I've got my eyes, but am loosing my marbles

The two acrylic brown eyes that were featured in an earlier post are not mine. My family knows this of course, but other people who occasionally drop in for a visit may not.



They belonged to the late wife of a wonderful old man I used to clean house for -- he was in his 90s. She had to have an eye removed after an unfortunate accident on the golf course. One of his daughters who lives out-of-state came to the house for a visit and went on a clean-out-the-drawers and throw-away-the-junk rampage. They ended up in the trash, and I fished them out.

These are my eyes. Sometimes they are gray, sometimes they are blue, but they are definitely not brown.

At any rate, when I was a kid, I used to have quite a few marbles--some were very beautiful--and I did loose them on occasion when I played marbles with the neighborhood kids.

The marbles I feel like I am losing now are of a different sort altogether. I have been trying hard not to have a meltdown in connection with my vacation to Los Angeles on Tuesday. In the past when I flew to LA, my dad has always come to the airport to pick me up. Several years ago, after 911, the security measures at LA International made it more difficult for people to pick up arriving passengers. The family decided it would be better for me to take a taxi to my brother's house. Andrew and his wife live 1 mile from the airport. That way my dad could come there to fetch me.

This time, to avoid getting my dad involved so he won't have to leave to leave my mom--plus to save the $15 (or it was $15 last time, who knows what it is now) to go 1 mile in the taxi--I arranged with my lovely sister to pick me up.

My lovely sister.

And we have been exchanging e-mails about this. She says:

What airline will you be arriving to LAX on? When you land, or are about to land, give me a call on my cell phone, and I'll buzz on down there.

Jerry is coming with me, I think--so if we need to call you or you need to call again, he/we can do that without breaking the "no cell phones while driving" law...We'll pick you up on the "white zone" curb area.

Sounds simple enough right? Oh no, not to this fevered brain.... I started thinking about this... and thinking... and then began to have a meltdown. Thinking in terms of having to stand at the curb for a 30 minutes while she gets there and not knowing if my leg is going to be hurting, etc. etc. but managed to compose this rather calm e-mail:

My flight is on American Airlines -- from Dallas/Ft Worth and it is supposed to arrive at 12:15. But whether that will happen like it says, is up in the air (ha, a joke). If my flight from Springfield is delayed (like it was last time), I may miss the flight at Dallas. So I will keep you posted as best I can. Cellular phones can't be used on airplanes when they are in flight, so I guess I will have to call you after I land in LA.

I was wanting to avoid the $20 to take the cab... but trying to coordinate meeting me at the white curb sounds like it is going to be really complicated. Do we need to change the plan? Let me know if you would rather pick me up at Andrew's place.

Then after I sent that e-mail, I thought some more, took a few good deep breaths, and thought some more and sent this:

I am loosing it. Just loosing it here.... I don't know what the matter with me is. I need a tranquilizer. As soon as I possibly can after landing at the airport, I will call you and say

"Hi. I am here."

I will park myself on the bench at the American Airlines terminal.

You will hop in your car and drive to the airport. When you get there, one of you will call me on the cellphone and say, "We are here."

I will come out of the terminal and stand at the white curb.

You will drive up and I will get in.

Why do I make mountains out of molehills. Lord, help me....

She says:

Yeah - simple as pie. That is exactly what we will do. You call us.... Then we'll call you... and everything will be hunky-dory. Don't-a worry, as Onon would say.

"The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. NO PARKING.
The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. NO PARKING"

We have a little white Honda Civic now with tinted windows - black door handles. No big blue caddy. There'll be hundreds of little white cars zipping by, I'm sure... It'll make you a wreck. hahaha Pls don't stress.

SEE YOU SOON!!

Onon was the name they called Jerry's mother. She spoke with a very heavy Italian accent.

Me a wreck? Me stress? Oh certainly not, perish the thought. I want my sister. And yes dear, I will see you soon!