Injury

April 13 was a very sad day, a very trying day, and a very painful day for me. When I say painful, I mean it in the literal sense. Yes, every time I have to leave Vernon it is painful, but this time, I experienced pain in more ways than one.

I checked in at the airport at the Air France counter. I get someone who can barely speak English... HELLO! WE ARE IN ENGLAND! WTF??? And I find out I do not have the seat that I confirmed 4 times through their partner airline since I made the reservation in January. You cannot reserve a seat when booking with Air France. I find that UNACCEPTABLE. I checked in early and I wanted an aisle seat. I told her the seat that I had reserved and confirmed 4 times and that I wanted THAT seat. I did a lot of research on planes and seats and locations of bathrooms and ratings of the locations of the seats and I paid for that seat and when I booked the plane was pretty much empty so I should have first pick of the coach seats. Well, every other airline lets you do that, but NOT Air France. UNACCEPTABLE. I was very upset that I did not have my seat and tried to understand her broken English and I told her I wanted an aisle seat close to where I had reserved the seat I didn't get. She found one for me, and I was sort of happy.

I had a long layover in Paris. I witnessed a lot of impatience and mistreatment of Asian travelers by the TSA. Obviously there are a lot of Asian travelers that pass through this INTERNATIONAL airport, where were the folks that could speak something besides French? UNACCEPTABLE. It was my turn to go through and having traveled before, I know the drill. I took my laptop out of its case, put it in a bin, then the BITCH looked at me, grabbed the empty laptop case and yanked it out of my purse with such force everything in my purse went everywhere. She just smiled and said "sorry". I wanted to punch her in the face. I just looked at her and said "What was that for?" I got nothing. NEVER have I been mistreated so badly by the TSA.

I boarded the plane and I was directed toward my seat. There was a girl sitting in my seat. It was on the aisle. I politely informed her she was sitting in my seat. She said her seat was the correct seat. I showed her my boarding pass and she said, yes, your seat is the second one in, mine is on the aisle. WELL SON OF A BITCH! That stupid incompetent non English speaking moron put me in an inner seat. I apologized to the girl and she got up and stepped into the aisle.  I had my carryon, was stepping over the girl's stuff, over the seats, making my way to the inner seat and POP! My knee exploded and I dropped like a sack of potatoes. I ended up in 2 seats and some poor guy's lap. I just lied there, not really sure what happened or how injured I was. The nice girl asked me if I was ok and I said "I don't know". I got into my seat and realized that I think I did some damage as I was in a ridiculous amount of pain. I fought back tears and didn't know how I was going to survive the 9hr flight from Paris to Detroit. Thankfully the girl I was sitting next to spoke to her family and they all switched seats so I could sit in an aisle seat next to a nice girl sitting by the window.  Once I got to Detroit I was in the worst pain, I limped through the airport, had to get my luggage and go through customs. Then I had to go through security again so I could get to my destination. The TSA in Detroit were much more pleasant that the ones in Paris and I was happy to be home (almost). Airport employees would see me limping and gripping the wall and ask me if I wanted a wheelchair. I just wanted to be left alone and I was miserable and upset and just kept telling them "No".

Well, it's one month later. I got an MRI and I have a partial tear on my ACL. I have been using crutches and can't get in to see the orthopedic surgeon until June 1st so now my back is out. I have been working from home for over a week, I can't get up or sit down without help. I have to call my daughter every time I need to go to the bathroom so she can help me stand up, I have to have her bring me my food and I'm taking vicodin every 4 hours. I'm in constant pain, I'm miserable, and I can't move. I'm worried that work will ask me to take time off and I'm out of vacation and sick time. I also recently lost 39 pounds from eating a balanced diet and exercising every day, and now that I can't even walk I've gained 5 pounds. I'm pissed and I'm upset and I'm feeling useless and neglected and very very tired. All because of stupid Air France. I will NEVER use that airline again. Oh yeah, and the food sucks too.... everything had this disgusting white mushy cheese on it and there were things I couldn't even tell what it was. YUCK.

