Michael's Visit

Where do I begin?  Let's start at the airport!  As soon as we met up I knew it was going to be rough.  He could hardly stand up from being so tired, had worked late and not slept on the plane.  However, we still had Stephanie's parents to meet.  I was so nervous but we had a great time together, a nice dinner and the nausea I'd had all week just anticipating sticking my foot in my mouth slowly receded!  We left Denver around 9:00 and ran into a two hour long traffic jam only minutes after I had suggested Michael take another route.  We sat surrounded by semis on all sides, our eyes burning from what we could only hope was not my clutch for all that time with Michael going into a hyperactive frenzy.  By the time we finally got home I was surprized we hadn't gotten into a fist fight as both of us were on our last nerve.  We ended up staying up until 1:00 in the morning, a very late night for me, talking and calming down, catching up with each other's lives.  I slept well knowing my son was back in my home.  It's something mothers do.  

I got up at the crack of dawn the next day and started cooking and moving the yard furniture around for the barbeque we we having.  Everything started smelling good, the turkey breast that was on the smoker was like a food incense.  I set up a bar so we could have Pina Coladas and Margaritas from scratch!.  We got the music going and people started showing up from all over!  Michael's friends from Denver came up and brought food, my friends came to see him and brought food.  We had salads and fruit bowls, elk burger, veggie burgers, elk tenderloins, smoked pork steaks, vegan brats, Italian sausage, grilled eggplant, red pepper and goat cheese sandwiches on foccacia bread, hummus, chips, flat breads, salsas, guacamole, grilled peaches, plums and pineapples and the most decadent desert ever a fruit pizza consisted of a cookie crust, creamcheese and white chocolate chips melted together and spread on top and then beautiful berries, peaches, and kiwi fruit lined out on top, OMG!  People laughed and partied and visited for hours.  It was a great day but exhausting!  I really looked forward to Monday when he and I could hike up above Silver Plume and spent more time with the family. 

Instead, while we were walking the dog, my tires were slashed.  Two tires so I couldn't even put on a spare and drive to get them fixed.  The local Marshal came to the scene almost immediately and the witness, a Rec District worker was more than willing to describe the kids who'd done the deed.  They live in my trailer court!  I see them at the library and talk to them every week.  They are 10 and 12 years old and had their 6 and 8 year old brother and sister with them.  I know their Mom is single parenting and I was lucky I had some other tires but my boy and I were stuck here all day and this morning will still be spent dealing with this.  They also got the folks who live next door because they thought their car was mine.  I had no idea these kids disliked me!  Mom came to the lady next door and apologized to her but wasn't going to "be able to pay for the damages".  Well shit, neither can I and it wasn't my kids who slashed the tires.  So, here I sit with a bad taste in my mouth about the whole deal and not even an apology from any of the people involved.  The Marshall went ahead and pressed charges even though I didn't want to.  I guess since there were multiple (three) acts of criminal mischief it was out of any one of our hands.  

Michael and I decided not to let it ruin our time together so we spent last night playing cribbage and drinking beer.  Granted I only managed half of a beer but it certainly lightened my mood.  I haven't seen my son for most of the last year and a half.  Tire slashers aren't ruining our good time!