Monday morning we got up early
and showered and dressed for the day. We stripped Kate’s bed and did some
laundry and then packed our bags for our return flight home to Florida. Erin
took Kate and Beth to school and we said a teary goodbye to them. Weston left
for work about 9:30 am and Erin took Miles to a friend’s home who would take
him to school later in the morning. Erin, Wells, Pam and I left for the airport
at 10:30 am and made a stop in Draper for an early lunch at Café Rio (Yum).
Following lunch, we continued to the airport and Erin dropped us off at Frontier
Airlines. We said goodbye to her and Wells and checked in at the desk and obtained
our boarding passes and proceeded through Security and on to the gate. Our
flight to Denver boarded early and took off on time at 2:30 pm. It was a
pleasant flight and only took an hour to reach DIA in Denver. We made our way
to Island #3 and waited for the shuttle bus to the Hyatt House Hotel where we
had reservations because of a 16-hour layover we selected. At the hotel we
checked in to our room, watched a little TV until 5:30 pm when our Denver families
arrived. It was wonderful to greet them all and everyone came, and hugs and
kisses flowed. Travis suggested we go to a nearby Village Inn restaurant where
we had dinner and visited for the next two hours. The restaurant was wonderful
to us and pushed some tables together and seated all 18 in an area by
ourselves. Orders were taken and then we noisily visited and waited for the
food to arrive. We enjoyed the meal and especially visiting with our children and
grandchildren, and all the families seemed to be doing fine. Reluctantly, some
needed to leave as it was school the next day, so bills were paid, and goodbyes
said, and the families individually departed. Travis returned Pam and I to the
hotel and we said goodbye to them and went upstairs to our room for the night—what
a great evening!
Tuesday morning, we were up at 3:45
am, showered, dressed and waiting in the foyer of the hotel to catch a shuttle
bus to the airport for a 6:25 am flight. We made a cursory check at the
Frontier desk to ensure our boarding passes were all we needed, and they were.
We then proceeded to Security and passed through all the hoops. A lot of people
were flying this morning somewhere as the train to Concourse “A” was packed. We
located the gate on our boarding pass and sat down for a few minutes but
wondered why no one was congregating there? Pam used her phone and checked the
flight status and it was leaving from a different gate, so we moved to the new
gate and passengers were just beginning to board the flight. I went on-board
first as I had a checked bag on my boarding pass and located our seats and
waited for Pam to arrive when an announcement was made over the intercom to deplane
the aircraft due to an ATC alert from Chicago, our intermediate stop. A huge
snow storm had backed up flights necessitating our flight delay our takeoff
from Denver. I gathered up my two bags and returned to the gate and joined Pam waiting
for a new departure time, about an hour and a half later. The Frontier agent
assured us the flight would leave later in the morning and would continue to
Jacksonville as planned with a prospective landing time of 3:12 pm. I sent a
text to President Lee letting him know we were on our way home and when we
hoped to be back in Jacksonville. He wished us a safe trip. We boarded the
plane about an hour later and we were pushing back a note from the Captain that
we would proceed to a de-icing area for a quick spray and then on to the
runway. We did just that and it was interesting to watch the de-icing trucks
move around the plane with their nozzles on articulated booms going over the
plane. When done we continued to the runway, however, just short of the runway
the Captain announced we had a sick passenger on-board and needed to return to
the gate to deplane the individual. While it seemed a small item, it took about
an hour to go through all the machinations to taxi back, pull up to the gate,
extend the boom, deplane, etc. We were never sure who it was but para-medics
came on-board and huddled over a person and soon they were gone. The Captain
indicated our plans were to close the plane, push back and taxi to the runway
while waiting for a new gate time in Chicago. Within a few minutes, however,
another announcement was made indicating they were having trouble with the
aircraft’s computer and technicians would have to come aboard and reset it. Again,
a short delay turned into another hour as we waited, thankfully, on the plane.
