Traveling companion
The fear of flying with my cat is mounting as each day passes. I read websites that give great advice but then back that up with scary stories and words of caution. I fear that Macaroni will not be allowed to fly with me for some reason. Or that we will get to Detroit okay but not from Detroit to Harrisburg. Or that he will cry THE ENTIRE FLIGHT. Or get sick. Or be subject to a strip search. But my biggest fear was not finding a carrier that will fit the plane regualtions, my budget and Macaroni's big bottom. Thank goodness I accidentally fed him weight managemtn food for so long. That fear has somewhat subsided now.
Today I went to PetCo and after much searching and agonizing and sweating and worring and measuring... I think (emphasis on think) that we have found a winner. When Noodle and I first decided to fly I went to my mom's attic and pulled down his pet taxi and was ready to go. Then I read ALL the airline regulations and realized that my taxi was three inches too tall. My grandparents found one that was the correct size but was soft sided. Because what is going to hurt him in the event that the plane crashes is not going to be the oxygen deprivation or being smashed underneath the passenger in front of me but the saving grace will be the ridged side of his pet taxi.
Then I checked ALL the airline regulations AGAIN and you can take a soft sided carrier so today my mother and I went to PetCo with a sleeping David and fumbled and stormed and stewed over the appropriate carrier. We decided on a blue soft sided carrier that opens from top and front. Only when I got it to my mother's Jason and Jaime both asked if Noodle would be able to fit. So now I am going to go to my empty apartment to my lonely cat and try it out. I may have a nervous breakdown before all of this is over. Stay tuned bacuse that could be amusing for you.
Fly away home.
Macaroni and I are officially booked for a flight to P.A. on October 2nd. We have an hour layover in Detroit and total travel time is 4 hours, 11 minutes and one time change. My flight was booked through Northwest by way of Continental by way of Cheap Tickets.com. Booking a flight is more difficult than I remember. Of course I have not booked a flight myself in about 7 years and I am flying with a cat. I was not thrilled about flying my cat to P.A.. Two years ago when I flew to Chicago (a ticket I did not book myself) my steel lined suitcase was crushed and dented beyond repair. When my family suggested flying my mind drew a mental picture of a crushed and dented cat. I also feared that I would end up in P.A. and my cat would end up in L.A.. I have, however, been assured that for the low price of $80.00 my cat will be guaranteed a cubbie hole under the seat of the passenger in front of me. The disclaimers are the cat must be able to freely move in his 27" x 17" x 9" carrier and in case of an emergency my cat will NOT be administered oxygen. Thanks for the warm fuzzy feelings.
My hero
I have avoided writing about my brother for the pure fact that everytime I start to my eyes fill with tears and I cannot see the screen. Jason has been my hero for as long as I can remember. In the early years of my life I am sure that he was my hero because I can see the pictures that my family took of us and if a picture is really worth a thousand words than all the words expressed in those pictures were ones of admiration for my big brother. Now don't get me wrong there were years that I didn't understand my brother and years that we didn't get along all of the time but that was while he was in high school and I was in my annoying little sister phase.
After Jason moved to Lawrence he and I started to get closer, it is amazing what distance can do. I have stacks of letters that he wrote me while he was in college. It was when he moved to Kansas City that our relationship became unique. He would take jobs house sitting or pet sitting and I would come up and stay weekends with him. Everything about those weekends was perfect except for the drive home, which I tried to prolong as much as possible. We would play Scrabble and eat Indian food, go to the park and read, see interesting movies. I loved our weekends together. Those years in K.C. forged our relationship.
When my brother told me he was getting married I was not happy. I did not like Jaime and I did not want him to marry her. As I explained to Jaime in a recent conversation it was not so much her as the fact that she was taking my brother. It was not until this last year that I saw that Jaime liked having me around too. She is not a jealous person when it comes to Jason and has never seemed to mind sharing him with me. She also has given my family the greatest gift in the world, my nephew.
My brother once told me that he blames himself for the heartaches of my childhood. I have never quite known how to respond except to say, Jason, you are the reason that I survived. You have been my guardian, my window to a world outside of my own, my shoulder to whine on, my fierce protector, but most of all my friend. I am moving to Pennsylvania for you, so that I can have a life that makes you proud, so that I can have a life were you don't have to worry about me. Someday I will move back to Kansas and live two houses down from you and Jaime. You will never be able to fully understand the magnitude of my love or admiration for you. You are still my hero and you have definitely secured that title by getting to watch the Yankees play the Royals from the press box! Don't worry, in our lifetime together distance has only made our relationship stronger. I will be back soon and in the meantime I promise to make you proud of me. Je'taime!
Don't whine about one child!
My brother has recently posted on his blog (David Jaime Jason), about the trials of loading and unloading a baby into an enormous car seat in a two door truck. He no longer gets to complain about this. Today I took David, Ellie and Alex on a field trip. Ellie and Alex are my roommates four and eight year old children. Getting three children into and out of a two door truck goes much like this. Walk everyone across the street to the truck, put David in the seat next to his car seat, get into the truck load David, get out of the truck, load Ellie's car seat into the truck, load Ellie into the truck, load the stoller into the back of the truck (being careful not to crush the balloons), pick up the bag of goldfish (the crackers not real goldfish) that has fallen on the ground and finally unlock the passenger side door for Alex to get in.
Getting out was pretty much the same only in reverse and with the added hassle of now doing all of this while keeping the helium filled balloons from escaping out of the car. I had to take Ellie's car seat out of the truck each time because the car seat is wide enough only to fit a 4 year olds butt and mine is a little wider. Somewhere out there is a family car just waiting for this family.
In other non-related news, my friend Will that I have known for almost ten years and who lives in North Carolina, is headed to Florida to help with the clean up from the previous two hurricanes that have struck. He is however, headed directly for hurricane Ivan which I just learned was upgraded to a rare category five. So please pray that Will returns from Florida safely so that I can know him for another ten years!
And that concludes this broadcast!
Goodbye's
There is a country song that has a line in it saying that "Goodbye's, easier said then done, Goodbye's there no fun when your the one who's Goodbye's you swore would never come.".
I turned in my two weeks notice at work on Friday and have started to explain to people my reason for leaving, that a college education is much easier to secure at my age if the pressure is eased by not working a minimum wage job and trying to pay $500 a month for an apartment. That Topeka is still the same as it was when I was five and that moving two hours from New York City has a lot of appeal. No matter how good the reasons for leaving the reality is that I don't want to go.
My reasons for wanting to stay are selfish reasons. I do not want people to take my place. I do not want my job to find a person that is capable of replacing me. I do not want my nephew to smile at a makeshift aunt. But most of all I do not want my roommates kids to have perfect weekends with anyone other than me.
This is a particularly difficult one because, unlike my family, my roommate will move on with life and there is a good chance that I will never see the kids again. Ellie, who is four, asked me the other day why she can't just come with me. I told her that she would miss her mom and dad, that her brother Alex, would not have anyone to pick on. These comments were met with blank stares but when I mentioned that Evan, her little black puppy, would get lonely she smiled and started to tell me about Evan going potty on the floor. I will miss her bumping into me because she is following me around the house to closely, I will miss her constantly asking me what I am doing and I will miss her chasing my cat around trying to get a hug, I will miss her wiggling around on my lap during a movie and sighing with boredom. I take comfort in knowing that I have contributed to their future. In knowing that they will never forget me and that our perfect weekends were highlights in their lives. More than that, I take comfort in knowing their new address so that I can bombard them with letters and presents thereby securing my status as the coolest and most favorite friend.
So to Alex and Ellie... I have loved our time together and will never say goodbye, only see you later, alligator!
