OMG. Where do I start? Let me think. Does 3-ring circus mean anything to ya’ll? That is southern for “you all”. It has been so crazy that I have been remiss in writing on this blog. Let’s see. Okay, so here goes.
Sometimes going backwards makes perfect sense and this is one of those times. It is Friday morning. I’m sitting in the family room at the Tibbett’s watching Carol Ann and Patsy make a coat for Patsy. She intends to wear it tonight to her tap dancing dress rehearsal that we will all attend after dinner at Bernie’s house which is just down the street. Where is Ray? He is out looking for brother Billy who just called from somewhere because his hose (on his truck) broke. We’re using his other truck so Ray had to go off to look for him and help him get the thing running again.
Billy has a lot of trucks. A collection of sorts. The third truck is parked in his driveway with a flat front tire. Looks like it’s been there for awhile.
But I digress. Everyone got up late this morning. We had a very exciting time the day before which really began on Wednesday night when Carol Ann’s heart started racing. Now, Carol Ann looks very healthy but looks can be deceiving. She has 5 stents, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and something else. So, when her heart started racing, the scene became very scary. She gobbled up two nitro pills and another big white pill and things started settling down. About two hours later, the heart started racing again. This time it was time to call 911. (I think we were watching my France DVD and it must have frightened her. Who knew?) Before you knew it (though at the time it felt like forever, a whole gaggle of good looking fire department guys took over the family room. Why do they where all those clothes that look like they came to put out an actually fire? But I digress. They were followed by a very tall drink of water of a woman who was the paramedic. They hooked Carol Ann up to a variety of equipment and as it was explained to everyone, they slowed her heart down to almost nothing (eek) and then let it resume it’s function. This did slow her heart down. They had a machine that monitored her and printed a variety of information out. It was terrifying and interesting all at the same time. Then they carted her off to the hospital. Paula rode in the ambulance and Ray and I followed in the truck that Billy had lent us that he is now in trying to find Billy whose other truck gave out somewhere near a Seven-Eleven store on some big street.
Paula, and Ray and I sat in the hospital waiting room for an hour to see Carol Ann. While we were there, cousin Bernie showed up. We took turns visiting Carol Ann until it was determined that they were admitting her for observation overnight. Then we came back to the house about 10:30 p.m. and drank heavily.
Yesterday we hung around the house waiting to hear from Carol Ann. We didn’t want to call her and disturb her. Finally about noon Ray and I went to the hospital and as luck would have it they had just given Carol Ann permission to leave. So we brought her home and tried to keep things quiet (almost an impossibility). Patsy and Bernie, Sr., decided to return from their timeshare in North Carolina because so much as happening. So they were home when we returned from the hospital.
Have I mentioned that everyone in this family loves to talk. There is never a dull moment. Conversation is riveting. Everyone talks all the time either to each other or to some other family member on the phone. And let me tell you about phones. Everyone owns a cell phone. So that means that everyone can call one another. And they do it all the time. If they aren’t here talking to each other, they are on the phone talking to someone. So, phones are ringing constantly. “I’ll get it”, or “Who’s phone is that?” are common refrains. Also, where is my phone? In Billy’s case, that was an every day event. He may set a world record driving back and forth to his house to find his phone. It is just a hoot.
But I digress. Ray had arranged a conversation with his brother, Mark, to discuss the probate issues and the will. And that was a whole other story which out of privacy for the innocent and guilty I will not discuss…other than to say this might not have been exactly what Carol Ann needed for her heart. Oh, well. Before the meeting, Ray and I went out to get a copy of a letter that I had written re: the tree in the neighbor’s back yard.
The tree? Yes, that was the opening (blog) picture. This big tree is on the move and they are afraid it will fall on to their house or in their yard. So, I helped them write a letter to the neighbors asking them to deal with their tree. Seems in VA, if a tree from the neighbor falls on your house, you’re liable. Cousin Freddie said that if you write a letter and notarize it and send it to the neighbor, you might not be so liable. So, a letter was written. But we couldn’t print it out here because Bernie, Sr.’s printer doesn’t work and no one could get it to work. Much time was spent on it by his son, Tim. This meant we needed to figure out another way. And I did. But this involved finding the place and we ended up in a residential neighborhood when we went to the address for a Fed/Ex office. It turns out that we went to the address in Norfolk but the office was in Virginia Beach. Opps. Shades of France come to mind!!
So, where am I? Ray has returned. He rented a car (very good idea). I found a UPS office that I could download the letter to via the internet and we will go pick it up assuming we can find this place!! And maybe we can go shopping just to get out and walk without getting lost!! We did and it was great stretching the legs plus I got a vexing Apple issue resolved at the Apple store. There were more people in the Apple store than any other store at the mall. It was a mob scene. Very fun.
Oh, last night of our visit (Friday) the family got together at a local restaurant for dinner. First there were 11, then 13, people. Trish was still in town. Trish is Billy’s daughter that lives in Florida near Ft. Lauderdale. She’s 22 and trying to return home. The thing is, she bought a one way ticket to Norfolk. So, she was on a mission from god to get back home. Now, Bernie knows the ins and outs of airline travel. So he volunteered to help her fly standby, thereby reducing the cost of the trip for her. Long story short…she booked a flight from Norfolk to Charlotte to Palm Beach. She missed that flight because she overslept…by about 3 hours. So then Bernie helped book her later the same day from Norfolk to Philly to Palm Beach. But when she went to check in they told her there was a 90% chance she’d be stuck in Philly overnite so she didn’t fly. Then Bernie booked her on the original itinerary for the following morning. As far as we know she made it! All of this caused many phone calls and conversations. We didn’t know that she didn’t make the second flight until she showed up for dinner thus expanding the group for dinner. You can’t make this stuff up.
We picked up the tab and everyone appreciated it and they all went home quite full. When we left, the plan was that Trish was flying out in the morning, We were flying out at 1 p.m., Paula was flying out at 1:45 p.m. Mark was fling back from a college game in North Carolina on Sunday. Carol Ann was flying to Jacksonville on Sunday. And then things would return to normal for the Tibbetts family in Norfolk. They will need to rest but won’t be able to because the phones will still be ringing, I’ll bet!!!
Made it home with fond memories and some pictures which I include here at the end because it is easier to do it that way (translation, I don’t the easy way to inject them after the prose is written).
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