Getting off the rock

Knowing what we now knew, it was more important than ever before that we get off The Island. Their medical care system sucks and neither I nor Itchy wanted to subject an innocent fetus to that. Itchy just had to pass his finals and we were done.

The first final was a breeze. The second final gave us a little something to worry about. Itchy wasn't sure he had done well enough. I really wasn't going to worry about it until we knew for sure. We had played that game before. He had always passed. Why would this time be any different. I told Itchy to suck it up and pass the third and final final. Failing one would have been bad enough, but fail two and you're done.

His last final was on Wednesday (April 15th). His friend, M, was suppose to arrive that day but his flights got screwed up so he didn't arrive until Thursday. Wednesday after the final we went to the beach. It's tradition. Booze on the beach. Or BOB. No booze for me but plenty to go around for everyone else. We spent the afternoon there and then went to dinner with friends. Good times.

M arrives on Thursday. We were suppose to go on a Catamaran trip, but couldn't because of his late arrival. Instead, we went back to the beach. I think. Honestly, the last week on the island is a bit of a blur. Morning sickness makes you forgetful (otherwise everyone would be only children).

On Friday, Itchy, M, and a few other friends go on a deep sea fishing trip. I opted out because sea sicknesses on top of morning sickness sounds awful. I ran a few errands and hung out with the neighbor lady.

I can't really remember what happened on Saturday. But on Sunday Itchy and M went to the neighboring island to do some hiking. They climbed to the peak and back down in record time. By the time they got on the ferry that night, locals had heard about them. It's pretty impressive. I stayed home to get more packing done.

Monday was the day that Itchy and I HAD to get stuff done. We ran errands and packed all day. It was not fun. We got what we needed to get done though. That was the important thing. M spent the day at the beach. When we all got back to the apartment, M was very sunburned. It was bad. I didn't see blisters, but after spending the last few days in the sun and drinking (he had sun poisoning on Friday after the fishing trip) he felt like crap. Itchy and went out to dinner while he rested on the couch.

Itchy and went to a "nice" restaurant downtown. The service reminded us why we were happy to be leaving. Eyes were rolled when we requested silverware and again when Itchy asked for a glass of wine. Just overall rude behavior. Typical of what you get on The Island. No one wants to work.

Just after Itchy and I had gotten done eating and we were going to ask for the dessert menu, his dad called him. Itchy left the restaurant and went downstairs to talk to his dad. At some point during the call a crazy local guy started yelling at Itchy about washing a his truck. Crazy dude was already washing someone's truck and wanted to get paid but it certainly wasn't our piece of crap car. Itchy ignored him. But Itchy's dad heard Crazy asking about a truck, so Itchy and his Dad start talking about the truck that Itchy wants/needs. Prior to this Itchy's parents were going to be buying him a used truck. Now all of a sudden his dad is telling him that they don't think it's a good idea; his mom doesn't feel well enough to go to the bank to get the money, etc. Lot of excuses. Itchy comes back upstairs and is annoyed. We pay our bill and leave. Neither one of us wants dessert anymore.

Without a truck, how in the world we were going to move our stuff to New City? It won't all fit in the Honda Civic. 2 adults, 2 cats, and our 5 suitcases weren't going to fit into the Civic. What about the rest of our stuff? Not to mention that a truck is much more convient for Itchy to have for school. He is doing some large animal stuff and will need to haul stuff around, get out into pastures, etc. We also were going to have to buy some furniture once we got to New City since we don't have any. Who wants to pay for delivery when you could just put it in the back of your truck? Itchy was very disappointed. We weren't really sure what we were going to do.

Tuesday morning we got up and M was gone. Not sure where he went or when he'd be back. But Itchy and I had to get our boxes to the shipping place. We finished pakcing those up and than went to drop those off. When we got back from doing that (which took way longer than it should have, the locals are not good with computers) we started clearing out the fridge, cabinets, etc. M was back at that point too, so he was busy getting ready to leave.

