Road Trip

The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat is nothing compared to the ordeal of a sports road trip in Europe.

Joe had a track meet this weekend in Ramstein (Germany). We had to drop him off at 3:30 AM Friday. The bus left our school, stopped at Alconbury (3 hours away) to pick up their soccer team (we often pair up with the other local DoDDS schools and share the expense to get to meets), and then proceeded to the ferry. Which was not running as France is on strike. So it was off to the Chunnel. Once across the Chunnel, they should have driven through France and on to Germany. But the bus broke down. They wanted to try to repair it, but apparently you have to have a special permit to work on a vehicle on the side of the road in France and they couldn't find it. They did eventually locate the permit and set to work.

Five hours later, they declared it futile. 3 police vans took the kids to a local hostel where they could get something to eat and try to get some sleep. The team voted to go home at this point (5 hours on the side of the road will do that to you), but the only transportation they could get was a bus to Ramstein, not home, In fact, at this point, they couldn't find any way home.

At 1 AM, the bus picked them up and delivered them to Ramstein at 6:30 AM. At 8 AM, the meet started and they ran their events. The girls even managed to place 3rd.

After much negotiating, Alconbury's softball team agreed to share their bus. 52 kids were sent home on a bus designed for 42. They arrived in Alconbury (3 hours away) around 6 this morning, and then had to wait another hour and a half for a Menwith shuttle to arrive to bring them home. At 11, we finally got to pick Joe up at the school, tired, but otherwise no worse for the wear.

Man, I hate my life right now...

Another seizure last night - not nearly as severe, so I guess that means the medication
is doing something. I didn't even bother to go to the hospital. The only lasting effect this
morning seems to be overwhelming fatigue and my hand is cramped up, but I can move my
fingers.

Already have neurologist appt on Monday, so at least I have something to tell him.

Tired of all this...

Pam is feeling crummy because her eeg results show that her brain waves are still all screwed up. Meet with neuro sometime soon to decide what to do next. Bummed.

Christmas 2009

Christmas in South Carolina - 2009

Pictures From Germany

http://s836.photobucket.com/albums/zz287/laverty324/Germany/

Some pictures from Germany.

P.S. Mom, I made you a Photobucket account

Sigh...

Smith Christmas

How did the Smith Family Christmas go? It didn't! As you can see in Donny's Facebook pictures, we had a little snowstorm on Saturday, the day of the party. About 20 inches.

I invited 30 people - 4 came. 2 were our next door neighbors and the other 2 were Pam and Eric, bless them. The house looked beautiful - fire in the fireplace, lights everywhere, snow falling outside, carols playing, food for 30 people including an entire red velvet cake, a 10 lb. ham, meatballs, cookies, cheesecake, presents piled high...my first Christmas gathering for my family...to say I was crushed is an understatement. Thank goodness for the 4 people that did manage to get there.

Pam and I are driving down to see Mom on Christmas Eve but other than that, we won't get together as a family this year.