For The First Time In Years ......

...... I'm experiencing a true Fall.
And wow, does it feel great!!

I arrived in NY last night, with Oliver in tow.
He was quiet during the entire trip ...... right up until the pilot announced we were starting our descent.  I'm not sure if that announcement made it through his drug-induced haze, but if so, he was evidently less than thrilled to be landing in NY.
Fortunately, I was the only one who could hear him.
I didn't realize that, so I kept leaning down and sticking my hand inside his carrier to pet him and try to calm him down.
I also kept chuckling because he was being so loud.
Evidently no one else noticed what I was doing, or thought I was just insane, which is of course, true.

After we landed and I had taken my bag out of the overhead, I reached down and pulled his carrier out from under the seat in front of me and sat it down on my seat.
The guy who sat next to me in the middle seat looked at the carrier and then at me and seemed flabbergasted.
He said, "I had NO idea that you had her/him down there!"
I laughed and said, "Good.  He had good drugs.  Which have evidently worn off."
I was sitting about half way back in the plane and at that point, I think everyone behind me could hear Oliver.  There was much laughing and pointing going on.
I'm sure the laughter was in total relief that he didn't meow his head off like that during the flight.
It's amazing how much cuter a pet and/or baby is on an airplane when the flight is over and people are surprised that they were there in the first place.

I was standing outside the airport, waiting on the car to arrive to take me to the apartment when the flight attendants from our flight walked by me.  I didn't notice them until one of them stopped as she was walking past and looked at the carrier that was sitting on my bag.
"What is that?!", she asked.  I thought about telling her it was a baby, but only for a nano second.  You know, sometimes a meowing cat and a crying baby sound eerily alike.
I told her that it was a cat and she replied that she had NO idea that I had him on the plane.  I informed her that the guy next to me said the same thing.
Then she proceeded to tell me a lovely story about being on a recent flight with a service dog.  They were delayed in San Francisco and the dog evidently chose that time to have to relieve herself.  She said that they were sticking newspapers under her to try to get her to "go". Instead, she ran to the back of the plane and then let loose.  And it wasn't urine that was loosed.  And, speaking of loose ...... yep, evidently she was having some intestinal problems.  The flight attendant didn't describe it that way ..... she used the "d" word.  And said it was all over the place.
Hopefully you're not eating anything while reading this.
But if you are, aren't you glad I didn't use the "d" word?
You're welcome.

So Oliver and I made it to the apartment, and he was pretty calm in the car.  But as soon as we got in the apartment he started stating his opinion about the whole trip ...... loudly.  And pathetically.  I didn't let him out of the carrier until I had a litter box set up (thank you Amazon for free shipping, making it one less thing I had to pack).
Daughter #3 videoed him because his meow was so annoying.  I think he was still drugged, which made him sound almost guttural ...... and also made his eyes look a little more crazy than usual.
After he walked through the apartment, loudly voicing his displeasure, I carried him in to meet Jack. They both just stared at each other through drugged cat eyes.
I doubt that either remembers it today.

Speaking of Jack, his surgery went well on Tuesday and he seems to be mending.  Daughter #1 is keeping him in her bedroom.  That's supposedly because the surgeon said to keep him calm and quiet (his jaw is wired together, which sounds, and is, horrible but at least it doesn't have the expected plate in it) ...... but I think it's probably because she doesn't trust me.  And probably won't for the next 10 years or so.
Sigh ......

So today I went up to the roof and worked out for an hour.  Which means that I probably won't be able to get out of bed tomorrow.  But at least it felt good today.  I plan to keep it up.
Of course, "best laid plans ..." and all that.

I ran a couple of errands after that, unpacked 3 large suitcases that had mostly household stuff and DVDs, showered and then went back up to the roof to sit outside and read.
It was glorious.
The sitting outside and reading part.  The errands, unpacking and showering were average.

Tomorrow is our first Soaring Spirits regional group meeting in NY.  There may be about 15 people or so there.  Which is amazing and awful all at the same time.
But hopefully fun.

And then on Sunday I'm flying back to Houston so that I can play in a tennis match on Monday.  No, it wasn't a part of my original plan, which is why my miles points are now cut in half.
And that's all I'm going to say about that.
Except that I return to NY on Tuesday.

I think that you're mostly caught up with me now.
Which is a lot more than I can say for myself.

Except for this ...... I've decided that maybe I shouldn't watch any more of the new "Star Trek" movies. The newest one was the movie on the plane.  I had seen it before, but chose to plug in my earphones and watch it again.
There are a couple of scenes in there that made me cry.  Which was hugely embarrassing.  Because .... it was a full plane and well, I felt stupid.
Except it wasn't the movie itself that brought the tears.  It was the fact that someone died and it took me back.  Back to going back and seeing Jim for the last time.
Not Jim, really.  But his body.
Which makes me cry now but Oliver is the only one in the room with me so it's not quite so embarrassing.
But it still hurts.
Still.
Damn.

And I had wanted to end on a good note.
Except that I don't sing all that well so I'm not sure that would've been possible anyway.
Get it?
Never mind.

Thanks for keeping up with me, Peeps.
I know it's not an easy job.

And have a great weekend.
:)