trip, though. I guess I've become somewhat of an expert packer with mostly traveling home with household goods in the past several years. Even my husband was suprised at how much I fit in those bags.

I had to get my friend to continually sit on the king sized comforter to squash it enough to fit in the baggage, though. Seriously. We had some good laughs with that one.

ronkala

RB,
I stopped at Battleship Cove a couple of years ago when we were in the area for a wedding.

Our reunion group is going to Boston to visit Old Ironsides, before it opens to the public. Then we will tour the USS Cassin Young, also a Fletcher class, and have our Memorial Service on the fantail. Next year Baton rouge.

GoTravel

Since I've tortured y'all with my marathon training, I'll have to write one hellacious NYC Marathon Trip Report.

marigross

Rant/Rave: going to France on business

Rant: Only senior management gets to fly business class so I have to fly coach. Maybe I should start pushing for a promotion.....

Rave: I wiggled in a few extra days in Paris after the workshop, this will be my first time in Paris!!

Rant: DH could not get a FF tickt to go with me (I have a nagging suspicion that he did not try really hard)

Rave: I finally got hotel reservation in Paris, it seems that every hotel I tried was full!!!

Rave: This will be my first real-real solo trip and on top of that, to a place where I don't speak the language!!!! Very exciting....

Wayyy Minor Rant: First time solo jitters

jorr

elizabeth, people who have RLS take so many kinds of treatments you can't keep up with it. I take three different perscription meds. There is a web site for it where you can post just like here on Fodors. There is a commercial on TV now from Glaxo (spelling) which talks about the symptoms. Its not painful but to me it feels like an invisible person comes in at 7 PM every evening and starts poking you on your legs for several hours and they follow you into bed and keep on doing it...for many years! A very strange and annoying syndrome.

radiofanatic

Rave: My best friend is coming into town.

Rant: She's not getting here until after 9 pm and I'm already exhausted.

Rant: She's moving so she'll be 9 hours away instead of 3 hours away.

Rave: We're doing "fallish" things this weekend - an apple festival and a haunted hayride

Rave: My favorite month starts tomorrow

Rave: I go on vacation exactly 2 weeks from today!

Rant: this will be the slowest two weeks of my life, especially at work!

Everyone have a good weekend and I'm so sorry about Ethel's kitty!

mm

Hey Rodkala,

Have fun at your reunion. I just did a quick check and found out that the USS Trathen was involved in the last sortie by the Japanese Navy in WWII. It was part of DESRON 47. Were you onboard at that time?

I also found a picture of the Trathen from 1958 which may be from your era. CHeck out - http://midwayjoesnavy.myqth.com/70_Trathen_DD5.html

Hey rb, it seems that the USS Hank DD702 also took part in the final sorte by the Japanese Navy. The 702 was part of DESRON 62.

This took place on April 7, 1945.

You guys have more in common than you may have known.

mm
YN2
USS Holland AS32
USS Mt. Whitney LCC20

mm

Hello rb again,

The Hank just had a reunion in September 2005 at Providence, RI. Did you attend?

mm

mikemo

Rave: So very many retired racing Greyhounds waiting for me over the Rainbow Bridge - I think/hope I can remember all their names.

Rant: The anticipated response to the next pandemic H5N1 Avian flu if/when it mutates (hey, this is real time Darwinian evolution for the fundamentalist loonies).

Rant: The irrational senate dems - CA: Feinstein, Boxer; DE: Biden; IL: Durbin and Obama (I thought Obama was maybe cabable of independent thought at one point, but now he is simply a party hack); on and on through HI, MA, MD, NY, NJ - no surprises there.
And folks ask why I live in MX.

Rant: The school yard brawl between Ronnie Earle and Tom DeLay to see whose is bigger - God knows how many tax dollars will be spent before this is over.

Rave: SMdA, as always.

Rave: Navy vets. USNS Comfort in NOLA.

M (fmr LCDR, MC)

ethel

Thank you everyone for your kind words and thoughts. This has been one of the worst days of my life. My body is at work but my head certainly isn't. It's with Hector. It sucks because I'm sitting in my cubicle fine one minute and then the next I just break down. I didn't think I had it in me to cry so much. I dread the thought of going home after work. He used to meet us at the door with a little meow and it's going to take a lot of getting used to not to have that to come home to anymore. I just feel like a part of me has been ripped out and is now gone forever. Thanks for your support everyone, I really need it.

P_M

ethel, I know what you mean about coming home from work. I remember how I felt the first day I came home and my beloved dog wasn't there to greet me. It takes time, but please know that there will evenutally be healing. I don't expect you to believe me now, but it won't always hurt so much.

When we lost our dog, I didn't want another dog because I thought there was no way I could love another dog so much. But DH insisted that we get a new dog right away. I knew I wasn't going to win that fight so I went along with it. We got our new puppy, and at first it felt like she wasn't our dog, we were just keeping someone else's dog. But after a few days I was in love again!! This is not to say it made the pain go away completely. Our new dog did not take her place, but she did help to fill the void that was left by our departed dog. Everyone is different, and I cannot tell you when the time is right to get a new kitty. But you will know.

More hugs to you, ethel.

ethel

We will definitely get a new kitty but I'm in no hurry right now. I think I want to wait until we buy a house and maybe then we can get 2. I know it'll get easier but right now that seems so far away!

elizabeth_reed

Ethel, there comes a point when you will remember more about the happy times and less about the passing. I've also found this to be true about people.

I was fortunate that when Reba died it was Friday afternoon and I had all weekend to cry. By the time I got to work Monday morning I felt better, and it warmed my heart to see two pictures of her. About 11 weeks later, we got a cutie named Max. He has totally healed my saddened heart. Each pet has its own personality, but it makes me feel good that Reba's favorite toys are Max's favorite toys. At 14, we know Garth's better days are behind him, but we also know that we'll survive more loss and will find another loving kitty when the time is right.

mikemo

ethel,
The rr greyhounds are seriously like big cats. They require almost no space. One of my two last - a middle-aged male slept with my ancient cat (and me) every night.
M