Chapter 5 Honeymoon Adventure - Conclusion

This is a conclusion to the 4 chapter series of our Honeymoon adventure. Unfortunately, I have waited over 2 months to write this (and over a year to post), so I’m sure a few small details have escaped my memory. Rest assured, I will attempt to recreate the tale exactly as I remember it happening.

Following a hellish experience getting to Jamaica, we had the time of our lives at the Couples resort. We were treated like royalty and waited on hand and foot. Our every whim and desire was catered to, and always with a warm smile. In short, it was everything I could have hoped for…and more.

Of course, the sad day came that we had to leave. This was Friday the 22^nd, and we were scheduled to be in Reno by 3:00 P.M. on the 23^rd. We were originally scheduled to return to Reno at 10:00 P.M. on the 22^nd, but some changes were made, and we ended up opting for a layover in Ft. Lauderdale. Our hotel reservations were made prior to us leaving Susanville, so we knew we had a place to stay that would be close to the airport (although after our trip over, I knew there were no guarantees). We left our suite to catch the shuttle to the airport at around 5:00 a.m. because our flight was at 8:00 and the trip from our resort to the airport was roughly an hour and a half. This was a very interesting ride to the airport, and due to a few too many rum punches the previous evening, I wasn’t feeling 100%. We made it to the airport, however, with no problems. We breezed through security at the airport and made it to our gate in plenty of time, which I was relieved about due to the fact that we couldn’t find our gate at first. We wandered around the airport for better than 15 minutes asking people along the way where our gate was. Each person we asked pointed in a different direction than the last. Eventually we found it, had plenty of time to stop by the Margaretaville gift shop. As we were in line to board the plane, I hear that famous mispronunciation “Jeffrey Ho-nee-uh? Please come to the check in desk”. I reluctantly abandoned my spot in line (leaving Annie there as a space saver, of course. No cutsees allowed at the airport, after all), and made my way up to the ticket counter where the worker was holding my wallet. I guess my mild hangover and long week contributed to my slow thought process, but I just stood there for a minute trying to comprehend what the hell was going on. Why is she holding my wallet? Is she a magician? Who picked my pocket? I guess it was only a few seconds later she said, “here you left this at the gift shop”. I thanked her very much, collected my wallet and jumped back in line. We board the plane and take the short flight to Ft. Lauderdale Florida. The plane ride was fine other than the fact I had the worst seat on the plane; the lovely aisle seat directly across from the lavatory. I’ve never had that many asses in my face and not had to tip. Apparently no one uses the bathroom before they leave the airport, because for that short 50 minute flight, from the time they turned the seat belt sign off until they turned it back on, there was a constant line of people using the lavatory. By the way, those are NOT soundproof doors on that thing, just a little fun fact.

I expected customs to be a big hassle, and it was anything but. We made it through customs and collect our purple luggage (I love those suitcases). We are both beaten down tired and just wanting some food and sleep. So…we’re staying at the Hilton this evening. I know we have to find a shuttle to our hotel. This took us about a half hour of trying to find the right place to stand (seriously), figuring out we had to call the hotel, then finding the right place to stand again. We eventually make it on the shuttle and are on our way. We arrive at the Hilton, and it is a very nice hotel. We get checked in and get up to our room. The room is nothing special, but has about the most comfortable bed I have ever been on. We eventually settled on where to eat, which was a restaurant in the hotel. It was a somewhat fancy Italian place.

Now, we’re still in our vacation clothes, I haven’t taken a shower since Jamaica, and I feel a little strange walking in this place with my shorts, flip-flops and a hat; but we’re hungry and don’t too much care. This is a nice place that has real cloth napkins and they serve us water out of a bottle. Oh well. So we look at the menu and Annie decides what she wants, I decide what I want. Now…we’re not exactly the most elegant ones there, and I think we were starting to get stares from the other patrons. We were joking around, laughing and generally just being ourselves as we would have in say…a pizza parlor. Pretty soon, and I don’t know how, but a glass of water got knocked over and water went EVERYWHERE. We just giggled to ourselves and I asked the waiter if he had a paper towel. I don’t know why, of all the things I could have asked for, I asked for a paper towel, but that’s what came to mind, and I kind of winced as it spilled forth, and out of my mouth. The waiter didn’t seem to catch it though, and he got us a terry cloth towel so we could clean up. Of course we were definitely getting some dirty looks from the other uppity people now. Our plates came soon after and the waiter put the meal we each ordered in front of us. Since we didn’t leave a bad enough impression on this place, Annie decided she wasn’t satisfied with what she ordered and would rather have what I was having. Since I’ll eat anything we trade plates. When the waiter comes back to find out if everything is good, I noticed him do a small double take at our plates…then just dismissed it. We finished up and got our check. I put my card in the little book and the waiter takes it away. Shortly after, he returns and says “I’m sorry sir, your card was declined, do you have another?” I’m doing everything I can not to just start laughing. I KNOW we had plenty of money on the card, so I was a little upset to find out it had been declined. I tell him I’ll go up to the room and get some cash. I leave Annie there and run up to the room. I believe the bill was like…$57.00 so I make it up to the room and retrieve our cash. $48.00. Oh man…all I can think is that we’re going to end up washing dishes the rest of the evening. I go down to the restaurant and tell Annie what is going on. We’re starting to get worried now. I ask the man if he can charge the meal to my room (since I already checked in with my card) and he says he can. It occurs to me later, the reason our card was declined was due to the fact that I used it to check in. They put a block on the card to guarantee I won’t over spend on incidentals. We returned to our room and I got the best night of sleep I think I’ve ever had.

