Whirlwind of a Week!

I know I haven't posted in a while, and for the people who are following, I am sorry. It's been a whirlwind of a week and on top of that, I haven't really had a chance to sit with decent internet service.

So, here's the run down. We arrived in Nashville last Wednesday, and from the first night, the fun was ON! I met up with my friends and we went down to Losers, saw everyone we knew and I was just living it up again. The kids had a blast because they were at Todd's with his kids. The kids barely left the pool.

By Friday, we moved our location up to my friend Mark's house, so that we could hang out with some of my more Nashville based friends (he's in West Nashville). I had the Michael Jackson Tribute party on Friday night, but then on Saturday, the kids spent the entire day of the 4th with J.J.'s kids and Mark and J.J. and I hanging out by the pool. Our fun was interrupted by news of Steve McNair's passing. He was only an acquaintance of mine, but a good friend to several of my friends. Despite anything the media says regarding his personal life, I can simply say that Steve always treated me with respect, always had a smile on his face, and treated those around him with the utmost of respect. He was a guy who despite his millions, would give you the shirt off his back. He loved Nashville and the community as a whole. So that was sad because a great guy was killed by a crazy woman on the 4th of July.

The storms began rolling in that evening, and with some severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings, we decided to just enjoy the fireworks from the comfort of J.J.'s apartment. Later, I snuck out with J.J. watching the sleeping kids to see if I could find anything else out about Steve's passing. We just wanted to know what happened.

Sadly, going out to my favorite bar ended up being just one of those moments that was very depressing. I cried for my friends who were hurting, and shared toasts to a great man that we lost that day. It was senseless, as I had seen him out on the town myself on Wednesday and Friday.

I really did enjoy spending time with my friends though. Mark treated the kids and I to an early dinner at Blue Moon Lagoon, and the kids really enjoyed seeing the turtles and fish right off the dock.

I talked with J.J. about a job at her company... and sent my resume in, as well as talked to someone there about setting up an interview on Monday.

By Monday night, I was tired and wanted to start the drive to Florida. My own emotional turmoil over the past month plus the news of another person lost to senseless violence just wanted me to get somewhere I could rest. Added to that, I was tired of sleeping on an air mattress.

We loaded up the car on Monday night and headed south, only as far as Murfreesboro, where we crashed for the night at a Knights Inn. We slept SO well, and when we got up on Tuesday, we were all refreshed.

The drive from Murfreesboro, TN to Fort Lauderdale was in one word, LONG.

It was a 13-14 hour driving day, when you took the time change into account. The kids were excited to see their dad, and getting antsier and antsier as time passed. Once we hit the Florida line, I was asked about 1000 times if we were there yet. The answer, for about 5 hours was, "no".

When I pulled into South Florida, I met up with Frank and dropped the kids off at a Pollo Tropical parking lot in Deerfield Beach. I drove straight to my parents condo, and walked in the door and fell into the bed. I woke up eleven hours later, thanks to the hurricane shutters and a dark room.

I can't describe fully the odd feeling of relief to drop the kids off with their dad, and then also the pit in your stomach of not having them by your side at the same time. It's a very interesting feeling.

My first order of business was to see my grandmother, then meet Melanie for lunch at Einstein Bros. We ended up planning on getting together the following day, and since it is her birthday weekend, we made some tentative plans. I made a few phone calls to local friends and ended up meeting up with my friend Tyler from high school at a hole in the wall bar in Fort Lauderdale, where we drank a few beers, hit up the jukebox, and I watched him and a couple of his friends play a couple games of darts. He ended up having an impromptu barbecue with several other of our friends from high school. I had a blast that night, and really enjoyed seeing everyone for the first time in about 10-13 years.

That was Wednesday night. Thursday, I got up again around 11am, then decided to head towards the beach. I was craving a LaSpada's hoagie. It didn't disappoint. Melanie and I met at the beach and we ended up going for a long walk along the beach while talking and just generally goofing around. It was almost a 5 mile walk along the shore. I felt good about working off the hoagie.

I went to see my old neighbors, who looked exactly the same, years later, except for their kids, who had all gotten older and bigger. Then, I went home to the condo, saw my mom and sister (who had just gotten in from Orlando and the American Idol tryouts) and got ready for the night out plus dinner with my dad who was flying in as well.

We had a quick meal at Flanagan's (yum!), and Melanie met us out there. Melanie and dropped off her car then we decided to meet up with Pierre and Tyler at their house for a few drinks before heading out. Well, it didn't take long until we decided to just go out with them to the Briny Pub on Atlantic Blvd. Tyler's friend was playing there, and it was getting close to midnight, so we decided it was time to head out and ring in Melanie's birthday at a bar, instead of on Tyler's couch.

It was so much fun again, just innocent silly fun. After the bar, we came back and got on a golf cart, and rode around Tyler's neighborhood, stopping at the 7-11, then at several friends houses, and even Tyler's dad came out to say hi.

Out of control. I laughed so hard last night.

Because we were all drinking, they told me to just crash there, so I ended up curling up and came home to the condo this morning to shower, change and finally head out to Panera Bread for several cups of coffee and the ability to sit somewhere and be ONLINE.

I know my sister and her friends are going to be happy I finally updated. I've been getting constant messages that I needed to. Tonight's agenda is probably heading down to the Round Up in Davie with another bunch of friends from high school. These past few days have been such a blast, that I really am considering moving back down to South Florida, and have also sent out several resumes while sitting here at Panera Bread. I'm just at that point where I need to do something, and I might as well be somewhere that I know people. It's time for a new start for me. A new chapter to the novel of my life.

We'll see what the weekend brings...

Almost ready to hit the road again...

It's been a long few days here in Nashville. There has been laughter and tears.

Anyway, I have more to post, but right now, I simply don't have the time... I hope to be able to post something soon, but it will probably be once I get to Florida. I'll have time to sit with my thoughts - and an internet connection, while the kids are with their dad.