Mom had been battling a bad cold/cough which Dad finally took her to the Pella ER Monday night and they admitted her. First it was bronchitis, then pneumonia, then finally bronchitis and she was released yesterday.
Thursday (Cinco de Mayo) was Butler's 10th birthday as a McFall and I got quite emotional for a very short amount of time Wednesday afternoon telling him how Daddy/Mike found him and how we went out to get him the Thursday afternoon of Tulip Time 2001. I was emotional because Mike knew I wanted a greyhound after we had to put Lucy down and he found Butler at the Animal Rescue League and also that he wasn't here to celebrate ten years. Butler is the first dog to be with us 10 years - Lucy was nine years and months.
Tulip Time was this past Thursday, Friday and ended this evening. I had planned to go down on Thursday to see a couple of girlfriends from high school but I had gotten emotional (again) Wednesday night when I tried to go to sleep about Mike not being here for Butler's birthday and Tulip Time - so Thursday I wasn't in the mood to drive to Pella.
Friday I planned to go to Tulip Time to see one of the two girlfriends I had hoped to see on Thursday but it really hit me that Mike wasn't here. This is my second Tulip Time since Mike died but last year Tulip Time came so quickly after Mike's death it didn't really hit me he wasn't here. It was more like Mike wasn't able to go to Tulip Time last year and I met up with a friend to "do Tulip Time". This year reality hit that Mike is gone and won't be with me at any more Tulip Times and that was rough. And while I like driving to Pella to see my folks - I really do not like the drive home by myself. So I didn't go Friday.
I did run a couple of errands Friday - one to Three Dog Bakery to buy special treats for Butler for a belated birthday celebration. While inside Three Dog Bakery I received a voicemail from one employment agency I was working with about my interview with the American Cancer Society. I waited to listen to the voice message until I got home and I did not get the job. While I was disappointed because I thought working for the cancer society would have been rewarding the salary wasn't right. Then within 30 minutes of listening to that voice message I got a phone call from the company in Waukee that I have an interview Wednesday with two team members! They started out with 80 applicants and have it down to maybe four - so it's in God's hands.
Today I got up and got around and headed down to Tulip Time! Dad and I went to West Market Park where they have craft stands to walk through. Actually Dad rode his scooter chair and I walked. Then we headed up to look at the old tractors. Now I walk fast - there would be times Mike would ask if I was walking with him or not since I had a tendency to "leave him in my dust" - but I had to crank it up a notch to keep up with Dad on his scooter chair. Then when I'd catch up - he'd speed up. I finally told him I was not going to jog Tulip Time so he slowed down :)
This Allis Chalmers is the same model (WC) as the type of tractor Dad drove on the farm when he was younger - but this tractor is a few years older than Grandma and Grandpa Hill's tractor.
After the tractors - we saw four or five Allis Chalmers tractors and an Allis Chalmers grader - we headed to Scholte House's gardens to look at the tulips. I told Dad to tell the mayor - yes Lori that would be your dad :) that they had too many orange tulips here :)
This was my favorite bed of tulips in Scholte House garden because of the mixture of colors. It's too bad tulips only bloom for a short time each spring.
After Scholte House garden Dad headed back to their apartment and I cut across Central Park to get Poffenchese (sp) - little pancakes with powdered sugar. Hmmm hmmmm. This bed of tulips was in Central Park by the windmill.
Tulips up close and personal in Central Park :)
Dad had a wedding to perform at Fifield - out by Lake Red Rock - at noon. I went to a food booth to get Mom a hot dog which I took back to her and then I got my annual sour kraut with a brat at a Central booth. I decided to walk down to Central College's campus and was able to walk through the bookstore for a few minutes before it closed.
Now when I went to Central we had ducks at the pond - I have no idea when the ducks disappeared and the geese appeared but here's the Central geese. And the pond is still g-r-o-s-s! I walked down Peace Mall by Gaass Hall (the scary dorm if you remember from a previous blog) and remembered when the windows would be open with stereos blaring music. And also thought - when did Gaass Hall shrink, I thought it was bigger than that.
But I did have a moment walking Peace Mall when I wished Mike would have been with me and I squeezed my right hand closed like I was holding his hand and got teary-eyed. I didn't like walking Peace Mall by myself but I needed to. When I got back to Mom and Dad's apartment Mom and I visited a while before Dad got back from the wedding and then I headed for home around 1:30. I forgot to open a window and turn on the fan upstairs and was a little concerned how warm it would be upstairs. It was 85 upstairs and I turned on the AC to help cool it down and put Butler's cooling bandana on him.
Now we're watching Saturday night racing at the Lady in Black seeing how many Darlington stripes she gives.
Happy Mother's Day to all mothers tomorrow!
