April is over, and good riddance.
For much of April, I complained about the super-slow arrival of spring this year. How the temperatures were so much colder than normal. How we had just a couple days of nice weather. We had highs in the 40s, 50s and 60s last April, and even a few 70s--where were they?
We're tough people up here and can deal with severe winters. But (speaking for myself), I only get down when it's spring on the calendar but winter doesn't want to leave. Like last week, when I had two track meets called off. It was rainy and windy on Tuesday. On Thursday, we had snow mixed with the rain and wind.
Everybody around here eagerly awaits the return of nice weather. The robins pecking on our lawns look mighty confused. I can almost hear them calling their travel agents: "Are you sure you booked us on the right flight?"
So we were feeling sorry for ourselves--and then those horrifying tornadoes in Alabama put our weather miseries in pretty good perspective. That's as bad as it gets--lives uprooted, cities torn apart, damage that will take many years to heal.
I don't have any friends who live there, but my friend S's girlfriend is from Birmingham. She told me that her people got through the storm all right. Things can be replaced; people can't.
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I never wrote about my mid-April trip to Detroit, did I? In short, everything went well. It was windy almost all the time, and we drove through snow for much of the trip home--but thankfully the roads were warm enough that it melted right away. Of course, it was a very long drive--over 1,100 miles, total.
We didn't do much besides visiting my son and his girlfriend and their apartment. We also did some shopping; mainly, my younger son did. I think about the only stuff I bought for myself were two magazines when we stopped at a Borders book store. (I mostly buy e-books now, for my reader.)
Despite that, I probably spent more than anyone else, including the kids: My debit card was used for all our meals, including stops at Chili's and Red Robin, and also for several tanks of gas at $3.99 per gallon. (Since then, the price rose as high as $4.29 before dropping back to $4.19 just this morning.)
The kids (my son and his GF) will be up here over Memorial Day. That's just three weeks away now. There could be some big news coming out of that visit.
Things with K have gone very well. I visited her the Tuesday after we got back from the Detroit trip--just for an afternoon and evening; I drove back home at 9 p.m. Then my wife and I visited K and her boyfriend that Saturday; we went out for pizza and then went to their place for an intense game of Uno. My wife met K for the first time, and everyone got along well. The two couples will probably have more get-togethers in the months to come.
K and I had our own get-together last weekend. But our first overnighter will also be our last overnighter on a Saturday; my wife said wants me to stay home on Saturdays so we can do this and that (shopping, errands, etc.), and she also likes to make special meals we can enjoy together on unhurried nights. No problem. Working out these issues is just part of making poly work for both of us, and her feelings matter.
(This won't affect a trip to Oshkosh that K and I are planning late this month. Two days and one night, when we will visit S and her girlfriend.)
My friend N has been down lately. After she had to have the vet put one of her dogs down, she caught a bad cold in her throat/chest that threw her for a loop for several weeks. Part of the problem is being depressed over the cold, snowy spring weather.
But the weather is finally getting better. When I called her one sunny day last week, she asked me: One of her other boyfriends had called and asked her to go for a drive and dinner later that day. I said, Go for it! Get some sun!
She sounded so discouraged when I called her a few days earlier; now she is on the way back. She even sounded feisty in her most recent e-mail. I'll find out for sure next week.
One more piece of news. Long-time readers may remember my wife's trips to Branson, Mo., these last two years. She took both those trips without me--she wanted me to come along, but both were right in the middle of my busy fall season. And, frankly, Branson doesn't interest me.
This year, the travel agency plans a trip to Chicago in late July. It's less than a week--I'll be back in time to cover weekend events--and it does look interesting. So the decision has been made: When my wife gets on the big bus in late July, I will be in the seat next to her.
Now that I think of it, it takes place less than two weeks from our 40th anniversary. We had discussed what we can do to mark the occasion, such as a special trip, but hadn't come up with an idea.
Well, maybe now we have.
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There's so much other stuff I could write about. It's so hard to find time, though.
Right now, I've got to take my wife shopping. Then pictures at a kids' track meet. Then my wife and I are going to Iron Mountain for shopping, a dinner and a movie. A Mother's Day observance when the restaurants aren't quite so crowded.
