*sigh*

Okay. So.

I had to work both Sat and Sun last weekend b/c my 1/2 tech is having unspecified health issues. So I had no time to prepare, really, for our trip to Memphis last week. We went on Tuesday and came back on Thursday. My family and R's family took care of our daughter's transportation to Memphis. (Her professors have been very kind about her missing school, and due to her grief, not expecting her to do her presentations and tests even when she was there. This is what you get when you always attend class, are always prepared, participate in discussions, have your assignments ready on time or early, and are generally pleasant and respectful.)

Our experience in Memphis was about what you'd expect when the matriarch has gone.

While in Memphis, we learned that F's roommate was able, last-minute, to get tickets to come here to Florida for spring break ... to arrive Friday. We knew this was a possibility, and we're pleased to have her b/c we like her, but there was NO preparation b/c we got in Thursday evening and I had to work on Friday. So she had to go into the closet to find sheets to even put on her bed. But she's cool. F flew in Friday as well. Had I had a moment to think I could have arranged all this better, but I didn't and that's that. F missed her flight connection in Atlanta and that was kind of traumatic on top of everything else that's happened but she managed to get on another flight and we all ended up where we were supposed to be.

So we've got the two girls here. Yesterday we grilled hamburgers on the patio, went downtown to Lake Morton to look at the birds and all, and spent a little time at an outdoor mall before coming home so R could do his evening shift. This afternoon we're going to try to get to Jetty Park on Cape Canaveral in time to see the shuttle go up. We can see it from here but we'll get a much better view.