The Road To Nowhere or The Trip From Hell

I've been back home for about a week and a bit, after visiting Ivy for two weeks.
We knew that we was going to have a very busy time, what with sorting out invitations for the wedding, meeting freinds and family, getting the engagement pictures done and getting our outfits for the various receptions...we just didnt think how the trip would start.

The way it is, is that everytime I have visited Ivy, the trips have been eventful to say the least.

What can I say...On the Friday morning, I left Sunny Old England to start my journey to visit Ivy...with me wondering that the only trouble I may have, could have involved me being turned away by Immigration at New York and having to return home.

Well, I got that slightly wrong, as it turned out that immigration was the least of my worries, and you know that I was able to meet up with Ivy, from the details in the previous post.

The travelling was'nt so much a journey, a trek or a marathon, it was more of an endurance event that tested my mind and body to the limit...and even then, that may be a bit of an understatement.

The timings of the flights were that I would arrive in New York at JFK Airport at 2:30pm, New York time and get my connecting flight at 4pm, which would give me plenty of time to get through immigration, collect my bags, clear customs, re-check my bags onto the connecting flight, and check in for the flight, and the stopover time I had would be plenty of time to get all that done.


And who would have thought that 15 minutes could have had such an effect.


After an uneventful flight from London, it was touching down in a rainy New York that events decided to change slightly.

We touched down about 15 minutes late, which initself would not have been a problem, but sitting on the runway for 20 minutes was the begining of events that would dramatically alter the whole day.

The plane eventually makes it to the gate and we all manage to leave the plane for the long walk up through to Immigration and Customs. Surprisingly enough, I was through Immigration and Customs in no time...after all, we wondered if I may have been turned away at Immigration as they may have mentioned about the visa...but after just a couple of questions, I was through and on my way....or so I thought.

Baggage Reclaim.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, my bags appeared, just in time for me to notice that I was going to miss my connecting flight...which was confirmed when I went to recheck my bags in for my connecting flight. I was disappointed that I had missed my flight, but I was booked on a flight that left me with a 4 hour wait. The thing is, the airline was based in another terminal, so after being given the wrong info and wandering round and dragging my suitcase with me around the same terminal for a bit, I managed to get the correct info that I needed and caught the SkyTrain to the right terminal.

Unfortunately, you didnt step off the SkyTrain and into the terminal, you had to get across the road...and as it was New York, it was raining hard...so I ended up stepping off the kerb, straight into a puddle. I find which I think is the right terminal, only to find out as I squelched through the terminal, that it only dealt with arrivals and First Class and Business Class Passengers...so after changing my socks and trainers, I wander off to the right terminal, which was across the other side of the road, I go through the doors to find what seemed to be disorganised chaos.

There was people queing, left, right and centre...and no-one could tell which queue was for the security or for checking in.

After eventually checking in and getting through security, I managed to get in touch with Ivy, to explain whats happened and what time I should be leaving and the time I should be ariving and the fun that I've had so far in New York and make my way to the gate my flight is due to leave.

It turns out that a 4 hour wait, turned into a 7 hour wait, as every flight was delayed due to the weather, so we eventually board the plane at about 11pm, and as it was a small plane, it couldnt use the normal airport gates, the only way to board it was by walking across the runway and up the gangway. We slowly taxied off only to find that we was about the 50th plane in the queue to take off so we were stuck on the runway for an hour till we got airborne.

Luckily, the flight was uneventful and I finally managed to touch down in St. Louis, some 30 hours after I left the UK, and we still had a2 hour journey back to Ivy's.

I had never been more happy to see Ivy.

Never Boring

So I guess Lucky and I can at least know that our lives will never be boring together.

Yeah, it's been a while since we last posted. I guess we're due for a quick catch-up, so here goes...