While waiting another passenger decided not to fly and left the plane, but she
had a checked bag in the underbelly of the plane, which required people to open
the bottom of the plane and locate the bag and remove it. Finally, we pushed
back, restarted engines and taxied to the runway and made it into the air about
9:30 am—3 hours after our original takeoff time. The flight was uneventful and
smooth, and we let down and landed at O’Hare International Airport 2 hours
later. The airport was busy, but it was obvious from snow on the edges of the
runways and taxiways that a storm had preceded us. The stop was just a
passenger stop and about two thirds of the passengers deplaned and shortly
thereafter, the same amount came aboard, and we had a full cabin to
Jacksonville. Pam and I had a chance to stand up and stretch and use the rest
room, but soon we were de-iced again (this time at the gate) and taxiing out to
the runway and airborne. The leg to Jacksonville was the longest of the day,
about two and a half hours, and just prior to landing, dropped below the clouds
and we saw the familiar landscape of Southern Georgia and Northern Florida,
Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island, and the St. John’s River as we maneuvered to
land to the northwest at JIA. We landed about 4:30 pm Florida time and it
surprisingly felt good to be “home.” Upon exiting the plane, I called the firm
where we had left our van and received instructions for the shuttle pickup at
Pole #1 on the arrival level. Within ten to fifteen minutes, the shuttle
arrived and took us and two other passengers back to the parking lot and our
van was pulled up by the office waiting for us. I paid the remainder of the
bill, got keys and we were off. The weather was quite nice in Jacksonville,
about 75 degrees with partly cloudy skies and our skin soaked in the humidity
after drying out in Utah. We arrived at our home about 20 minutes later and
unloaded our bag and two backpacks and the apartment looked good and clean
without any creepy crawlers. Before unpacking we went nearby for dinner and visited
about our trip and the day’s activities and then returned home, unpacked our
bags and put things away and settled in for the night. It had been a wonderful
week with Erin, Weston and their children. We got to see Kari Lovell and the
baby, celebrate Kate’s birthday, have dinner with Kali and later with Drew and
Kyline, and attend a wonderful funeral for our beloved Aunt Win. On the way
home we saw the rest of our family in Denver, and now we were back in the mission
field and the work we were called to do!
Wednesday morning, we arrived at
the USO at 10:00 am and spent an interesting morning. Joyce Schellhorn
(Director) was there along with Carmel and Jim (volunteers). So much had
changed in just about every room and we wondered what we should be doing. Joyce
took Pam and I on a tour of the rooms and what they were trying to accomplish.
Tax preparation had commenced, and the Internet Room was being used for that
service, which diminished the time sailors could use computers. Additionally,
an Support Group from the USS Wichita was having a meeting in the north end of
the main room and ladies were gathering. Lounge chairs remained in the
children’s room and it was uncertain their fate. In the storage room by the
children’s room were about 30 round tables, which completely dominated the
room. In addition, all the open shelving in that area was filled with food
items for “no dough” dinners. The tables were going to a storage facility but
currently none of the cabinets was accessible. Pam spent the morning in the “no
dough” storage room organizing while I spent my time in the rooms behind the
office cleaning and organizing the items there. Both rooms were filled up with
random items as they came in. Dave Ostrum arrived at noon and he needs a hernia
operation badly but had to go through a VA facility in Gainesville and didn’t expect
it to happen for several months. Several other volunteers arrived in the
afternoon, so Pam and I left at 3:00 pm and before departing the beach area went
on base and visited with Samantha Lagae and she and her children were happy to
see us. Finally, we departed for Arlington Hills and had an early dinner and
then to our apartment for the evening.
Thursday morning, we opened up the
USO and processed the bread and pastries from Publix before patrons began
arriving. Our first individual came at 9:30 am and we had a fairly steady
morning. Pam went into the kitchen and cooked chicken to use in future “no
dough” dinners. I cleaned the office and back rooms and manned the telephones. Julie
Davis came to work with Charlie Tramazzo, and she was in and out and another
volunteer came to work off community service hours. We were expecting someone
to come and take the round tables, but they never showed up. Joyce Schellhorn
(Director) arrived at noon and Pam and I briefed her on our morning and left at
1:30 pm and drove to the Naval Station and the Lagae home where Pam met with
Stephanie Jarvis, who was babysitting Fiona and Clive for Samantha. Pam talked quilts
with Stephanie, and I spent some time with Fiona trying to get her to learn the
alphabet. She could sing the alphabet song (sort of) but had no association
with the letters on flash cards. So, I began slowly with A-G and went over them
again and again, but she became bored quickly and wouldn’t concentrate on what
we were doing, so we stopped. Samantha asked for our help because she was
getting nowhere with her. I also went outside and installed a new swing
Samantha bought for their swing set, so now they had 2 swings and hopefully the
girls wouldn’t fight so much about the single swing. Pam and I left at 3:30 pm
and had a late lunch/early dinner and while at the restaurant, Pam talked with
the Chinese proprietor whose sister had been in church several months ago and
had a nice visit. Following our lunch, we drove to Arlington Hills and our
apartment and settled in for the day. Sister Topham and her new companion,
Sister King, came for some Plumbers Helper and it was nice to help them out.
