Sorry for the long silence...

Last week I accompanied Tom on a TDY (Temporary DutY) assignment to Langley AFB in Virginia. We had lived there for about thirteen years and I still know people there, so when Tom asked if I wanted to come along I agreed. I considered blogging from the library computers there, but they are doing some updates and the system crashes about every five minutes or so...it was too frustrating to even try! While Tom was busy with his conference, I tried to make contact with some old friends. I was actually successful in some cases, but not in others. My friend Bonnie hasn't written in about two years and I never did have a phone number for her new place...so I drove by to leave a note. There were two apartments, I didn't know the right one so I left a note at each. Sadly, no response to either. I don't know if she still lives there or not.

I did see Dr. H. and Greta at their office. I happened to stop in when they had a break so we could visit for a while. Greta and I had dinner the next night at Steak and Ale. I also stopped by the florist to see who was there. Derrick was the only person there who ever worked with me. We talked a few minutes. He doesn't know where Bonnie is, either. The last 'old friend' I saw was Lynda, one of the Scouting Moms. Her sons shared their Eagle ceremony with TJ and one other boy. Lynda and I had a nice lunch at the Thai restaurant I used to like when we were there and lots of chat.

We also did two dinners out with folks from the conference - one at Harpoon Larry's another at Steak and Outback Steakhouse. I managed to drive by my old houses, too. It was weird. Everything was the same, but different. It really did feel like coming home, though.

When we got home, I woke up not feeling well the next day and am just today feeling 100%. During that break we had an ACES meeting which didn't seem to accomplish a thing. We did lots of talking but couldn't agree on anything. We didn't even vote for the new officers as planned! We had to plan a special meeting just for that. What silliness. I also babysat for our neighbors, who brought home their new baby. Their two-year-old son was diagnosed with strep in the morning and the baby came home that afternoon. So Hannah, the daughter went with Daddy to get Mommy and baby Emma and Ben stayed with me at his house. Poor little guy really didn't feel well at all. He watched Aladdin' then crawled into my lap and just laid across me for a long time. Eventually he began to chatter away. He decided to get up, but when he did his legs were shaking...he's had a shot earlier in the day and it was sore, too. Eventually, the family came home and Ben was happy to see his Mommy.

Yesterday was a retirement for one of the sergeants at the base. The former squadron commander returned to officiate, and brought his lovely wife, former president of ACES. It was such a surprise to see her! She looked marvelous. Life in Virginia agrees with her. We went to the sergeant's home for a nighttime celebration of the event and saw a few more people we know.

Today, we are working on Ryan's Halloween costume. Tom is making a toolbox and tools for a "Handy Manny" costume. They look really cute! He even thought of getting a block of styrofoam so the tools can 'stand up' just like they do on the cartoon. I get to do the painting. I hope Ryan likes it!