~ Lucky actually got his 'puter back fairly quickly, so we were back in the business of chatting in no time at all.
~ My cohort in wedding preparations and I discovered that we would be sharing the same surname... after having known about each other's sweeties for months... lol
~ I suddenly realized that I will also be sharing the same name as my brand of piano... funny coincidences in life. I told Lucky it looks like I was just destined for the name to be the love of my life from the very beginning... lol
~ My cohort in wedding preparations kinda experienced a major blow to her relationship... it's not dead in the water as of yet, but we're kinda not cohorts in wedding preparations any more at this time... :(
~ Preparations for Lucky's visit have been underway... pretty much since I got back from England in March.
~ Preparations took a break to spend Mother's Day weekend with Mom. I figured this was her last Mother's Day that I'll be the only person officially callin her "Mom" (and/or "Mum"), so we'd might as well do somethin a li'l special. Was a nice weekend, despite the delivery of the wrong flowers... which would have been no big deal if the flowers that WERE delivered wouldn't have set off Pop's allergies.
~ I FINALLY managed to get my VA letter prepared and mailed about a week or so ago... yay! Plus, I received their confirmation letter just this past Friday, so at least my disability claim is back on track.

And that's about most of the major events I can think of that have happened within the last month since our last posts. Now we're in the midst of Lucky's May visit. He arrived on Friday, and the wonderful li'l things in life that pounce on the unsuspecting began immediately. I'll let him tell the story of his experiences so far... but all I'll say is: it's a good thing we had nothing planned for Saturday on our considerable list of things to do this trip... lol

So on to Sunday... yesterday, we had planned to get out shopping for outfits for our Engagement Pics that take place tomorrow. Which would have happened if my car hadn't broken down at IHOP... lol Thank gawd for AAA. Turns out my battery needs to be replaced. It's actually the least of the possible scenarios of what could have gone wrong, so I'm not too horribly upset. The car's in the shop this mornin, and should be ready by the time I leave work at 1:30.

However, not all went wrong yesterday. Not only did he finally have an opportunity to present me with an engagement ring (yay!), we also managed to get to one of our priority activities, which was to move my bedroom furniture around. Up to this point, it had been optimally situated for one person... with the bed pushed up against a corner and two walls. This is not optimal for two people, and I wanted to spend as little time as possible this trip that Lucky had to climb over me to get in and out of bed... lol It's a bit of getting used to the new configuration, but I like it... it definitely goes a long way to making him seem more... well, permanent. :)

After all the excitement, we did spend a pleasant evening with the folks. Pop complained a few weeks back that they wouldn't have a chance to see him until he'd been here a week, so we agreed on a Sunday night dinner. I suppose it's a good sign that they really like him and enjoy spending time with him. :)

Amway, my work schedule this week involves half days... I'll be working til 1:30. Which is good, as we are packed with activities for the afternoons. And today, we have to play a li'l bit of catch up. Currently, and if nothing goes wrong and the car is ready, our gameplan includes a trip to scope out the site we hope to have our pics done, called Shelter Gardens. Then we really need to resume yesterday's postponed shopping trip. At least I have a possible outfit already on hand, as I have a nice top that I bought for our first formal date during his trip in January, but never got to wear (long story). So we may only need to focus on shopping for him today.

Tomorrow, of course, we have our engagement Pics @ 4:30. Wednesday, we WERE gonna be attending a University employee recognition ceremony for peeps hitting landmark anniversary dates this year (mine is officially my 5-year mark, though technically, it's 10 years... but that's another long story). However, ceremonies aren't really my thing, and the only reason I was gonna go was cuz my new supervisor is also hitting her 5 year mark, and insisted I would not let her go alone. She just informed me about 15 minutes ago that she is gonna have other plans, so I'm all for having a li'l break from activities on Wednesday... :)

Thursday, Mom & Lucky and I have an appointment at Stephen's College so he can see the wedding venue... and so we can meet with the caterers to finalize the tea reception menu.

Friday, I have off... but I'm hoping we can spend that time creating and launching our honeymoon registry website, since we will be travelling to Hermann on Sunday to scope out the place and see what kind of things we'd like to add to the registry. Some folks like to an all-out bash of a holiday for their honeymoon. However, we will just have been through 2 ceremonies and 3 receptions, and plenty enough travel to last us at least until his next visit to see his family... so a quiet honeymoon at a bed and breakfast in a quaint li'l town about an hour's drive away, is just what we want. :)

Friday night should be double date dinner with IHOP Buddy and her hubby, if he's in town. It will be a good opportunity for Lucky to meet the only close friend I have here in Missouri, before the wedding.

