A Perfect Storm

Boy was I excited for this past Saturday. I had this day planned for over a month, Brooke and I were going to finally get away.  I thought what better for a night out for us than going to the recently re-opened Opryland Hotel.  The Opryland Hotel had been closed since the first of May due to the flooding rain (click here)  in Nashville.  This is not the perfect storm that I allude to in the picture above, that came this past Saturday.  I felt it would not only be a great night for us, it would be a good way to help support the hotel.  I booked this rather expensive room back in October and was hoping to give Brooke a great night of food and sleep.  I then, in a very Clark Griswoldian fashion, plan a night for my whole family down there.  We would go to the Ice Land, have dinner, walk around the hotel etc.  A fun Christmas night for us all.

I should have known this would not be the case when it took us an hour, in the pouring down rain, to get from the off ramp to the half mile away parking lot.  We then ran from the car to the place where the Ice Land was, in the rain, and got soaked.  It was a cold frog chocking rain.  We then waited outside, huddled under one golf umbrella, because there was a line to get in and no awning to protect us.  Once we got up to the door, we were charged an arm and leg (thankfully not mine) for everyone to go through this place.  The kids were free.    It was cool both literally and figuratively.  They carved ice to recreate the entire cartoon Santa Clause Is Coming To Town.  It was amazing, and there was an ice slide (sort of like the Christmas Story) that all the girls did.  I am not sure Baylor really wanted to but she didn't have much of a choice.  After that was over, we all ran back to the cars and got soaked again.  It is no wonder they are all sick.  Thankfully I was so pumped with steroids and anti biotic that I think I will be okay.  At this point Mimi and Pops thought it would just be best to take the girls home.  No walking around, no dinner together.  I agreed totally- i wanted to just sit and watch the game. 

We then go to the hotel, following the signs to the valet parking.  We have to wait in another line, at least this time we were in our cars and not getting wet.  We get to the first person and she tells us we cant valet because we aren't checked in yet.  I explain we have already prepaid our room and are staying at the hotel, why cant we valet?  She has us go talk to someone else.  He wont let me valet.  I have never almost punched a valet guy before but I was very close.  He told me something I didn't want to hear, I had to go wait in another line (at least in the car).  As I drive off, the window was still down and someone tells me to slow down.  At this point I told him to "f*ck off."  I was feeling a little perturbed. 

So we get in line and decide to ditch the car at the self park and run into the hotel.  Which we did, getting soaked again.  We then walked all away across the hotel, a hotel that was elbow to elbow with people, to check in.  The lady behind the desk was amazing and very sympathetic to our situation.  She bumped us up to a Junior Suit and off we went.  Walking back to our room, I thought the chaos was close to being over.  Our room was on the outside wall of the hotel, first floor.  The shuttle line was right outside our room and since it was poring down rain, everyone was waiting right outside our room.  As Brooke goes to use the bathroom and I sit down to watch the game and through the screaming and hollering outside I see people looking into our window.  It was very much like that scene in the John Candy movie, Summer Rental.  In fact, it was exactly like that scene. This would not do.  So we load up and walk all the way back to the front desk (tired, hungry, and wet).  Renee again moves us to the other side of the hotel (this is a huge place) to a very nice room.  Our nightmare was seemingly over.  We walk around a bit, trying to enjoy each others company which is becoming extremely difficult due to the amount of people who apparently have never seen a large Christmas tree in their life.  Also, we begin to notice that there are a ton of people with AFLAC shirts on.  That company was having a convention there and had rented out a large section of the place which shut off 4 restaurants to the public.  A wedding had knocked out another area.  I asked someone that worked there (with deep desperation in my voice) is there anywhere to eat here?  "We have an Irish restaurant and a few kiosks."  Awesome, that is what I envisioned for my wife, a kiosk of pulled pork.  The Irish restaurant had an 1 hour and 15 minute wait.  At this point everything was pissing me off, by the time we get back to the room Brooke was in tears.  She is a lot of things emotional is not one of them.  So for her to be this upset says a lot.  She jumps in the shower because it is about the only thing she can do to keep from losing it.  I decide to go ahead and order room service, at least we will eat and be done with it.  Besides on every page in the book it says "30 minutes guaranteed or it is free."  So, I call room service and wait on the phone for 8 minutes before they answer.  I tell the guy I would like to place an order and he says it will be at least hour.  Fine, shorter than the Irish restaurant, but he then informs me it wont be free.  Apparently that printed policy is for only when it is convenient for them.  I slam the phone down on him.  After cooling off, Brooke still in the shower, I call back.  Even if I pay- an hour is better than the restaurant options.  So, after the nice lady answered my call and I explained I knew about the hour delay she asked what I wanted.  Well Brooke will never turn down a Pizza.  I think if it was a good Pizza for one of her kids, she would have to think long and hard.  She is also a vegetarian, so I was going to order her a cheese pizza.  I tell the seemingly nice lady that I would like a cheese pizza...."I am sorry sir, we are out of pizza."  The phone was slammed down for the second time.  How do you run out of pizza.