Our nieghbors hit the jackpot and got anything and everything that was left in the apartment. If we hadn't packed it or shipped it by that point, we got rid of it. This stuff took most of the day, but we did make it out to the beach for a little while that afternoon. We had our final Island dinner at one of the bars that we had spent a lot of time at. It was very fitting. Than we went to a cigar bar to hang out with friends one last time. And to arrange for a ride to the airport. We also talked to our landlord that day. She pretty much told us that the apartment was flithy. There was no way we'd get it clean enough for her standards (even before we did any cleaning prior to moving, it was cleaner than when we moved in). We had better get it clean or leave behind money to pay for someone else to do it. Bitch. That place was a hell hole. The floors needed to be mopped but other than that, it was cleaner than the day we moved in. I was pissed. I hate her so much. But we said to hell with it, we'll leave her the money and be done with it. We weren't going to spend our last night there cleaning the baseboards with a freaking q-tip to make her happy. I really wanted to smack her and her kid that night. Also, as a side note, I hope that they put up the basketball hoop the DAY we left The Island. I want her to realize that it wasn't just us that found it annoying. I know the new tenant. She will complian more than we ever did.

Wednesday April 22nd was our last day on the island. Our flight was at one so we had to be there around 11:30 am. We got all our last minute stuff done (dropping off the car, etc) and than headed to the airport.

We hauled ass through Puerto Rico to get to our connecting flight on time. The design of that process needs work. It was a major pain in the ass. Never again will I go to Puerto Rico. It's an official boycott. But we did make it on time. We got to Charlotte, NC that night and had an overnight wait. The hotel was decent enough. The cats were happy to be out of their kennels. We were delighted with a delievered pizza. Got a couple of hours of sleep (with one weird call at 1:30 am, heard breathing but no voice) and then took the shuttle back to the airport.

We got back to MN and once the plane landed, the bubble burst. The bubble that Itchy and I lived in. Our secret life together. It was so easy being on The Island. No chance his parents would catch us. We could go where we wanted, whenever we wanted to, and there was no chance of running into them or someone they knew. We were back in reality. As soon as we got to the baggage claim, it was as if we never knew each other. I went my way (to the rental cars) and Itchy and the cats went off to find Itchy's dad, who was picking them up.

Good time for another break. This is officially where it starts to get crazy though.

Wild times

So much has happened since I last blogged. Crazy stuff too, not just your regular day to day activities. Be prepared, this is long. I will probably break it down into sections for you though.

Here's just a little background info that I hadn't felt comfortable sharing before now. Itchy's mom has cancer. Stage 4. It's not looking so good. She's undergoing chemo and radiation, but who knows how much longer she has. It's really depressing. They really aren't giving Itchy many straight answers either. He found out about this in mid-March.

With that said, let's take a little trip back to The Island. Starting up around the time Itchy found out about his mom. It was mid-semester break. We had about a month and a half left on the island. We just found out that his mom had cancer. Itchy was busy with school. 7th semester is hard and you are busy. Very busy. I myself was keeping busy with packing and finding a new place to live. I was also feeling like crap. The heartburn. I think I complained of that more than once. It's kind of a family tradition. We tend to worry ourselves sick of stuff. I wasn't feeling particularly nervous/worried, but I figured the heartburn was a sign of that.

Let's fast forward a bit. April hits us and I have some packing done. I have found an apartment in New City that looks great. It's undergoing renovations, but the landlord promises it will be great. Still feeling lousy, in addition to the heartburn I now feel nauseous. Itchy still busy with school but instead of donkeys/surgeries/sheep stuff, it's all studying for finals.

The Tuesday before finals I am feeling particularly awful. I woke up feeling like I had a hangover. After vomitting that morning it crossed my mind that this had been going on for a long time. OH.MY.GOD. What if? No. Can't be. I'm taking the pill. It's the pill. It works. It's been working for years. Still, once it had entered my mind I couldn't really shake the feeling that pregnancy would explain all the symptoms. So I went on a little walk to the pharmacy. Stood in line for over 30 minutes. Bought a stick to pee on. By the time I walked home I had all but convinced myself that I was fine. It was just stress. I even felt better by the time I got home. I'll just put the test away and the next time I felt sick, I'd take it.