Saturday, Lucky will be meeting more friends of the family, as old friends of both Mom and Pop both happen to be in town this weekend. An odd coincidence, but we're kinda gettin used to those by now... lol.

Sunday, of course, is the trip to Hermann. Monday is Memorial Day. We may take that opportunity to see if there's any holiday sales on cell phones. I need a new international phone, and he wouldn't complain at a new one, himself. And I want to get a new family plan eventually, anyway, so we may just see what's available. However, we need to spend most of the day with Mom drafting up and addressing our multiple different invitations for our various wedding events in miscellaneous places. We don't necessarily have to get it all printed that day, though, as Mom suggested that she and Lucky could possibly work on that during the week while I'm at work. Amway, after the Invitation Party on Memorial Day will be the holiday BBQ when Pop gets home from work.

Next week, we don't seem to have as much crammed into the planbook... which is good, as I'll be back to full work days. We do have plenty of things we could get done around the house, though. Mostly stuff that I didn't get to while preparing for his visit, and he said he'd be happy to help me with them. They may get done while he's here... or I may just get em done after he's gone. We got the one major task done, and that was the bedroom furniture... so the rest we'll do as we feel up to it. One of those activities is getting my Seasonal decor switched out to Summer. Surprisingly, Lucky actually enjoys helping me with that sort of thing, so it should be more of a fun activity than a chore.

Also, on our list of "we really should do this trip" is going over our vows. We missed getting to them in March during my visit... but the officiate has been patiently waiting on hearing back from us, so we really need to get to those.

Amway, that's about all I can think of at the moment. Yesterday, my inner workings decided to rebel on me, so I've been cramped up in pain for a day. And yes, I took something... and yes, I'm afraid it made it worse, so I'm attempting to ride it out. That was particularly fun while my car was broken down yesterday, too... lol This mornin seemed to be better... uncomfortable but not painful, but now it seems to be goin back on that... *sigh* Oh well... it'll clear up soon, hopefully. And Lucky has been incredibly sweet and supportive. Nothin like breakin a relationship in with all the earthly debacles of bodily functions... lol

Amway, the long and the short of it all is that I'm kinda losin my train of thought... lol I think I've got it all down, though. This is gettin long enough anyway.

So I know that Lucky would like to blog about his trip so far as well, soon... one of the things he can keep himself occupied while I'm at work during his visit. And I'm sure we'll have plenty more unplanned excitement to report soon enough. But for now, I suppose I shall sign off and attempt to concentrate on a bit of work before my early departure time. :)

Until next time... laters!

Bon Voyage

So having grown up a Navy brat, I'm well familiar with the sad event of waving a loved one off the pier.

For some odd reason, I felt a bit of deja-vu to that experience today as Lucky signed off to let the 'puter techs cart his 'puter off for overhaul. I can't blame him, as it's been running frustratingly slow lately... and it's only supposed to be gone for a few days. But I know 'puters... and a few days could turn into a few weeks... or even worse, into "oops, something went wrong and it's now in 'puter heaven".

Yeah, I know I fuss too much. It's what I do best. I think I take after my grandmother.

And it's not like we won't be in touch. Cuz of his work schedule this week and our time difference, we don't really have the option of phone calls... but we can still text. And we can still send our first hugmails of the day... at least until the weekend, when he won't even be able to access a 'puter at work. But then we can call.

And it's not even the first time we've been relegated to texting as our primary form of communication... as we had to do so for a few days when the folks and I went to Hutchinson for Gram's funeral. 'Course, even then, Mom had pity on us and brought her laptop so we could still send hugmails and chat for a few hours in the evening... lol And we've also had a few solitary days here and there when he had something goin on... or I had somethin goin on... and we knew we wouldn't have chat time, but we always had hugmails... and texts.

I guess this is just the first time we're losing our primary form of communication... especially real-time communication... for an unknown amount of time. Hence the feeling of bon voyage. *sigh* Oh well... we'll survive. It's not that I think we're any more special than any other couple separated by circumstances. It just adds to the surreal consistency of our relationship... which has been completely established and so far maintained via long distance.

