Peeling back the layers

This is a Quinn blog today, again.  Expect them for a bit as we are going through something really big here at my household.  With the approval from FSCD, we were given in home counselling by the Scope Children Society.  They're to help us learn how to parent a child with special needs.  Things are going fantastic and our counseller Trish is amazing. We love her.  She is so easy to work with and comes to us with so much experience, and she gets that we are clueless.

Chewlery!

She asked us to think about behaviours we would like to change in Quinn.  My first thought was, "He is so well behaved. He's happy, positive, kind, generous, and effortless!  What is there to change?" She told me to think about it, and observe him a bit closer with that thought in mind.  The first thing I wrote down was "putting things in his mouth".  EVERYTHING goes in his mouth. His cell phone, remotes, toys, paper, wrappers, fingers, clothes, etc.  Drives me nuts!!  So, I shared that with her.  She asked about his favourite foods, not following, I was like "carrots, celery, steak, and cucumbers".  She nodded yes and said "Sounds like he might have Oral Sensory".    Andrew and I stared at eachother with a "huh?" look.  She explained that he likes foods that he crunch or he has to work hard at eating, puts things in his mouth, anything.  She asked us "Does he concentrate more when he has stuff in his mouth? When is he putting stuff in his mouth?" I told her mostly when playing on his laptop or watching tv.  She said he does that to focus and concentrate, that he needs that sensation of something in his mouth.  Andrew and I had that "ah ha" moment. It all made sense! She offered him a piece of Chewlery.  As seen in the pic here, its a necklace he can chew on and wear.  The first two days he wore it, he barely ate (over eating is a problem with him, eating every 30 mins)!   She also recommended that we buy fishtank tubing (those plastic tubes used on filters in a fish tank) to put at the end of his pencils so he has that to chew on at school!  She is a genius!


Please note, altho that was a huge eye opening experience, as we peel back the layers to learn about our son and his Aspergers, its a very emotional journey.  I actually cried upon learning he has an Oral Sensory issue.  One more thing to add to the list I guess.  See? I am getting a list. Do you think I want a list?


Today, I made a status update on Facebook that I got from my friend Kate.  It read:


Tonight a lot of creatures will visit your door. Be open minded. The child who is grabbing more than one piece of candy might have poor fine motor skills. The child who takes forever to pick out one piece of candy might have motor planning issues. The child who does not say trick or treat or thank you might be shy or non-verbal. The child who looks disappointed when he sees your bowl might have anallergy. The child who isn't wearing a costume at all might have SPD or autism. Be nice. Be patient. Its everyone's Halloween. Make a mom feel good by making a big deal of her special child.

*Copied from a friend's post...repost if you'd like. People can never understand it if they haven't been through it.


I posted it on my Facebook status, and then cried. I had that moment of WHY do I have to say things like this? Why do I have to tell the world this, to make his life easier? It was one of those mommy breakdown moments.


The breakdown then occurred on my car ride home as once again, I was overcome with my personal pity party.


Quinn had a fantastic Halloween. He has been some kind/colour of a Ninja for 5 years.  This year, was different tho. This year he was Camouflage guy. Not sure what that was but I supported it! Also, his first time letting his face be painted.  He doesn't like stuff on his face, so this was also a big thing!


Proud of him!


We have an appointment with Trish tomorrow. I am already nervous to peel off the next layer of Aspergers.

A whole lot of updating.

My last blog post was about our Walk for Autism. So let me update about that.

Our walk was a huge success!  The Aspie Avengers showed up in our custom tshirts and our capes made by Jesse.  We were in the front part of the pack, about 75 people back, and Quinn was annoyed about how slow we were walking, so he took off running. We didn't see him again until we crossed the finished line! He finished the 3k walk first!  Hilary got her face painted like a clown.  Hilary actually made a vlog about our walk. It falls off the rails when the walk was over, but she did a great job!

Quinn is doing not so great in school.  He did have a small bullying issue on the school bus, a kid was calling him gay.  He knew that wasn't really an insult so that didn't bother him, however, he knew what the kid was trying to do.  We spoke to the Vice Principle and they worked on resolution.  Yesterday, Quinn brought home his interim report card, its the halfway point in the semester, so they gave us a snap shot.  He is failing math and science. Which is odd, cos those are his best subjects. For his usually difficult ones, he's passing.  Weird.  We will meet with the teachers on Friday and see if we can figure that out.    We are also now getting some counselling for parents with special needs kids.  They help us come together as parents and how to manage Quinn.  Typical punishments don't work for kids like him.  So far so good!