Well, I woke up Thursday (April 9th), vomitted, and took the test. The positive line showed up immediately. I started to cry. It's not that we didn't want kids. We just weren't planning on one arriving so soon. I spent most of the day crying. It was very overwhelming to me. My brain just wouldn't stop. Telling Itchy (he's already got so much going on), Itchy's parents (we'd have to tell them now, right?), Itchy's mom with her cancer (this could be what kills her), insurance (don't have any), etc. The list went on and on. I was scared to death. Not to mention that because I had been on the pill and had been skipping periods for a while, I had no idea how far along I was.

I had to send Itchy an email at some point during the day and I made a comment at the bottom that I think I knew why I had been so sick. I didn't want to tell him over email, so that's all I said. I was hoping he'd guess it and I wouldn't have to actually tell him. When he got home that night, he asked about that little comment. Wanted to know what I thought the reason was. I gave him one guess. He got it right. Cue more crying from me.

I seriously couldn't believe his reaction. At first he said "oh no". We agreed the timing couldn't have been worse. But then, he was smiling. Laughing even. He was happy about this.
He told me not to worry, that everything would be fine. Then he went to take a shower. Acting like what I had just told him was nothing more serious than the milk going bad.

When he came back out into the living room I was still crying. He was laughing. I started telling him my concerns, he reminded me that we DID want kids. This was just a little sooner than we had planned. But it's still what we wanted. We'd make things work. We always do.

After I had settled down a little, Itchy wanted to call his brothers. He needed their help to devise a plan to tell his parents. I didn't want to tell anyone yet. I wanted to see a doctor first, find out when I was due, etc before we went around telling everyone. But he couldn't wait. I asked him to keep it a secret from the people at school because once one of them knew, everyone would know, and I wasn't ready for that.

By the end of the week, I'm pretty sure he had told most of his class. He said he was too excited to keep it a secret. Yeah, he was That Guy. Watch out folks, he's probably going to be the guy that can't stop talking about his kid. Want to see a picture? He's got dozens of them!

I called and told my parents early the next week. After it felt like everyone else knew. I did ask them to keep it a secret from my sisters though. I thought it would be more fun to tell them in person. And I was going to see them in just a couple weeks anyway.

This seems like a good spot for a break. Next up will be "getting off the rock".

Later

Too busy to really write much. Although there is a ton of info that needs to be shared. It will have to wait.

So much packing still to do...

Update

Packing sucks.

My goal for this week is to get everything that we are shipping back to the States packed. I have 4 boxes done so far. The apartment already looks different. The cats are not happy. We've had an increase in fighting. Their terror alert level is at Level Orange. Cuddles is especially bothered by this. Patches is amused by all the tape and the boxes.

I still have 16 days to get everything done (we don't actually leave for 23 days though). Plenty of time. I'm not going to rush this. It's all baby steps. I have a plan. By the time Itchy gets done with his last final, we will be all packed. We will spend the last week living out of suitcases as though we are on vacation.

Good times.

It's ours

So the apartment that I showed you all last week is ours.

The deposit and first months rent has been paid. The application and lease are signed.

So unless the unthinkable happens, we have a place to live. And it turns out that one of our friends from the Island is living on the same street as us. She was in our orientation groupwhen we came down here in August 2006. We're not neighbors or anything, but what are the odds that we'd end up on the same street.

I guess it's not that weird, since we know 3 (one that was in our orientation group! and two that are going there with us) people who are all living in the same apartment complex.

Happy Birthday Cuddles

I so remembered it this year! I do believe it's the first year I've remembered his birthday. I suck. He's been particularly attached to me lately, I think he may have been trying to remind me. I'm pretty sure Itchy forgot. He's been preoccupied with school, understandably, and I'm not sure he would even remember his own birthday right now. We'll give him the guilt trip later.

He'll get some strawberry ice cream tonight. It's one of the only things he actually enjoys. He begs for it. Nerd cat.

