Eventful day

Posted on May 6, 2015

So much has happened today!

It all started with another phone call to the insurance agency to set up the towing of our truck to the transmission place. The little Hispanic man that towed it, had such a thick accent that was impossible for me to understand, and he could not understand a word of my accent, so we had quite the conversation.  Anyone watching us would have thought we were both deaf and dumb because our communication involved primarily body language! Hopefully by tomorrow I’ll have an idea from Willie at Transking how long it’ll take to fix the truck.

My sweet sister, Bernadine, called this morning to say that my niece had been in labor all night and was going to deliver her precious bundle this morning. I have to admit that I so wished I could have taken her place.  I LOVE being in labor! She invited Emma to be in the room to watch the birth.

I later received a phone call from Emma, and she was crying. Her words to me were, ‘Momma, Rachel had her baby girl, and the whole thing was so beautiful. Thank you so much for giving birth to me.’ My 12 year old baby sounded so grown up, so sincere, and so moved by the miraculous life changing event she had just witnessed. It brought me to tears. What a wonderful experience for her.  Bernadine texted me saying that Emma told her, ‘I will never complain about my period again.’ I’m so impressed with her maturity and am grateful that she can recognize the beauty, miracle and gift that it is to be able to carry a child and give birth to it.

At the exact same time in the exact same hospital, our beautiful mother was having rotator cuff surgery.

Bernadine called me when the surgery had been completed and she’d come to, in recovery. She put me on speaker phone and I chatted with my mom, who was still heavily influenced by the medications. She was laughing and told me she’d gotten a tattoo on her shoulder and that she’d been hit by a bull. I asked her what bull, and she laughed and said, ‘the bull that ran into me!’ It made perfect sense to her! What a hoot! Her surgery went well and now healing can begin.

Crazy thing, but I haven’t had much of an appetite the last few days, but woke at 3 this morning with an intense craving for Buffalo Wild Wings.  Weird thing is that I’ve only been there once, and it was several years ago with my brother. Aidan and I googled the closest one and went there for a late lunch.  It hit the spot.

 

Afterward we climbed around and explored some tide pools on the beach.  I’ve always loved tide pools.

 

 

We played with the anemones, limpets and periwinkles and explored around the rock formations.  It always takes me back to when I was little and we’d spend hours in the tide pools in Cape Town. Some were big enough to dive down into and we would find all sorts of interesting creatures that continue to fascinate me even now.

The Panama crew continued working on the boat and provisioning today, and have been watching the weather closely.  They have decided that tomorrow begins their best weather window and are going to set sail first thing, for Tampa. They are expecting their crossing to take about 8 – 10 days, depending on winds and currents.

And so…the adventure continues, on all fronts.  Life is good.