BUT WE MUST NOT FORGET TO SING IN THE LIFEBOATS.
Voltaire
Man, I'm sure glad I had not read THIS quote before we went on our cruise. Since I can't swim a lick, and can't sing at all, I would have been in deep trouble.
I'm feeling kinda sorry that my Little Ma is not going to Florida this year. Every January or February, for the last 45 years or so, off she went to spend some of the winter in the sunshine. After my father-in-law passed, Lon, or sometimes Lon and me, or sometimes Zonna and her husband have taken Little Ma. I know that is an important part of her life and she has been doing it for so long so it's going to feel really strange not going. The reason, I'm afraid, is that Lon is staying here for my last chemo on February 3rd and then surgery a few weeks later. I told him I could handle the treatment just fine, if he wanted to take her. Perhaps I could even catch a plane and fly down and ride back with them. The Aligiant flight only takes three hours.
Sometimes on our trips down, we were fortunate enough to time it early in the evening, so that we could stop and see some good friends in Atlanta. But most times we were driving right through town at 11;00 at night, seeing the beautiful lights of all the buildings, and in the sky, a whole string of lights as planes were lined up to land at the airport. My friend, Sandy, works at the airport and she's seen a lot of funny and strange things. I hope she doesn't mind me telling her "John Jacobs" (changed his real name to protect the innocent) story, but since our theme for today is traveling, I'll give it a shot. I'm not even sure if I have the details right, but this is a general idea of what happened.
Sandy was an inspector at the Atlanta Airport. One day a man came through her line and put his possessions in the x-ray tub. Sandy happened to notice that those items were: a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, a fancy belt buckle and an elaborate microphone that he had been hand-carrying. Sandy told the man that she bet she knew what his occupation was - a RODEO ANNNOUNCER. The man was pleased and surprised that she was observant and knowledgeable enough to guess correctly. (Sandy has friends who are involved in rodeoing in Iowa). She then asked him if he knew a rodeo friend of hers, John Jacobs from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Why, yes!, he knew John Jacobs from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and he was headed to C.R. in a few weeks to work an event. Sandy laughed and told him if he ran into her friend, to say, "Hi, y'all, from Sandy from Atlanta!" Shortly after that, Sandy called her sister, Sharon, in C.R. and told her the story.
Skip ahead a few weeks. Sharon is working (yup, as an inspector at the Cedar Rapids Airport), when who should just happen to come through her line? A man put his possessions in the x-ray tub; a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, a fancy belt buckle and an elaborate microphone. So, Sharon tells the man that she bets she can guess what his occupation was - a RODEO ANNOUNCER. Sharon ran through the whole routine that Sandy had, saying the exact lines that she had, only finishing it with, "If you run into John Jacobs, tell him Hi, y'all from Sharon from Cedar Rapids." That poor guy must have felt he was in the Twilight Zone - having two pretty ladies say almost the exact same thing to him at two different airports a thousand miles apart.
Well, if I can't make it to Florida this winter, perhaps Nina and I will take a little three-day week-end trip somewhere and get some R & R. Sounds good.
Oh, and if any of you happen to go through the airport at either Cedar Rapids or Atlanta and see anyone who has a nametag on that says SANDY or SHARON, just tell them "Hi, y'all, from Janene!"
GOD BLESS YOU ALL