Friday, November 22, 2013 @ 7:37 am
Good morning! Just us and we’re a little tired, but happiness reigns in the land J Mostly because Thom stayed over yesterday and it was like a pajama party! He and us stayed up until about 1:30 am. I think he’s just like that and was working through a situation in his regular life through the phone, so we got the good parts in-between … We had a lot of fun talking through a movie. I don’t know what the name of it was, but had something to do with Gangs in NY a long time ago when NY was just young and a lot of immigrants were coming in. Maybe if I thought long and hard enough I’d remember the star of the show … I know he’s famous but we’re terrible with names.
Aha! That wasn’t hard to find … the movie WAS called Gangs of New York (2002) and the star I was thinking about was Leonardo DiCaprio. Also Cameron Diaz and Daniel Day-Lewis
Anyway it was a good movie to watch and like we said stayed up until 1:30 am, but was getting tired and then Thom was like well gotta go to bed and he said there was about a half hour left so we could watch it or if we were tired, he’d just tell us the ending. So, we opted for the latter and was soon in snugly-land.
*Sigh* Life is good AND this is the day we’re meeting ALL THREE BOYS!!!! Just crazy excited. I’s 7:53 am now and we’ll have to leave the house about 9:30 am. I think Thom woke up for a short bit … got some water and is now in his room on the phone. The guy keeps a busy social/work calendar. Hehehe good attachment to phone. At first I thought someone was talking outside the house because it was so muffled, but finally figured it out.
I guess we’re kinda muffled too in that our head isn’t thinking any straighter than seeing my boys. I don’t really understand why this simple thing is being SOOO profound, but it is just one of the hottest Mom things that could happen. I’m imagining there will be some serious things, but mostly just fun. I hope everyone is bringing their best game! It will be one of the top highlights of Thom’s trip home. AND, we’re thinking we’re putting unprecedented excitement in having a new picture of all three boys, but we know that will be very important for the day too. We’ve looked at the picture of the three of them so often – once when Thom was just going into bootcamp, and then the other two years ago, when Thom had been home.
Ahh, we are getting a few minutes to talk to Melanie the wife of one of Rich’s earliest friends. It’s always an honor when we connect. It doesn’t happen often enough, but very happy when it happens J
In other news? Not much really happening. Yesterday we did meet with Dr. Marvin, and it was a pretty good meeting … we seemed to be on top of the things going on in our life, although we’ve been remiss with our work on Multiplicity. Just haven’t been able to concentrate. I KNOW you know why! But, we did talk about some general catching up with things like Thom being in town, what’s happening with Rich and us, a little about the Multiplicity, but we’re not getting a very good memory of all that. I know the first thing we talked about was the parking garage being full where we usually park, and having to walk farther toward a second garage on the other side of UIC hospital. It was hard finding a space there too. I was grateful there were some stone benches half way in-between so we could stop and rest. It’s a little scary to think that we might have to worry about parking EVERY time we go. We hope it has been just a fluke.
At the very end of the session – we looked at the clock and said … well we’re pretty much through, but SINCE we had to park so far away, we weren’t going to let him go a moment early. So, we asked about stuff going on in his world, and he told us about interviewing the new residents. He says about 10 people get the position of about 120 that apply … He says they have really good people being hired for the positions, and that they also have ways to get other residents placed where they might want to be as first priority too. Dr. Marvin amazes us all the time.
BUT, we did let him go on time … just a wild few minutes to talk about stuff he’s doing instead of all the time about us.
After we got done with Dr. Marvin’s, we went to pick up Thom. We had no problem getting there and when we’d checked in to tell him when we’d be picking him up at his dads, he said he was STARVING! It was really strange though. Thom had talked to his father about something or other and he guessed right that we’d both be getting there at the same time. We haven’t seen our ex since Joe and Cari’s wedding three years ago. We had just pulled up and then he and an old college friend – now living in the area (think they are best friends) any way they pulled up behind me and then we got confused, because we were in his driveway and I didn’t know if we were blocking him, and then there was the awkward, ok, here we are … now what?
But, he got out of the car very quickly and Thom followed a little more tentatively, but my ex came over to my side of the car and extended his arms to give us a hug. Man-o-man … we didn’t’ see that coming. It felt very natural and I actually enjoyed it. It was a nice hug … not too short, not too long. In the process of him going from his side of the car to ours, he invited us into his house three times. That was a bit awkward too, and I knew that Thom wouldn’t take too long to get ready because he’s always on time, but his father like stood by the door and gave us one more wave forward and so we figured that was just going to happen.
We of course had been curious about his house, and it was indeed very nice from what we saw in the entryway. Thom had come down after a minute and seemed eager to go. We looked around once and saw the general outline where there was an open living room/dining room to the left – most of the house after that then straight ahead, and a nice staircase to the right. We had problems looking up so were more attuned to the ceramic floor than much other. I remember thinking that the walls were painted nicely, but I couldn’t tell you know what color, because things were happening so fast.