I made a bee line for the front desk.  The night was done. The manager tried every way in the world to get us to stay but our night was over.  24 hours later Brooke and I could do nothing but laugh.  In the end, it wasn't the end of the world.  We did get a free night out of the whole ordeal and got home earlier the next day which was good because of the weather.

I am sorry to my wife, I really wanted her to have an easy, enjoyable night out.  Maybe in a week or two when we try again.  I love ya babe- thanks for sticking with me through this crazy rollercoaster ride. 

This is what is important

Here SHE is.  Baby girl #4.  I think this is a pretty good profile shot of her, she looked very healthy. I am not at all disappointed in the fact the she is a girl, I sort of expected it all a long.  I am disappointed that if we have no more- and there aren't any plans as of right now to have more- I never had a boy.  The Ayers name will die with me.  No boy to honor my father with by naming my son after him.  I think back to the time we thought we lost her, I said I didn't care what she was as long as she was okay, I mean that.  It will be a crazy time in this house with 4 girls.  One of the problems with another girl is while we may have all the clothes, we are out of names.  Brooke just wanted ONE girl, now we have so many we cant think of what to call her.

Like I said, I always wanted a boy to name him after my Dad.  I refuse to even think about naming my imaginary son after me.  I think that is sort of arrogant, especially if I am the first in the line to do so.  However, yesterday as I was trying to make it through another brutal work week, I was hit by a thought.  What if I named my daughter after me?  Brooke and I couldn't agree on a name we liked, so I floated the idea of naming her Blaine.  Its a name that could sorta go either way, a name I never use, a name Brooke likes.

What do y'all think?  I don't want her to be tormented all her life for having the name Blaine if it is going to do so.  I do sort of think it might be a cool story though.

  

Meet Bloody Anndi Coffey of the ship Lady Ntonia From The East

Last Wednesday I left for PHX on a work trip. I see a facebook status update from my wife saying she is in awe of Caroline.  I ask what Caroline did but heard no response and sort of forgot about it at that point.  After all, Caroline amazes us everyday.  With her humor or her outpouring of love, she is generally a pleasure to be around. 

I was caught by surprise on Sunday when the girls picked me up at the airport.  I said hello and gave big hugs to everyone and then took my seat at the front of the van.  I immediately say to Brooke "what the hell did Caroline do to her eye?"  Brooke informs me nothing, and that she has to wear the patch everyday for 6 months.  I did my best to hold my rant down and believe I got away with much of it due to the music and the layout of a minivan with the big girls in the back.  There was no way on earth my daughter was going to wear that patch everyday- kids can be mean and I didn't want my sensitive soul (Caroline) to have to endure that.  I was pissed Brooke didn't tell me, I was pissed it happened to Caroline, I was pissed that she would have to look like a pirate for 6 months.  I come to find out that Brooke took it very hard out the eye doctor, Caroline took it all in stride.  She was so cool about the whole thing- that is what Brooke was in awe about. 

As it turns out, looking like a pirate is pretty cool to most kids and according to the pirate name generator off the net Caroline is now Bloody Anndi Coffey.  She couldn't wait to tell me about all the different patches she got, and was upset because she couldn't wear one to school the next day.  Reagan-after a coming to Jesus talk from Brooke- was uber supportive and made her sister feel very comfortable in her patch.  It didn't take me long to come down from my initial anger and realize that this too shall pass.  Brooke is right, if an eye patch and ear tubes are the worst we have to deal with, we are pretty lucky.
I updated my facebook status right away that my daughter(s) showed more maturity than I was at that point and that I too was in awe of them.  I have tried very hard to be a good parent and do all the things a father is supposed to do.  Turns out, I not only teach lessons to them but every once in a while, they teach us lessons too.

They generally ARE who we thought they were.

AND WE LET THEM OFF THE HOOK

I wanted to write and dedicate today's blog to a very special person in my life.  He was always there for me, even before my own Dad was (sorry Dad I get it, just a day trip to Atlanta).  He was there when loved ones past, there when new ones were born, he was there when loved ones joined "the flock," and there when we had to say we were sorry for something.  He came over almost every Sunday, spent most of the holidays with us, and love my family more than his own.  In fact he explained to everyone that we were his family because it was easier that way. 

My friend had a very difficult last few years of his life, often times alone.  In fact the thing that pains me the most was that when he was called up to the big congregation in the sky, he did so alone.  That haunts me to this day.  I would often visit him the last few years and I was touched by the fact that in his new place he had one picture on his bedroom dresser, it was a picture of me.  When he was in Louisville there were pictures of our family all over the place.  When he moved to Florida, he kept the one.  I am happy that before he passed he got to meet Reagan, he would have loved my kids as they have grown, just as he loved watching Patrick and I.

His last few years were rough, worse than he deserved.  And I will never forget that when things started going downhill with our friend- Patrick gave me some great advice.  We were at a movie- I cant remember which one- but I remember what Patrick said.  I was very upset by the way things had gone down and Patrick said "Boomer- people are never what you think they are....but generally they are pretty close."  You re right Patrick, he wasn't what I thought,  but he was pretty damned close (hence my Youtube clip above).

