Happy New Year!!! And Our Ireland Story...

I love this photo of the Fireworks over Disney!

Hey Ya'll,

Happy New Year Everyone!!

****After writing this post, I realized that it turned out to be the story of how my Grand Parents died and how it effected me, so if you don't want to read it, I totally understand.  However, some of what happened in Ireland is comical!  At least I can laugh about it now!!  LOL **** 

****And it is partially a Debbie Downer post too I'm afriad.****

I am home.....alone, but that is ok.  I am fine being alone, it is just the way that I am home alone that is a bit worrisome.  Walt is upset with me for some reason that he has yet to discuss with me.  I got a bit upset last night, when it became apparent that he was still miffed at me (it apparently started before Christmas), so of course I let my imagination run wild, and asked him if he was leaving me too!  I say too, because he knows that both of my parents are in delicate physical condition, and could pass on at any time.  So to think that I could lose both of my parents and him too, was just too much for me to even think about last night!!

We were both supposed to go stay a night or two with his Sister's and Mother, in a Townhouse at Lake Tahoe this weekend.  Well, I found out yesterday that only he was going.  He neglected to tell me this.  So this kind of sent up a red flag to me.  So when I realized that something was still wrong last night, it really worried me.  He is being nice and friendly, but not quite the same.  So I do worry.  I don't know what I would do if he wanted to leave me.  I am not sure if I would want to.  I have nothing without him.  No way to support myself, no where to go to, not even SSI or SDI.  So I am just hopeful that it is all my imagination.

I am sure that it is just my imagination, and I am thinking the worst....!  Walt is very comforting and has always been there for me in the worst of times.  He got me through losing the last of my Grandparents about 11-12 years ago.  And he knows that I will need him even more when my parents pass on.  I will not be able to call anyone to inform them, I cannot do it.  He said that he will do it, and Kat said that she would help too.

When my Brother called to advise me that my Grandmother called died.  Walt and I were in a Restaurant, and had just ordered our food.  Right after my Brother gave me the news, I passed the phone over to Walt and he finished talking with him, while I just sat there with tears streaming down my face!  I couldn't stop them or control them in any way.  So when the waitress came over with our food, Walt asked her for a LOT of napkins!!  So I ate as best I could, and blew my Nose almost continually.  People were looking at us like Walt must have told me he wanted a Divorce or something!!  I'm sure that's what they thought, and felt sorry for me!

And to make things even worse....we had already made plans to eat Dinner with Walt's parents for that night.  So after going home, and crying most of the afternoon, I felt that I would be able to meet with my In-Laws for Dinner (I figured that I had cried myself out).  I did ok, until Walt told them that my Grandmother had died that day.  Then I broke down and started to cry again!!  But, I managed to get myself under control after a while, and a trip to the ladies room.  And it wasn't like her death was a surprise, we knew that she could go at any time!  But she was like the glue that held our family together, and life just hasn't been the same since her passing!

My Grandparents had been together for about 70+ years.  They were from the South and grew up very poor.  They married very young so that they could begin their lives together.  She was a bit under 14 and he was only 15 yrs old!  So they had spent their whole lives together!!  We knew that once she was gone, that my Grandfather wouldn't last long.  However, he actually lasted a little bit longer than we thought, but most of it was with Alzheimer's and Dementia (about a year).

A year after her Death, Walt and I took Kat and Russ to Ireland for a 2 week Bus Tour (the first and last one we have gone on, not that we had a bad experience).  We had about 5 days left on the Tour there, (the Bus Tour was over Christmas/New Years), when my Grandfather passed.  Christa called me to tell me herself.  I was asleep, as it was about 1 am in Ireland....and I was alone, as Walt was downstairs in the Pub of the Restaurant, with the Tour Guide and Bus Driver (I don't know how he could drink so much at night, and be totally sober, and the smoothest driver we had ever seen the next morning!) having some drinks.  But he came up to our room shortly after.  When I told him, he said that we would do our best to get back home in time for the Funeral!

