A good afternoon goes horribly wrong!

I thought I was going to have some really nice pictures to show you about a recent trip that Jim and I took and instead I have some really bad news.

In the next county over (which is serious Amish-country), one of the little villages has put on quite a Holiday display. The regular townspeople have lit up their portion of town with tons of lights, while the Amish have strung holly, pine and popcorn garland everywhere. Its supposed to be quite beautiful.

Unfortunately, a few minutes after this picture, things turned bad on our trip. Something spooked a horse that we were passing, and it jumped over into our lane pulling the buggy behind it. Jim had NO time to react and we crashed into the horse and buggy! Although we weren't hurt, we were badly shaken up because the Amish fellow didn't fare as well. His horse was hurt quite badly (and the last news we heard was that it might have to be put down ), and his buggy was fairly well demolished.

Jim's Hyundai was able to limp back home afterwards; but will more than likely go into the shop at Expert Auto to repair the front end damage and the blown airbags. Unfortunately, this means that his car will not be able to make the trip to NC, and that means that we won't be making the trip either.

Believe it or not, I really was looking forward to a nice trip through the mountains and spending the holiday season with my family and Jim. I'm going to really miss seeing all of you. perhaps we can try this trip again when March rolls around for a birthday party. As soon as we get the car over to Expert Auto, I'll get some pictures of the damage that was done. I (and my camera) had just been too shaken up to take many pictures after the accident.

Oh perhaps I should mention two other little items. One, I've been running a mild case of Hives since this summer; and two, I have a deadly Hive reaction to horses!! The last thing I needed was a HUGE Hive outbreak at Christmas, so I stayed way away from the horse, the buggy and the whole mess.

Want in on a secret?

Okay, I have to fess up now - that story about the horse and buggy accident was fake. There was no trip to Amish country, no accident and NO dead horse. See, my Mom was all anxious about me coming home for Christmas (after getting a trip every 6 months for 2 years, she got spoiled and really missed me the last year and a half). So Jim and I began to make plans about going to NC for Christmas. At first we thought we really would drive down; but that would leave us with nearly NO time to visit with my family. We might not have been able to make it until Christmas Day either, and then everyone would have been elsewhere and we would have missed the family get-together on Dec. 18th. On a whim, I checked online to find out how much a couple plane tickets would cost. Lo and behold, they must be on sale, because for the price I usually pay for one ticket ($330) I could get TWO tickets for Jim and I to both fly. WooHoo!

Needless to say I got the tickets. Now, I decided to surprise my Mom with my visit. I made arrangements for my sisters-in-laws to get a box large enough for me to hide in and I dusted off my old US Cargo delivery uniform to dress Jim in. The plan was to not tell Mom about the trip, have one of my brothers deliver us to Mom's where Jim would pretend to deliver a Christmas package out of which I (of course) would pop out surprising Mom.

Ah, but Mom didn't know about my plans so she was still anxious about trying to get me to visit for the holiday. So much so, that one evening I got a phone message from her saying that she has checked out plane fares (and found the great discount too) and was ready to purchase a ticket for me. Oh no! What to do now?!?

I still wanted to surprise Mom (heck, the arrangements for everything had already been made) so I had to devise a story to throw her off the trail. (Oh, but I'm not taking all the credit - or the blame. LOL Jim helped dream up the devious story of the Amish horse-and-buggy accident). So now, it's the morning of the 17th, my Mom isn't expecting me and is really sad about it; my sisters-in-laws have arranged to pick us up and take us to Mom's with a box to "deliver" me in (oh yes, Angie and Lisa are co-conspirators in all this too. LOL); and I'm packed and ready to go! Sorry, but you'll have a wait a couple of days till I'm back, to find out how it all turned out.

But while you're waiting, I can also tell you about another surprise before the family in North Carolina finds out. Not only did Jim and I make a gingerbread house for DO and Expert Auto; but we also made replica gingerbread houses of my Mom's and both my brother's houses!

One of my Waikem Ford friends, Ruth, should be happy now. She claimed I don't put enough pictures and info into my updates about Jim. Well, here he is again (for a total of 6 pictures this month, if you count the two of only his hands LOL)!

After all that work we had put into the houses, Jim dreamed up another project for us. Now we're created trees and snowmen that will interlock and stand up on their own. We're planning on taking these "blanks" down along with a ton of candy decorations and spending some quality time with my nieces and nephews decorating and having some fun.

My own little Christmas village is better than DO's village because mine is edible. (The wallpaper on my monitors is a picture of a local park filled with Christmas lights. You can find that picture over on my holiday picture page.)

But my little village has another surprise going for it. We cut holes in the bases of the houses that just fit some small lights that we had laying around. In these "night" pictures you can see the lights glowing through the "stained glass" windows.

It's been really cold up here in the North lately, and Gabby loves the blanket that I put on the floor just for her. She's still the sweetest, happiest puppy that I've ever had.

And speaking of doggies, my friend at EAC, Tara, got a new dog just in time for the Holidays. Lucy is a 12 week old Airedale. She's cute as a button, and she frequently gets to hang out with us at the Body Shop.