I think he wanted us to see his house, though I’m not sure why. I am pretty sure he’s proud of it and might have wanted to show it off a bit. I don’t get the impression that he has lingering bad thoughts of us, just that our worlds don’t often connect so when they do it’s a pretty big deal. I remember at the door him moving around in the space, and Tom (my ex’ friend) teased Thom about having 7 minute conversations at best, so I’m guessing they just keep missing each other.
We knew that Ann was out which made things a little more cloudy. I think it was a good encounter just don’t know what to do with it mentally. I remember some sense of being in a comparison mode. I think our impression was that he definitely had the fancier more luxurious home … don’t remember seeing furniture, but that we felt our home felt more inviting as to it’s warmth. I don’t mind that we walk into a blank breezeway through the sunroom and then into the kitchen – we do like how our place opens from the sliding doors so you are seeing the fireplace, kitchen table, kitchen and part of the living room all with one good long glance. It’s like we’re not hiding things and once upon walking in you are at the heart of our home. We really like everything just mentioned and we like that in our living room, it is mostly taken up by a large wrap around couch. Whether it takes up enough or too much room is another question, but in general we like that it feels like a really nice big social area to take in welcomingly anyone who might come in.
I suppose it might not be a good idea to make comparisons, but it’s what happens. The house my ex and his wife own in Bolingbrook seems very much like a few that we’d looked at. The one that I loved the most had the same living room dining room, but it had an open loft over the dining part which we loved and the living room was two story. We also in the ones we looked at walked into the house as his did, b and you would have an open kitchen, breakfast table and great room – usually with a fireplace. I’ll ask Thom today to clarify if it was like that or other. But, after that, we will probably put housing aside.
Hmm, thinking we have to take a break now because we have to get in our shower. Yup yup … we’ll be back, but THINKING about what’s ahead!
Good good. Showered and everything. We’re not going to do much housework this morning if anything. Mostly, because we only have a little longer to write and that seems more important to us now than anything. We are showered and dressed and only have to grab our medicine, use the washroom, grab the coat and we’re out the door … should remember to take some water too. We usually keep one in the car and that’s now gone. We have money and credit card in our coat pocket. Hmm, thinking we better look in the bank to see what we can cover. Thom’s going to argue, but we’re going to say it’s a MOM thing to take care of lunch costs. Thom is very generous about paying, but we don’t think he should pay everything – especially because this is “MY event” Hehehe.
Hmm. Looks good we have $187 in the “petty cash” account. That’s WAY more than we will need. It looks like we’ve paid our furniture payment, gas, electric, and cable, but only have $1100 in that account and we haven’t paid rent on land yet so that will put at us only $660 going into next month. Pswhoo … life is tough. BUT we’re making it! I know I know the world of high finances. It blows me away that some people actually have from thousands to hundred thousands to millions put in their accounts and we’re struggling with a $187 balance. I guess it’s always been like this for us though so will most likely remain the same forever. We’re still on the plus side, but a little upset, could jar everything. Ok, you … have to keep positive!
After Thom and us left his father’s place, we stopped by our favorite train restaurant. We were talking all through the car drive and through eating. We had our favorite PLUS two Bloody Mary’s and he had some kind of a wrap and just pop. We got home and he was working on some of his stuff and we were just taking care of light business, and then when Rich came home he brought pre-cooked fried chicken. It wasn’t the greatest, but was fine. After dinner Thom went back to his computer – he was sitting on the sitting room side of the fire, and then Rich and us talked at the table for a bit. Eventually we all worked our way to the living room and had a nice time watching/talking through TV. And, then about 9 pm, Rich went to bed, and you know the rest … PJ PARTY!
AHA! Thom is up and is fixing all the remotes. He figured out how to make the TV’s work off one remote other than two. He did the LR last night, and is looking at the other three … our bedroom and sewing room shouldn’t be any problem, but I’m not sure if our guest room is just too old. He’ll look AND we still got twenty minutes. WooHOO!!!
I know shouldn’t put guests to hard labor, but it WAS something he came up with on his own. We haven’t given Rich a chance to know what Thom’s done, but I KNOW he’s going to be happy. Having a second remote is always a hassle.
Ok, just stalling the moments here. Better get the medicine, water and what left? Reading back … Ok, good good … just have to grab our coat. I’m afraid all Thom’s waking up time is like working on remotes L BUT, he KNOWS it’s making our life happy … eh, he could watch TV and it would make us happy too!
Just checked his room to make sure he didn’t leave anything. Everything he’s got now is in the LR. He was able to do Three of the four remotes. *sigh*
I think we’re a little hyper and don’t want to lose any of these moments. SO what else in the experience? He’s watching something about hmm, I don’t know commercial. Maybe he’s skipping channels a bit. That works. We talked a little bit about his hyper activity. Just he moves really fast like we used to at his age. Thing is his mind is ALWAYS thinking … we were like probably having flying dreams ;)
Hmm, forensic scene think its CSI.
Maybe we should do the posting … just don’t want to leave.
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