With Christa doing all the foot work here in the States, getting the proper information needed, and having it faxed to our Hotel, and Walt dealing with the Airline on our end, (luckily the Tour Guide and Bus Driver was nice enough to drive Walt back and forth from the Hotel to the Airport, etc) so he could prove a Death in the family, so they would change our Airplane seats for the day before we were originally to leave, and without charging us for the change!!

We wish now that we had just waited for our actual day to leave, as we would have made it back in time anyway!  We can say now that we wished we had waited, because we now know what we would have missed!!  The flights leaving Dublin, flew out non-stop from Dublin to the East Coast of USA every other day (which was the day that we were originally scheduled to fly out on).  The opposite day, the flight left Dublin, and flew across the small Country, to land in (I am almost positive) Shannon to drop off some, and pick up more passengers.

Which in itself was fine.  The problem was that when we were checking in at Dublin, we of course had to go through Customs....which was very embarrassing!!  Russ didn't know any better, and only took one pair of shoes with him (which he was wearing), and kept them on the whole flight over there which was a very long time....think about it, we left from San Francisco, then changed planes on the East Coast, then flew to Dublin.....so like I said, he never took his BOOTS off the whole time, and they were very moist, and SMELLY the whole trip, as they never had a chance to completely dry out between wearings!  We (in fact everyone on the tour) was very sad for poor Kat, who had to share a room with him the whole time!! LOL

So anyway, (sorry, got off on a tangent again!), during check in, they decided that they needed to check through ALL of our luggage!!  After I had so carefully packed it (at least mine and Walt's!!  I wasn't going to touch Russ's).  When they got to Russ's, we ALL (Kat included), said YOU REALLY DON'T WANT TO GO THROUGH THIS ONE!!!  Of course they did, thinking we were hiding something.  But they figured out pretty fast that we weren't hiding anything....but the smell!!  But they had to at least pretend to look, since they made us open it up!! LOL  We tried to warn them!

But!  Like I said, that would have been all fine and dandy, it was after all, after 911, and they had to be more careful!  But because we only flew across Ireland, and was staying on the same plane, you would think that they would allow the current passengers to just stay on board!  But NO!!!! We had to deplane, taking all of our carry on stuff, etc, and go through Customs AGAIN!!  But this time, we only had to declare what we had, they didn't bother to check inside....now that I think about it, they were probably warned not to!!  So then we had to re-board, etc all over again.

And....even then, it probably wouldn't have been too bad, but we had someone that boarded in Shannon with a BABY right behind us, that cried most of the trip!!  And even that wasn't the worst.  We were seated in 4 of the 5 center aisle seats, and very near a toilet.  And there was something wrong with it.  You could smell fumes or something from it.  Walt stayed in the back of the plane most of the flight, so that I could lay across our 2 seats most of the way (and to get away from the smell, and flirt with the cute Stewardess too).

I had the worst Headache and Backache, that I could not get rid of no matter how many pain killers I took!!  And believe me, I took a lot!  It is a miracle that I didn't over dose on that flight, since I was taking both Vicoden and Tylenol 3's, on top of extra strength Tylenol's!!!  And it was a VERY LONG FLIGHT!  About 11 hours I think (or was that the whole flight time from Ireland to San Francisco???  It's been too many years and I am too old to remember anymore).

We landed on the East Coast, and of course had to deplane, as we of course had to go through Customs yet AGAIN (for the 3rd time now in one day!!).  So we deplaned, collected all of our luggage, then we had to go to this humongous area with many lines full of passengers, needing to go through Customs!!  We almost didn't make it through in time to make it to our last fight of the day which was to take us to San Francisco.  But at least we were on a different Airplane, and this flight didn't smell, so my Headache started to let up.  By the time we were in San Francisco, we were really glad that we had chartered a Limo to drive us through the San Francisco traffic back to Sacramento!!