When the tenuous connection we have... which is so dependent on frequently temperamental technology, and mostly all we've ever had... is so severely limited, I kinda feel like I've lost something.

Ah well... here's hopin for a speedy 'puter recovery. :)

Work Now Knows I'm Getting Hitched

Well, it looks like my writers block could finally be cured.

Well, my work colleagues now know of my plans about getting married and moving all the way over the pond to the US to be with Ivy.

The office grapevine works wonders, as I only had to tell one person, and then the news spread round the office like wildfire.... lol

Of course, the first people that knew where my close work colleagues, after all, I have known them years...and not only where they pleased for us both, some of them have even said that they will try and make the US ceremony.

It feels a bit strange being the talk of the office, and it does take a bit of getting used to.

Especially when people come up to me and say that they have heard a rumour that I'm getting married.
And everybody that has found out is happy for us...the only thing people seem to be diappointed with,is how long I've managed to keep it quiet.

Sisterhood in Wedding Planning

So a friend of mine has recently found herself engaged, as well. I won't say who as she's still keepin it secret from the masses for now.

Of course, I imagine there are plenty of weddings happening all over the world every day, so discovering that somebody else is planning one at the same time that I am is hardly an earth-shattering revelation. Kinda ironic, though... that such a life-altering event in a person's life is really rather blase in the grand scheme of things. But then, aren't they all? How many people die, get married and are born on any given day?

But I digress. My point here is that it's kinda fun to have a friend who's experiencing the same life-altering event as I am... somebody for whom all this wedding talk is just as fresh and exciting as it is to me. Most of my married friends just kinda smile at me indulgently as if they're thinking: "I'm happy for you, but I've so been there, done that"... lol

Of course, it's exciting for Mom to share this with me, as this is her baby getting married... but it's also a bit stressful for her as well, since she's also the wedding coordinator, and the happiness of her baby is on the line. And she's been there, done that, too.

Then there are my friends who never been married yet (not that there's an awful lot of them). They can be happy for me... but can't quite share the same enthusiasm. Which I can understand, as I was in that position not that long ago. The whole thing can be very interesting and exciting, but it just raises to a whole nother level when you can suddenly relate and go: "Oh yeah, and this is what I'm doing with mine..."

And I even have a friend or two who's been through it all... and come out on the bad end of things. THEY just have that indulgent yet cynical look in their eye that says: "Yeah, you're happy now, and I'm happy for you... but just wait til everything starts falling apart"... with just enough wistful hopefulness that you might manage to escape what they couldn't. Yeah, I tend to not talk very exuberantly to those folks about the whole thing an awful lot... lol Not that I don't respect what they've been through. In fact, it's really rather sad, and I just kinda feel like I'm grinding salt in the wound...

But it's completely different to experience all this wedding planning for the first time with another first-timer. Today we talked engagement rings... sharing each other's ideal ring, and discussing which traditions were important to us, etc.

It's kinda fun... and I'm lookin forward to sharing the rest of all the fun li'l details as we go along as well. :)

Transition

So it looks like Lucky’s experiencing a bit of writer’s block… just hasn’t been inspired to write anything. :)

Ah well… I have enough babble in me for the both of us… lol Except for the last week, of course… battling pain usually isn’t conducive to positive inspirational flow. My recent batch of migraines hasn’t quite cleared up yet, but I think it’s breaking, so at least my brain can function a bit now. :)

So on to the topic of this entry… transition. Lucky and I do ultimately want to chronicle the history of how we arrived at this point… but for now, I only want to address just enough to explain how odd this transition is for me.

See, I’ve lived a fairly solitary existence. Now don’t get me wrong… my relationship with my family is a very close one, and my travels and course in life have brought me in contact with enough people that more than a few have stuck… though only a few have stuck deep. But for the most part, I’ve enjoyed my own company best. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which was a rather impressive neurosis where members of the opposite sex are concerned.

The closest I’d ever previously experienced to a romantic relationship occurred about 15 years ago, and consisted of roughly a week of concentrated togetherness. I worked with the guy on the airfield, and then he was constantly in attendance at my home. He finally drove me buggy enough that I kicked him out of my home and studiously avoided him at work. Don’t worry… that’s the only reference I’ll make to any other men in this blog. He doesn’t even really rate enough for an honorable mention, but I wanted to stress a point, here, about myself.

