December was an very eventful month for me, and I learned quite a few things:
1. No matter what happens, nothing will keep you from your family when they need you.
You always hear that mothers will drop everything when their child needs you. That's a true statement. My son was involved in an accident, and even though he was physically okay, a young child died and my son needed me, so I was going! The administration of my school could not understand why I was going.....he wasn't in the hospital, he wasn't physically injured. Why did I have to leave school? BECAUSE HE NEEDS HIS MOMMA!!!!! My head of faculty was behind me 200% so I filed the necessary paperwork, was told that it was leave without pay, changed my flight plans, and left. My son needed me.
2. It's amazing what you miss when you don't have it.
While I was in the USA I think my cholesterol went up 800%! I couldn't get enough bacon! I had to eat breakfast every morning. Took me a while to realize that my breakfast time was about the time that I ate dinner in the UAE. So I went to my favorite breakfast spot (Tommy's) and ate bacon like it was ambrosia! I was also very thankful that I had Christmas dinner at my son TJ's apartment. His girlfriend Roshanna made COLLARD GREENS!!! I really miss leafy green vegetables and I wanted to overdose on these! Went to one movie and had movie popcorn (thanks Ernest!), and walked around in the rain. Had a "meeting" with my girls from school at Outback (and Bill who had just came home from Connecticut and tagged along with his wife Sandy), and just hung out with my boys and their friends. And I went to church and sang in the choir for two Sundays! That was awesome!
3. It never hurts to be nice.
On the plane back to the UAE on December 27th, I rode from Norfolk, VA to Philly, from Philly to Frankfurt, from Frankfurt to Abu Dhabi. On the fight from Philly to Frankfurt I heard horror stories from people on how it took them 2 days just to get to Philly from Massachusetts and the lines and cancelled flights. A poor lady wanted me to change seats with her husband because she was in one row and he was in the row behind her. My issue was because of my knee replacement I really needed an aisle seat to stretch out that leg. So we waited for one more passenger to come who was okay with the whole deal because that would put him next to his family members. The couple thanked me for orchestrating the whole deal. It's a seat! Not a big deal. At least I didn't see it as such a big deal. Maybe for someone else.
4. It never hurts to be nice, part two.
When I get to my hotel in Abu Dhabi, I was welcomed by the concierge who remembered me! This would be my third time at the hotel, and I didn't see him the second time I was there. The first time I had done a lot of shopping and he had told me to leave everything and he would bring it up to my room. Abu Dhabi is the "big city" and if you need anything food wise or anything wise you go to the "big city" to get it. I had done some grocery shopping this time. When he gets to my room he asked me to check all of my bags to make sure that I had everything. I told him that I trusted him. He said no, that he had broken my bottle of soy sauce and he would have to replace it. I poo pooed the whole thing and told him not to worry about it. When I replaced the soy sauce I made sure the bottle was plastic. He remembered me because of the soy sauce. When I left, the other concierge was there. He fussed at me for trying to bring all of my stuff down by myself. He asked if I had someone picking me up. I told him that the rental car company was bringing my car. He remembered how long I waited on that company to bring the car the last time, and that was in October. It is so nice to be remembered.
Oh! After I had gone to get my pedicure and pick up a few things that I needed to take back with me, I returned to the hotel and found that I couldn't get into the room. The guy that cleaned the rooms said that his master key didn't work either and that he would get someone up right away, which he did. One of the" powers that be" guys came up and found that his key didn't work either. He asked if I was going to be in the room for a while so that he could send someone up to fix it, I said sure. Jet lag was catching up to me anyway (I didn't tell them that). Next thing I knew they sent someone up to move me to an upgraded corner room on another floor. It was a wonderful suite!
I am now back in my little apartment catching up on my sleep and getting ready for the next term at school on Sunday. I had a great two weeks in Virginia, my son is doing well, the rest of my family and friends are doing fine, and I am ready to start 2013 on a positive note!
