Faith in humanity.

Hello all. Glad to be back in the blogger's seat. Had some bad things happen, and some great things happen. Here goes...

Madmom and I have dealt with Suburban issues of one form or another since we bought the beastie from our uncle-in-law. Not really his fault, nor ours, it just wasn't up to what we wanted to do with it. So finally, in a fit of exasperation, I took my little blue Topaz and traded it in on a 87 Suburban. Had lots of goodies, power door locks, 4 speed auto trans, a fuel injected 350, 4wd (which is important given the type of work that I do - during disasters, I must be available at a moments notice to go wherever I have to. It doesn't matter if it's raining, sleeting, snowing, or dropping giant frogs from space... I gotta go...) air conditioning, etc. And I got it at a good price.

So, off we set out, the day after buying it, with trailer in tow to go spend a week at the beach. Kids were off to summer camp, so it was just Madmom and the Doc. There is no better bliss than a week with one's spouse.... alone. We got 30 miles outside of town, and the transmission dies. So, we limp home, grateful that it came with a warranty. However, I should have read the warranty more closely. It covers 50% parts and labor, and then only at one specific garage. The garage of choice was 110% of taking it to a regular transmission shop and getting it repaired. In other words, it was simply cheaper for me to repair it myself.

This in mind, I had just taken all of my savings plus my good running beep beep, and used it to get the Suburban I just bought. Needless to say, we were in a pickle. We decided to pull the trailer with our mini-van, which it will do albeit under protest. We took the kids to camp, had 3 fun filled days at the coast, won 150 bucks playing bingo at the Indian run casino in Lincoln City, and came home yesterday to figure out what we are going to do next. It was galling at best to just look at my "new" car and know that I wouldn't have the money to fix it for a month.

So now to the title of my story... I was describing my problem to a mechanic friend of mine... and he said we'll figure something out. Well, what he figured out was that his uncle owns a transmission shop, so we took it today to get it fixed. I assumed it was on an account, and I'd have no problem making it up to him prior to his bill. I assumed wrong. He is going to just pay for it, and tells me we'll sort it out later. I was shocked ... remember we are talking a thousand bucks here. He ain't rich either. But he just said these things happen, and we'll sort it out.

As I'm typing this, I am almost in tears... but they are tears of joy, not sadness or anger. The fellow helping us is a good friend, but not one of long term... we've only known him a year or so. I guarantee we'll do something nice for him and his missus... on top of repaying him... out to dinner at Ruth's Criss or Morton's of Chicago comes to mind. I also re-learned faith... both in friends, family and my God. I can assure you that this guy would never think of himself as an "angel" at any level.

But he is, just the same. Thanks my friend.... and I am listening for the bells that tell me you got your wings.

Until our next.....

From all of us in the USA to Great Britain

You have stood beside us and have been staunch allies through thick and thin. This blogger and American remembers that. I have been on the line. And should it come to that - for us, US, or you... I will stand the line again. God bless you all.

The Doc.

The Answer was YES!!!!!

As some of you know, earlier this spring I got to meet a couple of very special people, Chase and Suzanne, both fellow bloggers and all around good people. We met in Savannah on the river, and had a wonderful couple of hours getting to know each other and enjoying some good Southern Cookin. (The fact that Chase is almost as big a geek as me don't hurt either!! )

Finally, Chase was able to ask THE QUESTION. And to my infinite happiness, here is what happened:

...The following was happily stolen from Chase's blog...

And the answer is... What ?

Many of you who know me understand that before I put myself into any kind of situation, I prepare myself mentaly by having the conversation over and over again in my head, preparing myself for any possible outcome or question. I would mentaly re-live the scanario a hundred different ways, so that no matter which way it went I would have a reply ready as second nature. I had a few family members there, most notably my Father. There were a few friends who were suppose to be there, but if you've ever tried to find someone on a beach that is packed with thousands of people , well... it's best if you come in the same car.

Our family sat in a semi-circle high in the sand, looking over the beach. We waited for it to get dark, and passed the time in a multitude of ways. We took pictures of each other. We watched the kids play in the sand, and change colors from pasty white to a very very black. My Father and I played "catch" with the baseball gloves and ball. It should be noted that I will be thirty next year, and this is the first game of catch I have ever played with him. While some of you might not feel as strongly about this as I do, I am glad it came late. I'll remember this one forever now. He throughs great. I through like a special olypmpian.

Later on that night, it got dark. Very dark. There were two storms in the distance. One to our left, and one to our right. God brought his own fireworks to each side of the beach. I was certain he had it in for me. Our skies stayed very clear, and now I have a perfect understanding of how Moses felt when he had a towering ocean to his left and right as he crossed. The beach and only the beach, had beautiful weather.

Many of you are dying to know the "answer". This is how it went:

As the sky lit up with the first fireworks, I leaned over and whispered in here ear: "You know what would make this even better?" She looked at me out of the corner of her eye and said "what ?" I moved over next to her and got down on one knee and held up her ring... "If you would marry me..."

"What ?" This ladies and Gentlemen, was the answer.

"I want you to marry me..." and I pushed the ring closer...

"What ?" This was the third what. I was getting nervous. And then I noticed she wasn't speaking, or breathing. She was crying a lot though. We stood up and she hugged me and we kissed, under the fireworks. Our faces were lit up, and that was great to me. Although I didn't get the immeadiate "yes" I was looking for, It was there. (later on I did make sure she actualy said yes...

I had prepared for a lot of ways that could have went. "What" caught me off guard a little.

In the end, we held each other, lit up with the night sky. It was the best fireworks I'll ever see. The best part is that every year that we re-live it, there will always be fireworks.

Thanks for all of your well whishes.

-Chase

Additional note from the ol Doc -

First - it couldn't happen to a more devoted and wonderful pair of friends. All the best from mine to yours!

Second - I personally couldn't have picked a better day. Here's why - Tomorrow - the 6th, is my birthday. It makes it easy to keep track of your "anniversary" so to speak!

Lastly - and to me the most important - thanks to you, as I hit 42, I feel - YOUNG. It's a good thing!

Love from us in the Pacific Northwest -

Doc & Family