Speaking of Quinn, he had a friend come over. Let's call him Bob.  Bob has been a good friend to Quinn since moving to his new jr high.  Bob came over for a sleep over.  Bob asked Hilary for practice doing it with his girlfriend.  Hilary was confused and said "it?" and he was like "yeah, I want to do it with you" and she was like "Omg, do you mean sex?" and he said "yes, I want to practice for when I get my girlfriend" Hilary was astonished and said "NO".  Apparently, Quinn said "you got guts man".  Hilary told Sandra, Andrew and I.  We laughed hysterically for like 15 mins.  But Hilary was totally creeped out.  When it was time for bed, I went into Quinn's room and I said "Did Bob really ask Hilary for sex?" Quinn responded with "Ya, because he needs to practice" and  I was like "Quinn, that is very inappropriate for him to ask that" but Quinn just didn't get it "He said he needs to practice sex".  Now, I have tried numerous times to talk about sex with Quinn but he shuts down when we do, which is why I was in the place of awkward.  So I just blurted it out "Quinn, Bob wants to put his penis in Hilary's vagina" and he made a gross face and said "oh". I was like FINALLY, he gets it! But, then he said "OK then, but he needs to practice". I told him we would talk about this further because clearly he wasn't getting how severe this was.

I tucked the boys in and said "Stay in your beds, and no bothering the girls" and went downstairs to my room and got ready for bed.  We were brushing our teeth when I got the text from Hilary saying "omg, he came into my room looking for sex". I thought she was kidding, then she responded with "Sandra is here in my room and I am super creeped out".  So she came to me and said that what had happened was, she was in bed, and she heard a knock on her door and said yes?  "Hilary, are you ready for sex now?" and she was like "Uhm no, I said no"  He opened her door and said "are you sure?" and she was like "yes, get out"  as he turned and left he said "I am ready, so just come see me on the couch".

At that point, I said to Andrew "he needs to go home".  We both agreed, after talking to Hilary and her saying she was worried he might try again when she was asleep.  I called his dad, he wasn't too happy to get that phone call, I explained to him what had happened, that we weren't upset about him asking Hilary but the fact that he went to her room was the problem.  He understood and said he had to wake up another child to pick him up, so I offered to drive him home.  It was the longest most awkward drive ever.  Bob apologized immediately upon me saying I was taking him home. I told him I wasn't mad at him, but that he was inappropriate and that Hilary was very uncomfortable.  When we got to Bob's house, his dad didn't even come to the door. I made Bob go get him.  I told him right away, "Bob has apologized to us already and we are not mad at him.  We plan on talking to Quinn about sex, he has Aspergers and he just doesn't get it, and perhaps if he had, he could've been a better friend to Bob tonight".  The dad then looked at me and said "Yah, I will deal with it" he then shut the door and turned off the outside light.  Awkward.

Bob has since called and apologized again. I told him we were OK and he and Quinn can still hang out.  Quinn still hangs with Bob, but not as much. He has branched out to other kids.

I have more to talk about, but I don't have time! Another day it will have to be!!

We will walk for Quinn.

Our Walk for Autism is in one week.  We are doing great on donations, our costumes are almost ready (thanks to Jesse!), and we are excited!

School started this week and I have had a lot of anxiety over Quinn starting at a new school and starting over with friendships.  But he seems to be doing well, so I am beginning to feel relieved.  I just hope the first 2 days reflect on what the rest of the year will be like.  I am not holding my breath on that one.

Some really great stuff has happened for Quinn.  We got in touch with FSCD (Family Services and Child Development) and they approved our application.  As we sat with our social worker and she was telling us what will happen now, I cried.   She advised us that we were eligible for Respite Care. I didn't even know what that was but I was happy!  She explained that when we have someone watch Quinn we can pay them an hourly wage, that person just has to be over 18 and not an immediate family member.  If that someone takes him to the zoo or anywhere Quinn can engage in social situations with other children, then that is considered Community Aide and we can pay that person $18.00 hour.  We send in the bill to FSCD and they deposit it into our account!  Then if Andrew, Hilary and I want a break from Quinn we can have a weekend away and FSCD will pay for someone to watch Quinn for the 48 hours, or they will pay an approved Nanny service.

