Pack Five Days Into Two

I've said before that my weekends have become chaotic. They still are. This weekend was pretty good until we got home.

First, on Thursday, Will asked if I wanted to go down to Ft. Rucker. I said sure, but it was a little up in the air if we were going or not. Since I didn't want to pack for a trip I might not take, I didn't pack or plan ahead. Thus we needed a lot of things and didn't realize we needed them until it was far too late to turn around. We also bought/wasted money on things we intended to do, but ran out of time. Because we seem to be going to Ft. Rucker often, I'm thinking about making a kit of things we use there to simplify what we take with us. It would be far easier to grab a bag than to figure out what goes in the bag.

Saturday we got a really late start. And it was raining. Will had several things to take care of before we left. It seemed like he thought of more and more as we tried to complete it all. There was a lot of well-since-we're-already-in-town, or well-it's-on-the-same-side/next-door-to-where-we're-going...sigh. It was very late. We did reach Enterprise before dark. That amazed me.

On Saturday evening, Will lost my keys. We turned my truck upside down, then hunted all through Jesse's house. Nothing. Then we went through it all again. Not in my truck, not in the kitchen, not in the living room, not in our bags, not dropped in the grass. I was starting to wonder how we would get home. Not that I would have been able to get in my house. Then I started realizing my parents' house key, my father's truck key, and a VERY sentimental key to AJ's house were all missing. I prayed to St. Anthony. (Tony, Tony, come around, something's lost that can't be found.) The keys were finally found in Will's jacket pocket. The jacket was in Jesse's truck. After that I kept the keys with me.

Sunday, we finally got to the reason Will came down- to fix Jesse's tractor. Will discovered the head needed to go to a machine shop and half the valves were wrong. Essentially, we drove three hours for twenty minutes of work.

But Will did get paid, the head came back with us (only two machinists in Dothan, one is about to retire, the other has too much work), we set Will's mother on the hunt for the correct valves, and Jesse is paying me to recover a stool seat cushion. We also stopped at Hancock's Fabric (waaaaaay better store than the one I'm familiar with up here). I was very surprised, Will was excited to be in the fabric store. Usually I go to fabric and craft stores alone so I can shop in peace without a boyfriend sighing in boredom. Will picked out fabric for a blanket, leather for a Comic Con vest, marveled over the trim, and repeatedly asked, 'Could you make...' I see lots of sewing projects in my future.

It was a weekend of books. Will brought me a needlepoint book, Bill gave me a manuscript to edit, and when I finally got home, the manifesting book I ordered was in the mailbox. I think I could make a whole post of books, and that might be what I write tomorrow.

The whole weekend, I didn't check my mail or facebook. I didn't read any blogs. When I stay away from the Internet for more than two days, I feel like the world has moved on without me. This is making me wish I had a more high tech phone or tablet. I'm all for disconnecting occasionally, but I feel panic rising when I first see my inbox filled with messages. I start thinking I missed something important.

Finally, Sunday afternoon, at nearly four pm, we headed for home. We were tired but geared up because we STILL had things we wanted to do and had to do. Will's son's truck broke down while we were gone and Will picked up parts on the way home, intending to make repairs. That didn't happen because Will's ex-wife staged an attack as soon as I pulled into Will's yard.

The ex is a pill addict. This is the whole reason they divorced over two years ago. It is an on-going problem and a few months ago she had (again) lost practically everything. But she checked herself into rehab. Will thought that was a good indication of trying to turn herself around, so he has been helping her. He is under no obligation what so ever to help her with anything. Instead of being grateful, she demands more and more. This attack was about Will being out of town knowing she needed medicine. However, she had already ran out THREE DAYS before she said anything and she waited until Will left before telling him. She also let the children run out of their medications.

I don't understand the running out of meds. When I get down to the last insulin pen, I start making arrangements to fill Rx's. I count how many days I have left and I refill BEFORE the weekend because I don't want to be without the thing that keeps me alive while I wait for the pharmacy to open on Monday.

The ex will just be too lazy to go to the store. And she thinks if Will wasn't in town to help her when she finally decided to ask, then it's his fault she ran out. After she pulls a stunt like this, she can't understand why Will won't let her take the kids out of state.

We pulled into the yard and the ex came charging down from the porch, ranting and raving. She's bi-polar. After five days off her meds, she looked like an escapee from Brice Mental Hospital. I'm really surprised the Sheriff's department didn't pick her up over the weekend. Probably the only reason she didn't end up in one kind of cell or another is because it is obvious something is not right and people avoid the hell out of her. I noticed all the neighbors peeking out from curtains only to quickly turn away when they realized either myself or Will's sister saw them. Every car that drove by sped up as it passed the house.

By this time, the pharmacy was closed. The upshot of it all was Will came to Tallapoosa county with me, the younger kids went to their aunt's house, the truck didn't get fixed, all Will's generosity has been withdrawn, and the ex still doesn't have any meds. Will's sister told me she thought the ex had gotten high right before we got into town and that's why things were so explosive. Everybody is fed up with her. Once again she's about to have nothing. And all of it lost because she'd rather create unnecessary drama than take care of herself.