Trip to Idaho
I promised my ex-wife that I’d pay a visit to see the kids in September, but my dentist had plans for all of my money in the entire month of September. I made plans to visit the last weekend of the month, buying the plane tickets shortly after pay day on the 16th. I headed out this morning for the Caltrain station, bound for SFO.
Ex-Mrs. Me had been having problems with the Mac I gave her a few years ago, even to the extent of taking it to the local computer store to have it readied for internet accessibility (scary scary) and having the local “Mac-expert” tell her that he couldn’t figure out why it couldn’t hear the modem. So, I decided to give her my old Pentium 133 laptop. I stuffed that in my duffel, along with a couple days of clothes and some books and jaunted off to the airport.
An hour and a half after I took off from San francisco, the plane landed in Boise safely and the familiar pick-up (her new hubby’s) was waiting outside, with my son and daughter inside ready to pick up daddy.
We made a bee-line for Grandma’s house, 65 miles away, where I stay when I’m in the area. The kids had come prepared with their own backpacks for the “sleepover”. My ex stayed around a little while so I could show her some basics about her new laptop and then split, giving me my children for the weekend.
My son is an incredibly smart eight-year-old with a very short attention span and a hefty love of Pokémon and my daughter is the most energetic little thing I’ve ever seen. We watched some cartoons, ate the most detestable pizza ever created, played with various toys that Grandma has or that they brought along for the occasion, and watched some of the Olympics before it was time for them to go to bed.
A great day—albeit exhausting—and a good visit with Grandma. That woman never ceases to amaze me. After the kids were safely in bed, I headed on foot to the corner store, being critically low on caffeine, and saw a couple of people I went to high school with and, as I was leaving, my uncle, with whom I conversed for a bit. It was good to see him.