That alone was HUGE.  We were floored. We explained how we didn't get into any day camps that would work for Quinn, and she said that they would cover that too should we find a camp for Autistic kids.

Then she went on to say that we should apply with LDAA (Learning Disability Association of Alberta) to get Quinn enrolled in social training classes and also for their day camps.  Which, we did. He starts Social classes on September 24. These classes cost $525, they will direct bill FSCD.  WOW right?!  They have summer camps but they were full for this year, but next year for sure. They even have residential camps where he will go overnight for a whole week at a time.

We were referred to PACE Kids where they will direct bill FSCD for Occupation Therapy and Speech Therapy.  We are currently on their wait list and hope to hear from them soon.

Lastly, we were referred to a therapy group called Triple P.  They will come in our home and help our family deal with Quinn's Aspergers, plus provide us with support for discipline/challenges with Quinn.

Our social worker was amazing and understanding.  She advised us that 120 kids out of her 140 kid workload are receiving the Federal Disability Tax Credit and that we should be too. I told her how our last doctor wouldn't sign off on it.  She told us that was BS and to shop around if need be to have a DR fill it out.  We have given it to our DR to fill out and he said he would, so we are just waiting for him to do so.

When she left, I cried. I was floored that so much help was available and it took us 3 years to get it.  A friend at work, Leah, was the one who told me about FSCD and pushed me to call them. I didn't, for weeks. When she was on her last day of work before Maternity Leave she asked me to call so she could move on, as she asked me everyday if I had called them.  So, with her pushing me, I did. Best thing ever.  I owe her so much!

We met with our social worker on July 15th. I won't forget that day!

I am happy to do our walk for Autism Awareness and for Quinn.  We have had tremendous support from friends.  Today I was on the walknowforautism.ca website and saw a video that someone posted from the walk last year and I totally cried. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with Quinn's Aspergers.  Sometimes its no big deal, he's just Quinn.  I belong to a Facebook group for parents of children with Aspergers and it makes me feel better.  That its not just my Aspie who won't ride a bike, take a shower, tells bad jokes, has anxiety, thinks they are smarter than a snake, will only eat 4 food items, and only talks about Pokemon. I feel better about my Aspie.  I forget that he has Aspergers and when people ask me "is it hard?", I say "No" or "I don't know, its all we've known".  He is just Quinn to me.

The saying goes, "if you've met one person with Aspergers, then, you have only met one person with Aspergers"

On September 11th, our family, The Aspie Avengers, will walk for Quinn.

Feeling Disconnected

Lately, it feels like all I do is work, eat and sleep.  All my social interactions are at work, which thankfully, I work with some amazing friends so that is not a downside or negative at all.  I have taken on a new role at work and its not easy and its actually quite exhausting. I find myself withdrawing from people.  It is not my friends fault that I am withdrawing, it is me.

Then there are my cruise friends, who I hold near and dear to my heart, knowing that there won't be another cruise with BNL, or those who wouldn't come back if there was, I seem to be disconnected from.  Again, it is not them, its me.  I don't know why. I just don't feel involved as I have been focusing on other stuff and since I don't see them day to day  like other friends, I don't give them any of my time.  Some days, I don't even open my laptop, and when your friends live in the internet its like I am making the choice to not talk to them.

There are so many people that are important to me, that I need in my life but lately, I just haven't been available. So, I am sorry to them.  Even if I don't talk to you, know that you are there with me, and I hope you haven't given up on me!

I feel like I can't control myself.  I am either all in and totally committed and then I am out. Just a few blogs ago I was going on about my obsession with Twilight.  Since that post, I have completely withdrawn.  I haven't been partaking in an online community that consumed me. Now I never post in there. I feel bad, because my friends began to depend on me. Sorry Debbie!  I am still counting down the days till Breaking Dawn Pt 1...100 days btw :)  It was hard because Rob was at Comic Con and then Teen Choice Awards and I haven't watched any of that stuff.  I know it will come back, it just hit such a strong point, that I had to halt it.

Currently, my obsession is Big Brother. I read the feeds all the time, follow them on Twitter.  Least that will end soon.