He is a whopping 6 years old now. He's an old man. Next year, he'll be considered a senior pet. Itchy and I are both seeing the signs of him aging. He's a blue gray cat. His face is definitely looking more silver these days. His behavior hasn't changed much. He's more of a lap cat than ever before though. He's still very fast and very agile (when he wants to be) but he still loves a good nap.

Ka BOOM!

Did you all hear my head explode? It was pretty loud and messy. Aside from the excruciating headache, I'm feeling better today.

We finally have our flights booked. Our cats finally have reservations on said flights. This should have been a hell of a lot easier.

It started when we got a start date. It freaked us out. We had to get a flight sooner than we thought we would. Getting the cats off the island was suppose to be the hard part. Limited number of flights+limited number of pet spots on the flights= pain in the ass. We found a flight off the island, with room for both of our cats, with little difficulty. We even got them as far as North Carolina with no problem. It was getting them out of NC that sucked.

I totally got the run around trying to make these arrangements. I booked online and than had to wait until the next morning to call the airlines and reserve spots for the cats. I called American Airlines first. No problem. Got spots and reservation codes for the cats. Also got the guy's name, the date and time I called. Warned this guy that I didn't want to have the problems that I had last time. So if I had any problems with this reservation, I'd be calling and speaking to his supervisor. American has crapped on me before, so I wasn't taking this lightly.

Than I called US Airways. They were not as helpful. The flight from NC to MN already had a pet booked on it. They only allow 2 pets in the cabin. Ugh. I had to change that part of our flight. But that was the last flight to MN that day. We'd have to spend the night in NC. With the cats. Fine. Whatever. Change the flight. Sorry, they can't change it. The flights were booked through American so I have to call them to change it. I asked them if there were pets booked on the flight the next morning. She didn't think there were.

I called American to change the US AIRWAY flight. It just doesn't make sense. In order to change it, I will be charged $550. Or I can cancel all of it and just lose all of the money. Great. Why is it that I can book this flight that I want for $200 on their website? Wouldn't it be easier to just "miss" that part of the flight and book a new one? But what happens to our luggage? There's no way it would just continue on to MN. If you miss your flight, your baggage gets taken off the plane. All that 9/11 stuff. We just don't have time for them to lose our luggage.

I call Itchy to find out what he wants to do. Than my phone runs out of minutes. Itchy is going to put more on there so I take a break from calling. I take a walk to the Fed Ex place downtown to mail our apartment application and lease. They can't mail it without a phone number. I still do not understand this. I walk back home, get the phone number, and walk back. Pay $43 to mail 4 sheets of paper. This is insane.

I get back home and Itchy is here for lunch. He wants to talk trucks. He wants a new truck. He wants me to look at trucks. What kind of truck do I want? Should we get a truck or a SUV? This doesn't really matter to me. A small SUV looks prettier to me, but a truck is more practical. So get a truck. All trucks pretty much look the same. Just tell your dad to get a good deal. They all get crappy mileage. We'll just have to deal with it. Itchy heads off back to school.

I have to call US Airways again to make sure that in that time no one has booked pets on the flight I want. No one has. But they can't save it for me. So I call American Airlines back. Except they won't answer their phone. Their hotline isn't open 24 hours a day in the Caribbean. Island hours suck when you need to get shit done. I have a little breakdown. But I know I have to spend this much to get the cats home. They are worth it.

This morning I called US Airways again. To confirm that the cats would be able to get on the flight we want. I call American again. They change the flight. For $546.40. The lady warns me that I only have 24 hours to pay for the change. I ask her if I can give her my credit card info. She says no. Than, this is no joke, the next question she asks me is for the cardholder name. You've got to be kidding lady. She must not have understood what I asked her. Or she is a raving moron.

I get the change made and call US Airways. Again. If this seems repetitive, that's because it was. They reserve the spots for the cats. But this lady can only give me one reservation code for both of the cats. The other guy gave me a code for each cat. I wonder if this is going to be a problem?

Now I need to get a hotel that allows pets and that is close to the airport. This sucks.