April 22 Destination--David & Carol!

Tuesday:  I had a very relaxed and uneventful flight from Grand Rapids to St. Petersburg this afternoon/evening. Everything was on-time. No complications whatsoever. I chose a window-seat on the Allegiant flight because the very cramped space they put you in nowadays on airplanes makes me claustrophobic. My seat-mates (middle and aisle) were two ladies, sisters who talked my legs off during the entire flight. I only looked out the window twice because I was giving them all of my attention (which was opposite the window). My neck ached by the time the plane landed, but our conversations made the flight seem very quick actually.

My brother had a very tough few days before my arrival: (1) His truck broke down up in Homosassa (where John and Starr live) and was unable to be quickly fixed in order to drive it back to Safety Harbor; so Andrew drove up to John's and brought David back home. This does not sound like a very big deal--except David is quite attached to his truck (!!) AND we needed his truck in order to pull their camper to our camp site (we went camping the second week I was there). Andrew was very kind to loan us his truck until we could figure out what to do with David's. (2) He got FIRED from his job Monday morning, which he suspected was going to happen all weekend ... BUT STILL. David has never been fired from ANYTHING in his entire life! The firm gave the reason for his termination being that his son-in-law, Chris, quit the firm without notice on the prior Thursday afternoon--therefore, they were firing David Monday morning. Hmm. No job, even if it was part-time, was not welcome news. (3) And THEN ... while David was innocently biting into a frozen strawberry bar (low-calory!) his front tooth broke--it was a capped tooth ... or was it a crown ... I am not sure; but missing an entire front tooth is no small thing! 

David managed to take all of this in stride; but he was a bit more stressed in his demeanor than is normal for him. Two of these problems were able to be dealt with while I was in Florida with them--David's truck was towed down to Safety Harbor and repaired for a lot less $$ than what was feared, AND he was able to get a dental appointment early the next week to get a temporary replacement for his tooth. 

I didn't take many pictures of their sweet little house ... this is part of the front of it. David and Carol are super good at taking something ugly and making it pretty. They've done a lot of work inside and outside of their house. They work together very nicely.

This is a terrible picture of me, but I am posting it anyway because it kind of shows part of their dining area and a different angle on their front room. We were setting up to play a game (or three) of Parchesi. We played a LOT of Parchesi, sometimes just David and I--but we taught Carol how to play and she joined us (and beat us) many times.

This is the front room of their house--isn't it pretty? Carol is a "thrift" buyer. I can't believe the cool stuff she has picked up for amazing prices. 

I believe it was Wednesday or Thursday that David and I drove up to Homosassa to meet the AAA tow truck that took David's truck back to Safety Harbor. I got to hang out with Starr and her beautiful children for a little bit. It sure was nice to see them again. I saw everyone except Brandon, their oldest, who I think was at work. I did get to visit with Brianna, Moriah, Mico, and the two littlest girls--super nice kids.

More to come ...