I am now thinking about how much I love cheese.  Not just to eat, but cheesy foods. I just ate a leftover chicken enchilada from dinner the other night for breakfast. The cheese was amazing.

Tonight I am having a bbq with my besties Michelle and Matt, looking forward to it too!  That is all for today. I need some more coffee.

TV, Internet and real life

Big Brother - There are spoilers and I put them at the end, so if you don't want to read BIG spoilers, then don't scroll down after the warning OK? OK.


In real life this week, I will talk about the Calgary Stampede.  Its so much fun to attend, and if you get the chance to go, you should!  It is titled the best outdoor show in the world.  Here is some of the highlites of event

• Started as a rodeo event, and to this day, many cowboys come to compete (yay! cowboys!).  Every night this ends with the Grandstand Show.
• Amusement rides including a kids section.
• Carnival food, everything deep fried and on a stick.
• Parade with a celebrity marshall.  This year Wills and Kate came through first and then watched it.
• Free concerts on the Coca Cola stage. Bands like The Trews, Shawn Desman, Marianna's Trench
• Nashville North free concerts with Doc Walker, Aaron Pritchett, Gord Bramford
• Big Band events that play daily
• Lotteries to win houses, boats, cars, etc, with the funds raised going to local charities
• Western Art Exhibit Oasis.  Its beautiful in there with moving statues, mood lighting, fountains, wine bar and many different art exhibits from around the world. Amazing art.
• Retail booths where you can buy a sham wow and such like products.  Fantastic deals can be found plus lots of vendors with unique items. 
• Animals and Agriculture section where you can see animals up for auction or competitions. Learn about agriculture with a hands on exhibit
• Indian village combines an insight into the colourful heritage of the Plains Indians and a chance to relax in a beautiful park setting.
• Other activities to enjoy are the daily shows of the Super Dogs, Stars on Ice, Kids shows like Molly and the Comfy Couch, and Hypnotist Terry Stokes.
• Canadian Country Hall of Fame
• Fashion shows and cooking shows

So, as you can see, 10 days of fun here in Calgary where, everyone dresses like a cowboy/girl.  Even execs downtown will send you home for wearing dress clothes to work! My first year here, I was sent home to change into jeans! Everyone owns a cowboy hat!  If you go everyday, then you might see everything once. It is so much fun, with daily stampede breakfasts all over town with their own mini version of the stampede.


I volunteered this past weekend at the WestJet events. I was part of our Stampede Breakfast, which, if you are from Calgary, know is the most important part of Stampede!  I got to the grounds at 6am and worked our breakfast until 10:30 am. Directing people into line ups and checking they had their tickets.  At one point, I did get to enjoy the breakfast and ate with a friend who is off on Mat Leave.  When my greeting duties were over completely, I had the chance to watch the Rodeo that was put on for us.  I am not into Rodeo's never have been. I am just not into horses being used for entertainment/sport like that. Its grueling. I am not an activist or anything like that, I just don't enjoy seeing them used that way, so I just don't attend those kind of events.  However, I kinda liked it. I feel like a traitor to my own values!!  When that was over, shortly thereafter, so was our company breakfast.


The other even I volunteered at was the WestJet booth.  We have a set up that goes to many different festivals and events around Canada.  We have folks come on up for a chance to win a free flight, other prizes include various discounts off their next booking. Its all digitalized and its a cool trailer that is set up.  I had so much fun doing that event. I was the entertainment for those waiting in line. I kept asking people where they would go if they won the free flight. Some didn't know, others said Kelowna, Ontario, Newfoundland, then my favs were like Hawaii, Turks and Caicos, and Bermuda.  I would tell them that if they won, they had to take me.  


There was this couple who said they wanted to win a trip to San Francisco so they could go to the Outlands Concert.  Three guys behind them wanted the same.  The girl of the couple went up there and totally won the free flights!! It was exciting!  The guys who were waiting to see if they won got very pissed off! It was hilarious! So, I just asked them if they had eaten anything on a stick!  I enjoyed that event and got sunburned!  It was a great way to do a face to face connection with some of our guests and hopefully made some new guests :)


Onto the Internet.


New for me this week is that I have started playing Gardens of Time on FB and I have signed up for Google Plus.