1. No matter what happens, nothing will keep you from your family when they need you.
You always hear that mothers will drop everything when their child needs you. That's a true statement. My son was involved in an accident, and even though he was physically okay, a young child died and my son needed me, so I was going! The administration of my school could not understand why I was going.....he wasn't in the hospital, he wasn't physically injured. Why did I have to leave school? BECAUSE HE NEEDS HIS MOMMA!!!!! My head of faculty was behind me 200% so I filed the necessary paperwork, was told that it was leave without pay, changed my flight plans, and left. My son needed me.
2. It's amazing what you miss when you don't have it.
While I was in the USA I think my cholesterol went up 800%! I couldn't get enough bacon! I had to eat breakfast every morning. Took me a while to realize that my breakfast time was about the time that I ate dinner in the UAE. So I went to my favorite breakfast spot (Tommy's) and ate bacon like it was ambrosia! I was also very thankful that I had Christmas dinner at my son TJ's apartment. His girlfriend Roshanna made COLLARD GREENS!!! I really miss leafy green vegetables and I wanted to overdose on these! Went to one movie and had movie popcorn (thanks Ernest!), and walked around in the rain. Had a "meeting" with my girls from school at Outback (and Bill who had just came home from Connecticut and tagged along with his wife Sandy), and just hung out with my boys and their friends. And I went to church and sang in the choir for two Sundays! That was awesome!
3. It never hurts to be nice.
On the plane back to the UAE on December 27th, I rode from Norfolk, VA to Philly, from Philly to Frankfurt, from Frankfurt to Abu Dhabi. On the fight from Philly to Frankfurt I heard horror stories from people on how it took them 2 days just to get to Philly from Massachusetts and the lines and cancelled flights. A poor lady wanted me to change seats with her husband because she was in one row and he was in the row behind her. My issue was because of my knee replacement I really needed an aisle seat to stretch out that leg. So we waited for one more passenger to come who was okay with the whole deal because that would put him next to his family members. The couple thanked me for orchestrating the whole deal. It's a seat! Not a big deal. At least I didn't see it as such a big deal. Maybe for someone else.
4. It never hurts to be nice, part two.
When I get to my hotel in Abu Dhabi, I was welcomed by the concierge who remembered me! This would be my third time at the hotel, and I didn't see him the second time I was there. The first time I had done a lot of shopping and he had told me to leave everything and he would bring it up to my room. Abu Dhabi is the "big city" and if you need anything food wise or anything wise you go to the "big city" to get it. I had done some grocery shopping this time. When he gets to my room he asked me to check all of my bags to make sure that I had everything. I told him that I trusted him. He said no, that he had broken my bottle of soy sauce and he would have to replace it. I poo pooed the whole thing and told him not to worry about it. When I replaced the soy sauce I made sure the bottle was plastic. He remembered me because of the soy sauce. When I left, the other concierge was there. He fussed at me for trying to bring all of my stuff down by myself. He asked if I had someone picking me up. I told him that the rental car company was bringing my car. He remembered how long I waited on that company to bring the car the last time, and that was in October. It is so nice to be remembered.
Oh! After I had gone to get my pedicure and pick up a few things that I needed to take back with me, I returned to the hotel and found that I couldn't get into the room. The guy that cleaned the rooms said that his master key didn't work either and that he would get someone up right away, which he did. One of the" powers that be" guys came up and found that his key didn't work either. He asked if I was going to be in the room for a while so that he could send someone up to fix it, I said sure. Jet lag was catching up to me anyway (I didn't tell them that). Next thing I knew they sent someone up to move me to an upgraded corner room on another floor. It was a wonderful suite!
I am now back in my little apartment catching up on my sleep and getting ready for the next term at school on Sunday. I had a great two weeks in Virginia, my son is doing well, the rest of my family and friends are doing fine, and I am ready to start 2013 on a positive note!
