May 6 2007 Back from the US Again

I’ve been back from the US now for 3 days. I got in Wednesday night, after a long, long LONG series of flights back from the US. I was exhausted, and I’m having a harder time with jetlag than I usually do. But I had a great time in the US. It was just what I needed! I’m happy to be back home, my Hong Kong home, but I’ve just got to have the periodic reconnection with my kids. Its like getting my mom battery recharged or something.

I wrote a couple of things while I was in the US – one about the mess with the cursed BMW, and another about the fun day Sarah and I had running a 10K in Minneapolis and painting doors at a Women’s Shelter. They were originally posted to the UPT group website (otherwise known as my friends, the Texas Moms… J) and with a few modifications they are included below.

I also had a good time with Daniel and with my mom. Hilda and I accomplished a lot while I was there! We got her hooked up to DSL (so now I can send her pictures!), bought her a new TV for the living room, and got her some new cordless phones. Daniel and I did our usual routine – I feed him, he hugs me, its all good. I stayed at Joanne’s this time. She seems to be doing well – its not easy adjusting to life with Walter in a nursing home, but it was time.

Last night Lee and I went to a party for one of my hiking buddies that is leaving. They have a beautiful home up on the Peak. They are pretty sad, since they are leaving after only a year, and its not what they expected, but that happens around here a lot. People come expecting to stay 3 or 4 years, and end up leaving in a year. People come thinking they’ll be here for a year or two, and 20 years later….at this point we think we will be here another two or three years (and I’ve just signed a 2 year contract at my yoga studio on that note), but you just never know…

So, here are the little essays about the BMW, and about our fun day in Minneapolis….

……..

Last night as I was turning onto Daniel's street to pick him up for
dinner, my car started making an unholy racket. I turned off the
engine and called Daniel on my mobile, telling him to come outside.
He came out, I started it up again and the noise sounded even worse.
We opened the hood and Dan said I had a broken belt! Can you believe
it? Remember, this is the car that has been stolen, run into a
pothole that broke two wheels in the armpit of Dallas, got backed
into by my friend when I was staying at her house last March, got
caught in a hail storm right after we had the damage from the
accident at my friend's house fixed...and now this. That's not to
mention the door-dings from the old person that parks next to it in
my mom's garage, or the "check rear lights" warning that only comes
on when the car is NOT in the repair shop.

Daniel and I went to get our pizza, and I called a tow
truck. We made it back to his apartment and the tow truck arrived at
just about the same time. So, oh well, right? Off went the car, and
Daniel was about to drive me back to Joanne’s for the night. As we
were walking out of his apartment he asked me if I had the key to the
car (we were going to stop at the repair shop first and put the key
into their drop box). I held up the key with a smile...and about 5
seconds later realized that I no longer had the key in my hand! Yes,
this was out on the grass in front of his apartment, in the dark.
What happened? Did it drop into my purse? No. Did I put it into my
pocket? No. Had I dropped it? I hadn't heard a noise...but I MUST
have. We got a flashlight and started looking. At this point my son
thinks I am INSANE..well he had suspicions before, but now he was
sure....we scoured that lawn, over and over, taking turns when one of
us was frustrated. This was when I almost lost it. Not only was the
car cursed, but I was cursed too...or so it seemed. FINALLY I found
it, in the lawn. It had fallen silver part (that goes into the lock)
first, with only the black handle sticking up, so the flashlight
didn't make anything glitter in the dark.

I figured out that what must have happened was that I had taken the
key off of the keychain, but I was holding the key and the keychain
in the same hand, and my teeny-tiny brain told my hand to let go of
the key after I held it up to show it to Daniel, thinking that it was
still on the chain. Weird, very weird.

Now today it turns out that the water pump broke which broke the
belt and damaged two others. The estimate is $1,100...Lee's response
was "I HATE THAT CAR". It won't be ready until tomorrow and I will be
on my way to Minneapolis by then. But they are going to bring the car
to Joanne's and she's going to store it in her garage until we figure
out what to do with it. The repair shop said they might be able to
help us sell it. Several people have expressed some interest in it. I have to remember that although the car seems cursed, it’s not a lemon; nothing has really been wrong with it mechanically that you wouldn’t expect on a car with 83K. It’s just born under a bad sign, or something.  The other thing is if the car is in Columbia then some people can drive it occasionally. It’s not good for it to just sit around for 3 months at a time. My mom won't drive
it; she's scared of it.

……

Sarah and I ran a 10K this morning. The weather was BEAUTIFUL - 60's and 70’s, bright and
sunny. It was at Minnehaha State Park, for any of you that know this
town. It went on a path around the Mississippi River. We both did
fine - both right in the middle of the pack for our age group. She
ran it in 1:00:58 I ran it in 1:06. So I was running 10:40 minute
miles. Not bad for me. And the nice thing is I still feel like I can
do better. I haven't learned my limits yet for a race. I'm afraid of
getting injured so I don't push myself really hard.

After the race we went back to her apartment, showered and off we
went again. This time we grabbed some lunch and then headed to
Hastings, Minnesota. She is in another advertising competition (this
time for young professionals) and as part of her group’s "bonding
experience" they had volunteered to paint at a women's shelter. The
drive was beautiful - it’s early spring here, with trees budding and
flowers beginning to bloom. And the painting was fun. We painted some
doors and I kind of got into it!

Now we're back at the apartment and later we're going for sushi. We
went out for dinner last night with Eric. He's still a little shy
around me...ha. Tonight is just us girls, although I think Sarah
might go out later after she gets rid of me...

I'm just having a great time here. In spite of that crazy car, this
has been a really great trip to the US, even without going to Texas!
We'll go to Austin in July - that's crazy of us, isn't it. But Lee
needs to work, so what the heck...