Yeah, sorry about the venting, but the photo above is all I've been able to look at for the last week. If this injury affects my employment I'm definitely calling a lawyer.

A Castle, Shopping, and a Baby!

I have recently been to England to see Vernon. It was only for 2 weeks and I wanted lots of family time. Well, I got what I asked for as his sweet little granddaughter arrived in this world during my visit there. She is so very beautiful! I think he's going to love being a grandpa.

I told Vernon that I wanted to see a castle. He took me to Corfe Castle and it was breathtaking! It was extremely windy, but it was sunny and clear. There was lots of walking and hiking and now that I'm 35lbs lighter, I was able to enjoy all of that walking and hiking.  It was also my birthday the day we came out here. I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate my 40th birthday!

I am not only blessed to have Vernon in my life; I have a wonderful girlfriend named Victoria. She didn't have to be my friend, but from the first moment we met I think we hit it off. She is loving, caring, generous, supportive and understanding. She is a very good friend to me and it is so wonderful having a girlfriend to hang out with during my trips to England. Yes, I love spending every waking and non-waking moment with my Sweetheart, but a girl needs her girlfriends and I really love and appreciate her. I also have to mention our shopping trips. She knows where all the great stores are, especially the ones that carry clothes in my size. I've picked things up from Peacocks, Bonmarche, and Marks & Spencer. 

Yeovil, Somerset is my favorite place in the world, obviously because of Vernon, his family, and everyone else there that I love. Secondly, I love it for all the SHOPPING!

Vernon and I had such a wonderful time sight seeing, spending quiet time together as a family, welcoming a precious new life into the world, and spending quality time with good friends. I love the way I feel when I am with him, and I love knowing that he will be there for me forever. I really miss him.

 
  

21 DAYS!

This photo was taken during my last trip to England, December 2009. It seems like several years ago. Well, in 21 days Vernon will have his arms around me in Bristol airport and I can't wait. I'm sad that I have to leave the kid behind but she'll be studying for finals. Tonight I got a new camera, nothing fancy, and it was on sale. I have my flip camera for taking videos which I really love, and I've been picking up things like chocolate and Lucky Charms for the kids per their request. I plan on stocking up on Curly Wurlys as  they are mine and Heidi's favorite candy bar! But... I've been eating healthier for the past 2 months, down 25 pounds and I don't know if I'm smaller than I was when this photo was taken. I have all the same clothes but they are so worn and old it's hard to tell. I have a goal to lose 10 more before the trip but we'll see how that goes. I'm not worried about sticking to my new eating habits while I'm there. Europeans eat differently than Americans. We Americans are pigs and eat way too much. I love the smaller portions in the restaurants and even at the grocery store, the family sizes aren't really that big. I'll have to remind Vernon to fill the ice cube trays as I will be drinking lots of water and I like it COLD! COLD! COLD! Lukewarm water makes me gag. Yuk. Two weeks with Vernon isn't enough. It's overwhelming when I get there, then we get into a mode where it just feels so right when we are together. We can sit quietly in the car, in the living room, at the table, I fall asleep on him when we are watching movies, we are each other's missing half. I'll be turning 40 while I'm there. I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday, especially such a special one. I'm going shopping for clothes with a very good friend so that will be exciting. We've gone shopping together before, and we had a blast. Leaving is horrible. Just thinking about it makes me cry. We feel it creeping up on us when there are 3 days left, then 2, then 1, then we're saying goodbye at security and I have to sit all by myself waiting to board the plane. I cry a lot on that day. It doesn't get easier. I've done this several times and it just doesn't get easier. It's almost easier not going at all, but that's just flipping crazy. I want us to do lots of relaxing, lots of talking, cooking, and I want to watch movies. I did recently whine to him about wanting to visit a castle so he sent me several choices and I'll be picking out where I want to go. I still have to pick up some dramamine so I don't have a repeat performance of the time Heidi and I had our faces in the barf bags as we were roughly coming in for a landing in North Carolina. That was terrible! It's going to be a long 21 days.