My friend is gone now but he has continued to given more than we could have ever hoped for or even asked for.  When some of us needed a "Hail Mary" he came through, even from heaven.  I will never forget him and I miss him deeply.  Like most Sundays at our house, with life -he had to go back to his funny farm too soon. 

Thanks TPC, Rest In Peace, you deserve it.

Sometimes it is for the better

Brooke and I love dogs.  We had two before we were married and rescued a third one right after we moved into our first home.  Kylie (pictured above) was Brooke's friend in Louisville when she didn't have that many.  Brooke was new to Louisville and a coaches wife.  That meant she spent a lot of time a lone.  As a result, she took Kylie everywhere and did everything with Kylie.  Everyday Brooke would walk to practice to watch me and almost everyday she brought her dog.  Kylie was a princess and spoiled rotten.  Then Reagan came.  Brooke's time was cut drastically for the dogs but Kylie suffered the most.  She was no longer Brooke's baby.  Brooke would still walk to practice and she would sometime still bring her dog but those times came less and less.  Then we moved, then Caroline came (and everyone knows how much time Caroline took), then I changed jobs that required me (the primary care giver to the dogs) to be gone, then came Baylor.  Brooke, working with three kids and a sometimes absent husband, just didn't have the time to take care of three dogs.  It didn't help that every time Kylie went out she would bark....at everything. 

The time had come to get rid of the dogs.  You know the story about Rory.  When I talk to my Mom and Dad I don't ever ask about Rory.  Not because I don't care but because I know she is living a much better life for her.  Flaget has her own room now, bed and padded floor- something the other dogs would never let her have.  However, I do miss Kylie and think about her a lot.  Brooke said she found a good family with young kids and a farm.  It had been a couple of months now and we hadn't heard anything. I asked Brooke to check in with the new owners to see how Kylie was doing.  They say a picture says a thousand words, the above picture verifies that comment.  It hurts that she is gone.  She always yodeled when I came in the room, loved to sit in my lap, and was a sweet dog.  But when I see the above picture it does make me feel better because I know she is living the life she deserves, she is once again a princess.  I wonder if she saw me again would she remember me?  Would she remember the times spent at Camp Four Paws?  Probably not, and maybe its better.  She is in a better situation now, I am sorry I failed her but am happy how it worked out.  I never got to say goodbye to her but I think that would have been too hard had I been here. 

Her new owners sent a couple of pictures and said Kylie has fit in great.  They love her so much and are so thankful to have her and apparently she loves being on a farm.  That makes me happy because she is a special dog. Sometimes the difficult choices you make as a parent or owner or for the better, no matter how much it hurts you. They said that the only problem they have with Kylie is that she doesn't get along very well with the cat....that a girl Kylie.

Thats because it sortof is Patrick.

Tomorrow we will host essentially 5 families for Thanksgiving.  All of us will be connected by two things 1) Brooke or myself and 2) Love for each other.  It is sort of an inspiring thought when you sit down and try and take it in.  It fills me up inside.  When they all arrive tomorrow, some will come from as far south as Nashville others as far north as Wisconsin.  Many of us would trust our lives with the others, some will be new faces just getting to know each other.  We will range from babies to grandparents. 

Our house is already decorated for Christmas.  We do this for two reasons.  One, we have little kids and they LOVE Christmas.  Plus Elf-E (our Elf on the shelf and future blog subject) helps keep an eye on the kids.  Plus the girls love the magic of Christmas, so tough if you don't like it that we usher in the season the weekend before Thanksgiving.  The other reason is we want to have the house decorated for this day when everyone comes.  Patrick generally says "Christmas?  Its just now Thanksgiving!"  True, he does have a point but he sort of misses the larger idea.  For Brooke and I, this is all we could ask for on our Christmas list so in that sense, tomorrow sort of is Christmas.  Tomorrow we will all be here together, something that doesn't happen often.  Something that makes Brooke and I so very happy.  Christmas will come with chaos, rushing from place to place, time lost in the car.  Tomorrow is calm.  Tomorrow is sitting in front of the TV, fires in the fire place, good conversations, good drink, GREAT food. Tomorrow Patrick, is our Christmas. 

We will all have a great day together.  That is something to be so very thankful for.  Brooke looks like she swallowed a basketball, her trip to the Dr. yesterday gave us confidence of a healthy heartbeat.  That is something to be SO very thankful for. My parents have been married 42 years, that is CRAZY.  Brooke's parents (married forever too) are both Cancer survivors- that is so very fortunate.  There is much to thank the good Lord above for. We all have things we would like to improve on, issues that keep us up at night.  Maybe health, maybe money, maybe love in our life, but tomorrow we will all have each other.  And that is the greatest thing to be thankful for.  So no matter where you will be or who you will be with remember these two things 1) We have so much to actually be thankful for and 2) There are so many people who have less and would give anything to be in your shoes. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good night. 

I love this stuff

This kind of video gets me every time.