This all has nothing to do with our trip home, but I felt like throwing it in, since it was pretty humorous, and just reminded me of our trip over. When something could go wrong, it did for us. Back to the trip.

We woke up in plenty of time to be outside for the shuttle. There were a TON of people waiting, and I just knew that not everyone would make it on one shuttle. We bullied our way to the front of the crowd and snagged a seat on the van to ensure we would make it to the airport in time. We did. Our flight was to take off from Ft. Lauderdale to Salt Lake City. As I sat there in the chairs waiting for our plane, I did some people watching. It’s something to pass the time. I was amused to notice there were a large number of passengers that were all clean cut, pale white people with blonde hair. They were everywhere. And they were all broken into large groups. I knew by looking at them that they were Mormons. Of course, Annie scolded me about making assumptions. Not that I have a problem with Mormons, I just think it’s funny how well they fit that stereotype. We get on the plane, and of course, there are a bunch of kids on this flight. This flight is going to be about a 5 hour flight. I CAN’T WAIT! So we board the plane and notice one little girl keeps hassling one of the flight attendants. By the way, all of the flight attendants are clean cut pale white blonde people. I feel like I’m in the middle of a cult. Anyways, the flight attendant happens to be this little girl’s mother. Great. The whole flight the little girl (probably about 10 or 11 years old) felt like she wanted to help her mom. This didn’t bother me too much, except that she made WAY too many trips up and down the aisle to collect trash. It was the other Mormon kids a few rows in front of us that would run back and forth switching seats with another family a few rows behind us. I wanted to trip those little shits like you wouldn’t believe. I had an aisle seat, so of course I was getting bumped every 5 minutes, or whenever I started to nod off to sleep. On top of that, they had a toddler that screamed from the time we took off, until the time we landed.

We arrive at Salt Lake City and I can’t wait to bid all those Mormon’s adieu. We walk up to our gate, and notice a sign for our flight to Reno. “Delayed”. Of course it is. I took this opportunity to find a little bar in the airport where I slammed a big glass of beer just to settle my nerves a little. We are delayed for a full hour, and finally our plane arrives. We get in line to board, and damn it if that same Mormon family with the running kids and the screaming toddler isn’t in line with us. I just had to laugh at this point. What else could I do? I could almost sense this whole adventure nearing the end, so that’s all that got me through it. We all board the plane and the flight goes well. The kids have settled down and there are no issues. The flight was very quick and we made it to Reno only about an hour late. Our good friend Sarah was there waiting for us and we made it home. We were never happier to see Susanville than that afternoon we returned. It was a hell of a trip.

Our Trip to the ER

Jeff played softball last night. He was in the outfield and a fly ball came his way. He dove left to catch the ball and landed hard on his left shoulder. It would have been a beautiful play had he not dropped the ball, and had not ended up on the ground writhing in pain. He has been babying his left shoulder all season.

Last year, a few of his friends took him skiing for his birthday. He isn't an experienced skier, and when he fell, he caught himself with his left arm and ended up popping his shoulder out of the socket. He was able to pop it back in himself, but his shoulder hasn't been the same since.

Fastforward to softball season this year. His very first day of practice, he ended up trying to catch the ball wrong, and popped his shoulder out again. He had done this a few other times before, and he just walked it off and was able to play their first game the next week. Well, he's been really good about watching how he's been catching the ball all season...until last night! It's playoffs, so they all really wanted to win, especially against the team they were playing. He tried to catch the ball, and popped his should out of socket again. This time was different though. He didn't get up as quick as usual and he decided to sit out the rest of the game. As we're sitting on the sidelines he tells me that his arm is going numb and he's having a hard time feeling his fingers and that he thinks he needs to go to the ER. I knew this was serious because Jeff NEVER wants to go to the Dr. for anything.

So, we head over to the hospital and get him signed in. Thankfully, there weren't many people there and we were called back in about 15 minutes. It took longer to see the Dr. They took x-rays and we waiting some more. Then the Dr. came in and told him that he would probably need surgery and she'll refer him to an orthopedic surgeon. They gave him a prescription, a sling, and sent him home.

Now, we are waiting to make the appointment with the surgeon so we can get this taken care of before it gets worse. Thank goodness for insurance! I'm just hoping for a quick recovery, and that he'll be feeling better sooner rather than later.

Go Wildcards!!!!

So, it's the playoffs in softball this week. Jeff and his team beat Michael Kirack's team. It was a big victory because this team has been a thorn in our sides for the last two months. They are very competitive, and it gets tiring. The people on Jeff's team are only playing for fun, and they don't sweat it too much when they lose. Kirack's team is always making snide comments and they play dirty. They were getting so frustrated last night because it was a tie game until the last inning. When they were making their rounds, high fiving and 'good-gaming', there were a couple people on that team who were being sore losers and pouting.

Now, the team is that much closer to the trophy! They are second right now, and they have another game tonight.....Sadly, Jeff won't be playing....Now for the story of our trip to the ER last night....

Announcment!

I've decided to start a new blog. I will still update this one from time to time, but this page is mostly for our families and it's just updates on how we're doing and what's happening.

There is a link to my new blog on this page. It's called 'Just Me'. And that's exactly what it is. I wanted a place where I could share my thoughts and feelings. I didn't feel right doing that on a page that was meant to represent the both of us. I think that people tend to think just because a couple is married, then one persons feelings must represent the others.

So, check it out if you like. Please remember that the writings on that page are just my thoughts or opinions. You don't have to agree with it, and I invite you to comment whenever you want, just be respectful to others and their opinions.