October and November, 1999
Background music: Faith Hill's "Breathe"
October came and went with little hurrah. Poking around on backups from the laptop, I actually have a few entries here and there to post, but nothing that even gives me an idea of what I was doing at the time, except to say that I wasn't writing because I didn't know what to write about.
Halloween weekend was the only 'big' thing going, as far as I can remember; Jev's parents called Saturday morning (I think), and asked if we'd mind if they dropped by that afternoon; they were out to take a drive on the Blue Ridge parkway and enjoy the fall colors, and we're fairly close to it. We didn't really have any plans, so we said okay.
So they stopped by in the early afternoon, and they had Cocoa, their miniature poodle with them. My cats aren't too fond of the dog of course, but he has more to fear from them than they do from him, generally. We visited for a bit, and Sam had a football game on (I don't think it was a Virginia Tech game, but it could have been), so the men watched the game.
Munchie, my black cat, must have decided that Cocoa isn't big enough to give her much trouble. She came out of hiding before too long, and started lurking around the edges of the room, watching the dog (who was on a leash) with every inch of her being. Eventually, she decided his leash would make a good plaything, and she started stalking it. Of course, eventually she got stuck where she and Cocoa had no choice to end up nose to nose. Munch hissed and swiped, and I think Cocoa was ready to go home after that. But no one was hurt, and Munchie kept her distance after that.
In September or October, Mom asked me if Jev and I would like to come out in mid-November for a visit; Julie was going to be coming, too. While I knew Jev really didn't want to go, we also knew that Julie wanted to meet him, and so he agreed. This time, instead of paying beaucoup bucks and flying out of Roanoke, we drove down to Raliegh-Durham, North Carolina, and paid a bit under $200 each for tickets. A lot easier on our bank account, but it was a longer drive than I'd really expected, especially since we had a two and a half hour drive from the St. Louis airport to my mom's on the way in, and then a three hour drive from Mom's to the Kansas City airport on the way out. Ugh!
We had a nice visit, despite the fact that I almost ran into my ex-friend's wife -- I just didn't happen to notice who was working the register when Mom wanted to go to the new Goodwill store in town -- and while Jev was rather bored and I wasn't much less so at times, that little trip went fairly well. Our flights were fairly nice, and the weather was beautiful the whole time we were away.
On the way back home, I asked Jev what he thought, now that he'd met most of my family, and if he thought I was more like Mom or Julie. He surprised me by saying he thought I took most after my dad; his explanation was that I tend to come up with my own unique solutions to problems, like my dad did with the ramp for the curb.
Jev had a three day work week the week of our trip, and then the next week was Thanksgiving, so he had another three day work week there. We headed for his parent's Thanksgiving Eve, me playing on his palmtop computer (he got that shortly after I got my laptop... couldn't let me have all the toys, you know...) while he drove. After the previous week's trip, I really wasn't looking forward to another three hour drive to and from, but it wasn't too bad; the weather here has been very nice and mild, and is still holding as I type this on December 20th. We've had some rain and some wind and cold days, but no snow or ice yet.
Yet.... Jev's a bit worried that the longer the snow and bad weather holds off, the worse it will be when it finally gets here. I remember my second or third year in Missouri, when it didn't snow until New Year's Eve, and when it finally did, it came down with a vengeance! Ah, well... only time will tell.