Dan and Shelley

The children were at Michele’s when I arrived Friday night.  I made pretty good time from Columbus partly because I worked at the South office that day and partly because I don’t drive slow.  The intent was to get a few beers and relax that night however I didn’t want to stop and just wanted to be back with my Shelley so we passed on the beers.  When I got there, Shelley  greeted me as usual and since neither of us were hungry, we spent a while simply being in each other’s arms.  Finally, we ate some dinner and went to bed.

When the alarm sounded Saturday morning around noon, neither of us wanted to get up.  We laid in bed for a while before finally realizing that a full hour had passed and that we were running late.  We quickly showered, dressed, and headed out.  Shannon was in a wedding and needed her hair done among other things.  I don’t really understand this process, Nicky and I simply played with his cars for a while.  After things were all done, and everyone was ready, Shelley and I departed with Nicky for the “man store” (Home Depot) and Burger King.  Since he is finally potty trained, this was his reward.  After getting a table from Shelley’s grandmother, we went home only to have to make a trip to WalMart for some drain unclogger….the shower was plugged.  The trip was for nothing though, as it did not work.  After getting home, we got Nicky ready for bed and he was asleep straight away.  Shannon called around 22:30 and wanted to come home.  She was done at the wedding so Shelley went and got her while I moved Nicky and made sure everything else was in order.  When Shannon got home, she went to bed rather quickly.  Shelley and I were fairly quick to follow being very tired ourselves.

As is usual, Nicky woke us up more than once throughout the night before Shelley took him back to his bed.  Finally he fell asleep with us for a while.  When he finally got up, Shelley got up as well and let me sleep for a bit longer.  Since the shower/bathtub was still clogged, when I got up I did not take a shower either.  After getting dressed Shelley started laundry.  I ended up running to the store for a pipe snake and money order for the apartment we are going to move into.  After and hour or so with the pipe snake, however, we were not able to break the clog loose.  We ate breakfast (or really lunch at this point) then Shannon went outside.  Nicky ended up laying down for a nap while Shelley and I worked on the drain.  Finally, the solution presented itself, in the form of a butter container lid.  After making a small hole in it, and driving the screw for the overflow though it, we created enough of a seal to plunge the clog through.  We got it running again then ran the drain unclogger down it again just to make sure it was gone.  According to Shelley, it has never flowed this well since she moved it.  After our fun with the clog, Shelley and I both took a Shower and woke Nicky up so that he wouldn’t sleep too long.  After a very good dinner of some sort of chicken casserole I won’t even try to pronounce, which was very good, I had to had back to Columbus.  Our parting was long, as it always is, but not sad.  I think the knowledge of the fact that less that 3 weeks separate out move in and our living together.  As always my Shelley, I love you more than words and always will.

After a bit of a rough time apart, Dan decided to take an extra day off of work and come out to spend some extra time together.  For those keeping track, that would have meant he had a three day work week with having off for Labor day as well.  I didn’t complain at all as I was just happy to be back with him again.  So Thursday night he arrived just a little bit later to avoid the potential traffic problem with the NFL opener in Pittsburgh.  I already had the children in bed thankfully as we were both really tired ourselves.  We honestly curled up together and fell asleep.

Friday I let him sleep in some while I got the kids together and did Shannon’s school work.  By the time she was done she wanted to wake him up so he could take the training wheels off of her bike.  Yes, I know how to do it, but lacked the tools to do it.  Plus, it was nice to see how happy they were doing it and then to watch her being so very proud that she doesn’t need them anymore.  We even went for a little walk, her on her bike and Nicky on his little scooter.  We sat out in the yard for a decent amount of time that afternoon, letting them play outside while we talked.  The evening passed by in calm easy going way.

Saturday, after sleeping in and having some breakfast we made our way down to the library again… well, we tried.  I don’t know what was going on then, but Oakland was a mad house and there was no where to park.  So we went on to the park there and had a blast.  By the end of the day, Dan was worn out just as much as the children  because Shannon had him chasing her throughout the park and all over the equipment.  Everyone was ready for bed that night.  Dan and I stayed up for a while as he was teaching me more about coding… I think I understand it better when we are having a few beers.

Sunday we again attempted to go to the library and again failed miserably.  I really detest having to try and park in Oakland.  We went back to the park, took a few pictures of all of us together that didn’t turn out all that well primarily because the kids just really wanted to go play and they were still more than a little tired.  I did cave in to the ice cream truck… I really hate that guy.  We spent a comfortable afternoon at home talking about a lot of different things truthfully about the move coming up.  I had Dan cook dinner that night, even if he wants to argue and say that I did it.  He made spaghetti with a meat sauce and garlic bread.  His idea was to throw in some sliced jalapeno peppers in at the last minute (after getting some out for the children) and it was excellent.  Most likely the best spaghetti diner I ever had.  I will definitely have to remember to do that again in the future.  However like always we had to part.  Somehow though, this one wasn’t that bad.  Primarily I think because we know that we will be living together soon, though not soon enough.

Since Shelley had an interview here Friday, we went back and forth for a while debating about what to do then finally decided that Michele would watch the kids, Shelley would come out here for the interview, then we would both head back out there, picking up the children on Saturday morning sometime.  The first part of this plan went off without a hitch, Shelley came out and even had enough time to have lunch with me and get a tour of the new office.  I met her after work, we both got fuel and drink, then headed out.  Traffic was a mess, as usual, and we make it our of Columbus later than normal but we weren’t making all that bad of time cruising around 75MPH.  Not long into the trip, however, Shelley called and said that Shannon was at the hospital so this changed things a bit.  After checking with the truckers on the CB, we wound it up to around 100MPH and flew the whole way there.  Honestly, the trip was a blur, and Shelley said we actually shaved some 45 minutes off our trip.  We were at the hospital for a few hours, then went and got Nicky and headed home with the both of them.  We set up the air mattress in the living room and Shannon and Nicky watched TV for a while.  Shelley and I were both drifting in and out of sleep as it was well past midnight at this point.  I don’t think everyone was asleep until somewhere around 1:30 though since I had passed out well before this myself, I’m not quite sure.

Saturday was fairly laid back.  As we headed out Shelley’s car was making an awful grinding noise from the passenger front tire.  After tearing it all the way apart and removing the break caliper, I put it back together, released a bit of the pressure from the brake line, and checked it.  It seemed to be fine at this point so we headed out.  We went to the library to get Shannon’s books then to the park to let them play for a while.  We then headed home and stayed there the rest of the day.

Sunday passed as it usually does, far to quickly.  Shelley let me sleep in though I continue to tell he that she doesn’t have to.  She also did my laundry for me, which I am very grateful for.  Nicky actually laid down for a nap and Shelley and I watched Robin Hood – Men in Tights.  Still a funny movie, no matter how many times I have see in.  Time to leave arrived far too son, as it usually does.  I made sure I had what I needed, said goodbye to Shannon, Nicky, and Shelley, then set off.  I always hate driving away….I wish I didn’t ever have to.  Shelley, I truly cannot wait to be back in your arms, where I truly belong.  I love you.