Waving Hello to Laurie

Waving Hello to Laurie
and Other Adventures in the Twin Cities

Yup. I actually waved hello to Laurie, figuratively not literally, but waved just the same. The waving to Laurie was one simple email I managed to get out of the hospital. Their WiFi wasn't really working much that weekend, so I was happy to get one email out. Fun to surprise her with a virtual wave!

We had to make an unplanned trip up to St. Paul last weekend to be there for my father. My sister, Laura, and her husband, Bill, were also there. Actually they'd been there all week and needed us to take over for the weekend. We gladly pitched in.

Dad had some complications after a total right hip replacement. Things happen, so we were there to help him get past them. We drove up Friday and back down on Monday. Very glad we did. He needed his family with him.

Our daughter, Sarah, flew up from St. Louis and nursed her him through the worst of it. If any one was the "hero of the moment," I would say Sarah was. Really sweet to see.

I'm happy to report that my Dad is now in rehab and doing well. We felt good about leaving him there. He's in good hands.




At one point, we got to show Sarah where we met, the old Chimera Theater, now a History Museum, in downtown St. Paul. She was very interested, newlywed that she still is.

When we left for the Twin Cities, we had to try to beat the snow bearing down on Kansas City from Colorado. No snow as we turned north on Hwy. 35. Yay! We raced through Iowa, feeling the snow at our backs.

When we drove back down on Monday, the area was really strange: the ice was still on the trees from last week's ice storm and now snow was added to the landscape. Here's a photo taken from the car in the southern part of Iowa.

When I got home, it was Maul the Kitty Time. Hamilton got bunches of hugs. I always try to make up for leaving him behind when I go on an adventure. You can tell he's putting up with me, not terribly angry, because his eyes are at half-mast and his ears are forward. Cat Language, for those of you un-versed in the language of the cat.

Ode to Laurie's Three Dog Blog and Amy's Blog to the Bone

She doesn't know it but I'm a lurker on Laurie's wonderful Three Dog Blog. I am not a dog-person at all, but reading her blog makes me realize I might have been in another life. I love her adventures that aren't dog related, too: the Russian Series, the Birth of a Hack Series, her Family Photos Stories, and yes, I even love her Walks with the Dogs Stories.

I found her blog by skipping off a link on Amy's Blog to the Bone. I am in a new phase of my life, having just retired from over 30 years of teaching high school science. Now I work for a Paramedic-EMT Association called Memsa and I actually get breaks and a lunch hour in this job. I usually read, but one day I didn't have a book and since I've read ALL of Amy's Blog, I skipped over to Three Dog Blog and printed it out, all 136 pages of it. And I read it all, and by the time I'd reached the end, there was more up on the site to read!

So you could say I was hooked. Of course, the BIG difference between Amy and Laurie and me if they are Real Writers, and I'm a Hobby Writer. Which means I know good writing when I read it.

And Laurie got me thinking how interesting reading about three dogs and two people taking walks in the rain can be. I wondered if my very different life with one husband and two cats could be at all interesting. Not that I can compare my writing to Laurie's or Amy's. But at least I feel emboldened to try.

I have a connection to Amy because she's married to my brother, and I love her and her wonderful family. She's been a blessing for my brother and all of us in our family. She devoted her life to the girls and is just now back into a more personal adventure. I'm proud of her--to the end of time.

And I have a connection to Laurie, however tenuous, because Warren and I started out in the grand city of Minneapolis over 33 years ago. I can relate to the places in her blog, Duluth--I used to take my Hopkin's 6th grade students to a camp north of Duluth, the bridge that came down--I drove over it one month earlier while driving from my Dad's place in St. Paul to my girlfriend, Carol's, house in Richfield. She is living that alter-life I might have had, if we had stayed in Minneapolis instead of heading south in search of radio jobs for Warren.

So thank you, Laurie and Amy. I'm gonna give it a try!