Friday morning, we spent several
hours at the USO. We arrived at 10:00 am and Joyce Schellhorn (Director) was
there with David Ostrum in the midst of sorting meat from Beam’s. The pool
table was filled with bread and pastry items along with the meat, so Pam and I
jumped in and sorted the meat into various coolers. Within an hour we had
military wives and husbands coming for the goodies. I texted all of our
families and during the morning we had Tony Head come, followed by Samantha
Lagae and her kids, Shay Tuttle, Jennie Black with Rich and Olivia, and finally
Wes and Tara Alexander with their kids. We had a wonderful opportunity to visit
with each family and find out how they were doing. We learned that Tony Head was
leaving for Wisconsin to be on a pre-commissioning crew for his new ship, Chris
Tuttle was home for a while, and learned of the challenges Rich Black was
having with his ship in Pascagoula. When the food was moving under its own
weight, Pam went into the kitchen and cooked more chicken and I helped with two
volunteers sorting and organizing things in the outside storage room, also
processing new donations that just seemed to continue coming in. Apparently, no
one shared the optimism that the government shutdown was completely
over—hopefully it was, but the news announcements don’t provide much
confidence. Joyce was leaving for Tampa today and in her normal fashion just
couldn’t leave. Dave went home shortly after we arrived, and he returned at
1:00 pm and we literally had to push Joyce out the door. We visited with Dave
about next week and food deliveries by Northeast Florida and the help we could
provide. We had some lunch and returned to our apartment for the afternoon and
rested. Pam received a call from Kari Lovell, and we were happy to hear that
Wyatt was doing well at home and had received a good checkup this week. While
visiting with Kari and later with Janet Cartwright, Pam began to need to use the
bathroom about every 15 minutes and indicated she wasn’t feeling too well. She
had pains in her lower abdomen, was chilling and just couldn’t stop using the
bathroom. Pam asked me to search for symptoms of UTI and she met almost every
criterion perfectly. Later in the evening, I suggested going to an Urgent Care
facility, but when checking most of them were closed for the night. I
eventually found the Baptist Emergency Center near the St. Johns Town Center. We
drove to the hospital at 10:45 pm and they were wonderful to us. Within 15
minutes of arriving we were taken back to a treatment room and several nurses
and a doctor visited with Pam and diagnosed her ailment as a Bladder Infection
after processing her urine twice, so we were on the right track. We eventually
left the facility at 12:30 am and Pam was given an anti-biotic in the hospital
and a prescription for more to be picked up tomorrow. It had been a long night,
but we were happy Pam would be on the mend soon.
Saturday morning, I was in the
living room reading and Pam joined me at 9:00 am and had a fair night’s rest.
The pain in her abdomen had lessened but she knew the anti-biotics would not
fully kick in for 24 hours. Last night we received a call from the Jax Beach
Sisters requesting a ride for them and one of their contacts to attend a
baptism this afternoon at the Dunn Avenue Ward. We said yes and made
arrangement to pick them up. At 10:00 am I drove to a local Wal-Mart market and
got Pam’s prescription filled so she could continue taking the anti-biotics. I
vacuumed the apartment and kept laundry going until about 1:30 pm when we dressed
in church clothes and drove to Jacksonville Beach to pick up the Sisters and
their contact. As I knocked on the Sister’s door, Sister Tidwell opened the
door and was on the phone with their contact and he was cancelling his commitment
to attend the baptism due to some other issue. Sister Paulsen and Tidwell were
very apologetic, but it was okay, and we returned home. We made a stop for gas
and later for lunch before arriving at our apartment. Pam needed some rest, so
we weren’t disappointed at not going to Dunn Avenue. In the evening we went
over Sunday’s lesson and enjoyed discussing the new chapters in John.
Sunday morning, we left for
Jacksonville Beach at 9:30 am. We greeted the saints and the single
missionaries upon arrival and met Elder Jensen, Elder Crandall’s companion. Pam
also met Sister Tidwell, who was Sister Paulsen’s companion. Both
companionship's had contacts with them, the Sisters a man and a woman and the
Elders a man. Robert Rennie told us that Blake Harris received word he would
not be eligible to reenlist in the Navy due to medical issues and would be out
by July. A lot of the regular families were gone today, we supposed it was
because of the long weekend, but we also had several visiting families, so it
evened out. Only Devaney Noblit and Stephanie Jarvis attended today from our
families, which was a surprise. Sacrament meeting was excellent, and we heard
from Sister Novak and Brother Perkins, who both gave thoughtful talks. Brother
Rennie taught the Sunday School class and did a nice job of facilitating the
discussion from John 2-4. After Sunday School we visited for a few minutes and
then left for Arlington Hills and our apartment. Pam fixed some dinner for us
and we enjoyed the food. We discussed the lesson from Sunday School and then
watched some programming on byutv. Pam was feeling much better today, and the
anti-biotics seemed to be doing their job. Good to be back to work this week!
It was so nice to spend time with you here in Denver and glad you finally got back home! Hope mom is feeling better. Love you💕
ReplyDeleteThat night in Denver looks pretty fun! Can’t wait til we are all together this summer ❤️
ReplyDelete