It was a REALLY long day, and to have to have driven the last several hours, would have killed Walt!  So at least we got to stretch out in the Stretch Limo, and the Limo driver was nice enough to pull off the freeway and let us order a pizza to eat while riding home!!  By then, pizza sounded fantastic!  One thing we decided after that day, was that we would NEVER take a flight to Europe that wasn't a non-stop flight unless absolutely necessary!!  LOL  We had taken a non-stop flight from San Francisco to London, and returned via Paris to San Francisco on a prior trip.  And although long, you don't have to go through Customs so many times, and....no plane changes!! 

So we made it home in time for the Funeral, and once home, I also got a call from the State of California offering me a job!  So I had to get my Finger prints, and photo for my State ID, etc on the day of the Funeral.  So I left, right after the Funeral, went downtown Sacramento for that, then drove back for the Wake....What a day!!

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A side story here, I am sure that if you are still reading, you can at least get a chuckle out of my long story!!  While we were in (I think, like I said, my memory isn't great anymore) Galway, Ireland, we were there for 2-3 nights.  And the first night that we were there, they had several other Tour Buses staying there too, so the Hotel had a big Holiday Dinner for all of us, with  a Show, music and dancing, etc.  There was several Buses of elderly people as well (even to me, they were elderly!), but let me tell you....

Well, I realized that I was coming down with the Cold that one of the other passengers had when the tour started.  So after Dinner, the kids and I went to bed, leaving Walt to have some drinks with the Tour Guide and Bus Driver....well, of course I couldn't sleep well with Walt not in bed.  So about Midnight, I got up, put my clothes on and went to see what he was up too!  I could hear the laughter and music going on downstairs.  I tried to look over the banister to see him.  I saw a lot of the elderly still up and having rip roaring good time!!  Most of it was going on in the Pub by this time.  I didn't want to embarrass him, so I went back to our room, put my pj's back on, and went back to sleep.  I woke up again at about 1 am, and he still wasn't in bed.  So I put my clothes back on, again and did the same thing as before.

I still couldn't embarrass him, so I went back to our room and back to bed again.  And again I woke up, this time at about 2 am, and of course, he still wasn't in bed.  This time, I swore I was going to go down there and make a huge scene and get him back up into bed.  But of course, nice me, I just couldn't do it.

But I was furious!!  He finally came to bed around 2:30-3 am.  He knew I was pissed!  And of course, he had to tell the Tour Guide and Bus Driver the next morning, before I got downstairs for the days tour.  And of course, so did the WHOLE bus load of passengers!!  So for the rest of the trip until the last day, they would ask Walt if I was still pissed at him!!  LOL

When I got the call from Christa, of course Walt told the Tour Guide and Bus Driver (you got it, they were fast friends during the trip!) the next morning, and by the time that we boarded the bus for the next days tour, and continuing on to the next stop.  The whole bus load knew of my Grandfathers passing.  We were to spend a couple of nights in Sligo before we drove back to Dublin.  And usually, the Tour Guide would move us around throughout the bus so that no one was stuck in just one seat, but under the circumstances,  they gave us the last 4 seats the last few days so that I could have some privacy to cry without everyone watching.

Plus I am sure that they didn't want me to bring anyone down.  I tried to not be overly upset, but like with my Grandmother, I couldn't stop crying for awhile.  But by then, everyone was very friendly and everyone felt really bad that I was having to go through this, especially being so far away from the family.  Lucky for me I had Walt.  He has been my rock for so long now, I don't know what I would do without him!  And even though he has a Life Ins policy, I would rather him be here with me, than to have the money.... 
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So, now that I have totally bored everyone to death that actually read the whole thing, I want to apologize and say that I hope you all had a great New Year's Eve!!  And I hope that next year is the best one yet!!  Till next time....

Aloha My Friends  :)