Christmas

Carolinas

Merry Christmas Everyone! It's sure cold and snowy up here in Ohio. Yeah! Another White Christmas. (We never even dreamed of having one of those in NC when I was a kid. LOL) Too bad it's just so cold. The snow is just frozen solid now. This does remind me of the very first winter I lived in Ohio. Randy and I had just moved up here in November and were staying at his mom's. That Christmas was -5 and snowy. Twenty-four years later and the weather is the same.

If you check my holiday pictures page, you'll see some beautiful pictures of the scenery from our trip over to Salem and back. The sun reflecting through the ice on the trees made it looks like the trees were made of optic fibers, or tinsel. Here's a sample. For more pictures, click here

First, I need to tell you a little background (isn't that the why I always tell my stories? LOL). I feel very lucky that I had a true love with Randy. I hate sounding gushy about it, but he and I did everything together and loved each other deeply for nearly 10 years. It actually made things better through the years knowing that I didn't need to still look for love since I had already had it. I know that sounds a little sad, but I was still pretty sick back then and really felt that I didn't even have enough time left to be bothered with looking for another companion. So as the years went by, and I managed to hang in, I grew up another 10 yrs. learning to really be self-sufficient and alone. It wasn't so bad all those years though. I still had my memories of Randy and great friends.

Especially one friend.

Through-out the last fifteen years, Jim and I have been great friends. There were some times that the guys that he was dating would get jealous of our friendship. (Hey, I can't help that I'm a nice guy.) Even during the years that I was really sick and house-bound, Jim frequently called, dropped by, or tried to include me in his plans. I'm sure I would have still been a hermit in my house if he hadn't gotten me out of the house as much as he did.

I haven't been really badly sick (like in the hospital with pneumonia) for years. With my Computer-Tutoring I make enough with my disability to just keep my house going. I'm doing pretty good on my own with the doggies and the cat. I'll never really be over Randy; but life is going on. I've still got mega health problems; but I'm still living for a lot longer then I had thought.

Now, here we are, years later and so many things have changed; but through out all of this time, Jim and I have remained friends. Through the last few years, we have grown even closer as neither of us dated anyone and we just pal-ed around with each other. Actually, I know that Jim would have liked me to have "more formalized" our relationship; but being the good friend that he is, he didn't press me knowing how I had kind of resigned myself to being single. As I've explained to many of my close friends, it really disturbs me that they are so close to me. I know how bad it tore me up to lose Randy, and I hate to think that my friends will feel that way when I've passed. I know it's probably silly, but I wouldn't wish those kind of feeling on my enemies, much less my friends.

But there Jim was through it all, not worried about what sadness the future may hold; but more concerned about what was in the here and now. In the "now", was Jim with me on a visit to my family. Everyone was so kind to him, and he seemed to fit in so well. With the holidays usually such a bad time of year for Jim (due to losing his parents at the holidays when he was so young), it warmed my heart seeing him have a good time.

Later that night, I had a discussion with Jim back in our hotel room. I just wanted to explain something important and tell him something. First, I needed to explain that I was NOT comparing him to Randy (sorry, no one can compare) but that many things about our relationship were similar. Both of us are intelligent and not afraid to defend our opinions, but arguments rarely, if ever, happen. After trying to follow Randy's big dreams, helping Jim fulfill some of his adventurous plans (need I mention Flugtag? sledding in the freezing weather? or even a plan to pop out of a box on Christmas for my Mom?) is old hat. So it only follows an explanation like that, that I tell him that I love him.

Wow! How lucky can I be? A trip home and a boyfriend for Christmas! I know some of you are saying, so what? I thought you and Jim were already a couple. I mean, every time to tell a story now-a-days it starts by fooling us when you say "Gemini". LOL On one hand it doesn't mean much, it's just changing saying "friend" to saying "boyfriend". On the other hand it means a lot, because now it means I'm not alone. Although it may take a little while for me to adjust to being "a couple" again, I'm looking forward to a good New Year with Jim.

From what I've heard from my family, my mom had been really irritated with me just before my visit down South. She was trying her best to help get me for Christmas and I wasn't even answering her IM's. But I think all things are forgiven now. How mad could she be? I DID make it down for Christmas. On Christmas day (as we drove through Alliance on the way over to Randy's mom's) I got a call from my mom (on her way to see my Aunt Beth). I had her on speakerphone when she asked if Jim wanted to hear a joke. "What goes clip-clop, bang, clip-clop bang? An Amish drive-by shooting, of course! LOL"

I've also been hearing rumors and getting emails (the first reply to my recent update announcement) about my tease of my brother's baldness. (Still haven't gotten any news about Lisa's GBS shot. Although Mom did suggest the "Gratuitous BELLY Shot" from a Christmas picture she has of Dennis. ROFL) Now, all I can say is that having starting going seriously gray at 18, I can tease just about anybody about their hair. Even kids today sometimes shave their heads, so baldness isn't "so" bad. But when your fricking hair is white and your only 42, then you look OLD. (Heck, I've been coloring my hair since I was 21!) And "old" trumps "bald" any day. LOL Well, the red is starting to fade out of my hair again, and I see the white coming back, so I'm off to the drugstore for some Miss Clariol before I look 60 and sick again. :D