SAME AS IT EVER WAS

Life is slowly getting back to normal as the knots in my stomach slowly loosen.  I hope to be able to speak to Mama personally this afternoon, at which time I hope she doesn't reach out and touch me with her foot right across my back side.  She specifically told me not to worry.  I promised I wouldn't, but I did.  I worried like a, a... well, I worried like a daughter.  Hmmmm, I think she'll understand that.

Zack seems happy with his new job.  He's working for the sugar refinery in the little town of Clewiston near the southern tip of Lake Okeechobee.  I guess its a really small town because he keeps on saying 'it a really small town!' .  Well, according to Dickidoo, it has a McDonalds and a Wal~Mart so it can't be that small!

Gabe is enjoying 4 day weekends in anticipation of his fast approaching deployment so he is spending as much time as he can with his son Zachary and his fiancee.  Did I mention the baby's due date has been moved up to the end of August?  Woo hoo!

So anyhow, life has taken its kid gloves off it wore while I was so stressed out this past week and is treating me as before.  The three remaining Oompas are no longer behaving and acting all nice and alien like.  They're fussing and hollering, but stop short of down right fighting.  That still has me a little worried but I figure I may as well enjoy it while it lasts.  I'll figure out which galaxy they came from later.

The trains, which ran on time and didn't block my way earlier in the week, are back off schedule and as contrary as ever.  Seems the only time they're late is when I'm late, and down comes the barricade with the flashing lights and obnoxious ding ding dinging.  The other day the train moved at a slow crawl so I stuck my head out of Big Red and hollered "Can you go any slower?"  Apparently the engineer heard me.  Yes, he could go any slower.  In fact he could go much slower.  Note to self, the Rio Grande engineers have a warped sense of humor, and very keen hearing.

And I have discovered something that is worse than having one's jean's zipper breaking in public and not being able to zip one's pants back up...  How about having one's zipper breaking BEFORE you can use the bathroom and not being able to zip them DOWN!  Oh buddy, I was doing the extreme potty dance and fixing to knaw my jeans off or drown when I was finally able to shift my curves in the right combination so that I could slide the jeans down.  Getting them back up was just as difficult but there was no sense of urgency then, and nobody outside the stall banging on the door inquiring if everything was alright. 

"I'm fine, dammit, go buy me a pair of jeans... better make them a size 13!"