Which is, essentially, that my relationship maturity level hasn’t been quite as developed as I could hope.

But it’s certainly been growing by leaps and bounds over the last year. I’ve found my world has been completely turned upside down… as I understand can happen when one falls in love. I’d heard of the phenomenon… I don’t think I’d been quite ready for the sledgehammer impact. But then, I guess, who is?

So it turns out the answer to my neurotic solitary existence was not a big, tough, knight in shining armor strong enough to tear down my walls. It was a sweet, gentle, patient, hopeless romantic who inspired me to tackle my own walls, myself. Why that solution never occurred to me I’ll never know, but it has been glaringly obvious. It even falls right into my own theory that only we as individuals can solve our own problems… we just have to discover the proper inspiration to do so.

I suppose there’s no little irony in the fact that the relationship that has worked has consisted of about a year of concentrated UNtogetherness… a condition that will continue for at least another 8 months (hopefully no more than that, if all of the visa paperwork goes through without a hitch). But I’m beginning to believe that our enforced separation has been precisely what I need to sanely transition out of my solitary life. Though it has caused us enough miscommunications, a bit of heartache, and missing each other tremendously, it doesn’t take an awful lot of digging to remember the benefits.

On the front end of the situation, our disparate positions in time and space have forced us to get to know each other before physical matters were even a factor. We’ve learned each other’s intellectual and emotional strengths and weakness… have weighed them with our own… and have accepted them. In fact, we’ve rather intertwined them almost seamlessly, so that the strengths of each of us perfectly counterbalance the weaknesses of the other.

On the back end, our extended separation has provided us an opportunity to slowly accustom ourselves to the prospect of sharing our lives, space and home with the other half of our heart. Those hearts already stretch across the Atlantic, and we’ve already changed our lives considerably to accommodate each other. Finding time to be in contact every day… coordinating his schedule and mine, not to mention the time difference. Learning to be considerate of each other when making decisions and simply conducting our every day life. But the permanent sharing of personal space is still an abstract concept. Oh, the few weeks we’ve spent together have been awesome… but they’ve been temporary. Easy to incorporate into our existences in the context of a short-lived adventure.

Even now, the prospect of his visit here in May is beginning to lie somewhere in the hazy realm between readying my heart and home for a visitor… and welcoming him as a new occupant. Where I don’t know quite whether to treat him like a guest, or ask him to help with the chores… lol

Every day, new realizations come to me in little shocks… reminders of how every aspect of my life will change even more in just 8 months. When I sign my name and think I’ll have to get used to signing it differently. When I come home to my empty house, which very strongly reflects my own personality, and think that it will soon be filled and molded by a whole nother personality. When I watch tv and think what other channels he may want to watch. When my friends talk of social activities, and I realize I’ll actually have somebody to do them with. When I fix a quick meal of cheese and crackers and think of having twice as many people to cook a real meal for. When I see people with their pets, and I wonder if I’ll be ready for another one soon… and if he’ll want one, too. And, of course, seeing children and no longer thinking of them as peripheral entities in my life.

I suppose all of the above are really rather typical transitions that every "single" person must deal with when facing the merging of their life with another. But I think I’m rather thankful for the opportunity of an extended buffering transition period. Time to just get used to the IDEA of complete change before it plops itself into my lap. :)

Virgin Voyage...

So here's our first post.

Unfortunately it's just me for now.... Lucky seems to be experiencing technical difficulties tonight, but hopefully he'll be able to pop in to say "hi" in the morning. Which will be long before I wake up, but that's our life... :)

As for myself... well, I'll be heading home from work in about 20 minutes. Yes, I've been shamelessly setting up a blog on work time. But... this is my last day of working extra hours, so I'd might as well go out with a bang, eh? It was nice to earn the extra hours to not only catch up with my work, but also to earn unofficial comp time towards Lucky's and my visits to each other this year before the wedding. However, I'm kinda glad this is my last night workin late. A person can only stand so much time working, you know?

Amway, welcome to our blog... We're sure to have more soon, so stay tuned. But for now, I bid you g'night. :)