Friday, February 03, 2006
APRIL AND MAY....2003
We were wakened early on the sixth of April with a phone call from Becky. She wanted to tell us she just heard that David Bloom died in Iraq. It was quite a shock. We had watched David for a long time as the NBC White House correspondent and then on weekends for NBC. When you watch someone on camera for so many years, you begin to think of them as friends or family members. David was that kind of a guy. It turned out that it was actually pulmonary embolism rather than war related but at any rate he was gone from us. We felt the loss deeply.
Rocky’s business was going well and we hired Becky to do the bookwork necessary to keep everything on an even keel. We had an office set up in our home and I answered the phone and directed traffic, on days I wasn‘t working at the Barn. Before I knew it I was a full blown dispatcher. Rocky had four drivers besides himself and our phones rang all day long. This nice little “mom and pop” operation soon outgrew my anticipation and the day started early and ended late. It seemed there was always something every day to mess up a well planned schedule.
I was still working at the Antique Barn and Becky worked there week-ends….doing our bookwork in the evenings after getting off work from her “day job.” We were all running in circles as business kept picking up speed. We had several good old fashioned thunderstorms with hail and Becky’s car fell victim to the worst of it.
Rocky and I took a few days off and drove back to Eureka Springs to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. We drove around the area and went back to the Chapel of the Angels where we were married…..they had several nice cabins built for the folks that liked to come back as we did to retrace their wedding day. We were happy to see they were prospering.
George called the first week in May telling us he had been so sick and didn’t know what the trouble was….nothing seemed to help. From what he told us we suspected it was a gallbladder attack but he didn’t think so. The next day, his old school friend and neighbor went to see him and hauled him off to the emergency room. He was barely able to walk to the car. Thankfully, Dennis got him there before it was much worse……they operated the next day and removed his…..yup!…gallbladder. He had been one pretty sick guy for several days.
LJ was graduating high school on May 21st so Becky and I planned going. Rocky had to stay home with the business and George and his dad were flying down together. Jennifer and Marc were flying in from Connecticut and John and Barb had arranged to pick them all up from the airport. It was quite a family operation but we all came together by late afternoon. We were having dinner at the Roy Burns home……long time friends of John and Barb. Young Roy and LJ had played a lot of basketball together over the years.
Early the next morning we went to see LJ’s art display and then back home to watch a very creative video that John made of LJ’s life….from cradle to the present day. As a surprise to him, each family member had called in congratulations which John dubbed into the video……it was a very sentimental and moving piece. We all had several Kleenex’s to soak up the tears. That evening we congregated at the gym to watch him receive his diploma and later we met his buddies that we knew from prior visits both to our home and at John’s. It was a very happy occasion.
The next few days we did all the favorite things we enjoy about New Orleans….we shopped and ate and stuffed as much fun into the time we had as we could. I had my first (and only) professional massage as a birthday present from John and Barb. Believe me, I could get used to that. The only bad thing is being woke up to leave when your time is up…..Ha!!
All good things must come to an end and so the day Becky and I left, all the others were catching their flights out of New Orleans again and soon we would be scattered to the four winds. It is always good when we are able to be together…….I came home and retired once more from the Antique Barn and celebrated my 71st birthday. Rocky’s business required someone to answer the phone all day to free him up for driving so that became my job. I didn’t realize at the time how confining that would be……having a business in your home means…..you can never get away from business.
Well life is a good teacher, isn’t it?………
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
Rocky’s business was going well and we hired Becky to do the bookwork necessary to keep everything on an even keel. We had an office set up in our home and I answered the phone and directed traffic, on days I wasn‘t working at the Barn. Before I knew it I was a full blown dispatcher. Rocky had four drivers besides himself and our phones rang all day long. This nice little “mom and pop” operation soon outgrew my anticipation and the day started early and ended late. It seemed there was always something every day to mess up a well planned schedule.
I was still working at the Antique Barn and Becky worked there week-ends….doing our bookwork in the evenings after getting off work from her “day job.” We were all running in circles as business kept picking up speed. We had several good old fashioned thunderstorms with hail and Becky’s car fell victim to the worst of it.
Rocky and I took a few days off and drove back to Eureka Springs to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. We drove around the area and went back to the Chapel of the Angels where we were married…..they had several nice cabins built for the folks that liked to come back as we did to retrace their wedding day. We were happy to see they were prospering.
George called the first week in May telling us he had been so sick and didn’t know what the trouble was….nothing seemed to help. From what he told us we suspected it was a gallbladder attack but he didn’t think so. The next day, his old school friend and neighbor went to see him and hauled him off to the emergency room. He was barely able to walk to the car. Thankfully, Dennis got him there before it was much worse……they operated the next day and removed his…..yup!…gallbladder. He had been one pretty sick guy for several days.
LJ was graduating high school on May 21st so Becky and I planned going. Rocky had to stay home with the business and George and his dad were flying down together. Jennifer and Marc were flying in from Connecticut and John and Barb had arranged to pick them all up from the airport. It was quite a family operation but we all came together by late afternoon. We were having dinner at the Roy Burns home……long time friends of John and Barb. Young Roy and LJ had played a lot of basketball together over the years.
Early the next morning we went to see LJ’s art display and then back home to watch a very creative video that John made of LJ’s life….from cradle to the present day. As a surprise to him, each family member had called in congratulations which John dubbed into the video……it was a very sentimental and moving piece. We all had several Kleenex’s to soak up the tears. That evening we congregated at the gym to watch him receive his diploma and later we met his buddies that we knew from prior visits both to our home and at John’s. It was a very happy occasion.
The next few days we did all the favorite things we enjoy about New Orleans….we shopped and ate and stuffed as much fun into the time we had as we could. I had my first (and only) professional massage as a birthday present from John and Barb. Believe me, I could get used to that. The only bad thing is being woke up to leave when your time is up…..Ha!!
All good things must come to an end and so the day Becky and I left, all the others were catching their flights out of New Orleans again and soon we would be scattered to the four winds. It is always good when we are able to be together…….I came home and retired once more from the Antique Barn and celebrated my 71st birthday. Rocky’s business required someone to answer the phone all day to free him up for driving so that became my job. I didn’t realize at the time how confining that would be……having a business in your home means…..you can never get away from business.
Well life is a good teacher, isn’t it?………
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