Google Plus is really weak right now, and I am not hooked on it yet. This may change as the site develops, but for right now, all I am doing is updating status's.  I have Twitter for that and FB.  I think the only good thing Google Plus has going for it is the capabilities of joining many sites into one. Google owns a lot sites I use, like this blogger and youtube.  So it will combine my faves, social media and videos.  But will it have the games? I don't know. We shall see what it turns into.


Hey, did you know that Justin Timberlake bought Myspace? He intends on using it for the music industry, which make sense, as the site already has the coding built to share music and videos easily for the bands.  


Now, time for  TV.  Today is Sunday and that excites me because......BIG BROTHER AND TRUE BLOOD ARE ON!!!  That deserved capital letters because those shows are amazeballs.


 I am so excited for tonight's episode of True Blood mainly because of Eric and Sookie!!  Eric was always so sexy as the bad boy, but him as lost and forgotten is adorable!  I like that Bill is becoming the bad guy. I love this storyline and it makes me want to read the books that much more.  I don't like the Sheriff's storyline much, in fact, I would like to see him in a romance.  I wonder if we will see more fairy Godmothers?  Jason is going to be a panther? I don't like Crystal anymore, but maybe I am not suppose to?  This season will probs be my fav season yet!






Big Brother talk!  I have some spoiler alerts here if you don't watch the feeds or read about them....SPOILER ALERT!








SPOILER ALERT.....




. 
I have been reading the feeds and its hilarious! The vets are just standing by watching the noobs all freak out! By far, the most lethal vets are Rachel and Jeff.  It is my opinion that although Rachel possesses the most annoying laugh, she is actually very likeable, sweet and smart.   


Dick left the house. It is unclear at this time why.  But this I can tell you:

Evel Dick Tweets: "To squash the rumors, I am not in jail, don't have cancer, my mother son and girlfriend are not in the hospital & I was not kicked out." He goes on to say that a public statement from him will be posted later on explaining everything. CBS states, "His departure will be addressed on the episode to be broadcast on Wednesday, July 13. "

Danielle has been given the golden key and is safe for the next 4 weeks.

The houseguests were given wine and beer, lets hope we get some good stuff out of this.

Brenchel put up Keith and Porshe.  Brenchel then won POV and chose not to use it.  There is a 

lot of noob fighting between Keith, Lawon and Porshe.  You will see a side of Keith you weren't 

expecting!  It is my belief that the HG's will vote out Keith, at his own doing.

Dominic, that cute lil boy, seems to be on everyone's hit list.  Everyone sees him as a threat. Cassie and Shelly are becoming very close and I think them a force to be reckoned with.  I hope they switch over to the Vets.

The Vets have a new alliance name. Jordan did suggest "The Rainbow Brights" however, they chose "Dream Crushers Alliance".  

I liked Jordan's more.

That is all for now, I will probably blog about Big Brother a lot this summer, just so you know!

 

Everything Twilight.

Edward Cullen's birthday is June 20, he will be 110.  Bella and Edward are getting married on August 13, 2011. Breaking Dawn comes out in 156 days.   These are the kinds of things running thru my head.

I know to many of you, it seems as tho my Twilight obsession never faded, or was put on the back burner, but it was. I mean, its always there, but it lays dormant most of the time.  But now, right now? Its overwhelming again. It consumes my every thought. I read or hear something, and usually I have some sort of Twilight reference running through my head.  I have to stop myself from saying it out loud.

The release of the Breaking Dawn Part 1 movie trailer, is what opened the flood gates.  Now they're open, they can't be closed. There were cracks in the seams anyways. I had been seeing stills from the movie and seeing this version of Edward.  But the movie trailer? Oh man.

It was leaked the day of the 2011 MTV Movie awards, as it was set to premiere during the show.  I had been amped up all that day waiting for the trailer and when it was leaked? Holy lifton.  Friends had posted it on my FB wall, but I was at work and couldn't watch it. I tried, but every time I clicked to watch it, it had been removed due to copyright infringement.  It had been tweeted to me, emailed, texted, and no matter what I kept missing it. I had resolved to watch it during the MTV movie awards, but was so heartbroken that so many had seen it and were talking about it.    On my way home from work, I was at a red light and refreshed my Facebook feed, and there it was, just posted that second. The light turned green. I could barely breathe! I clicked to load it and began searching for a place to pull over as it was starting. I sat on the side of the road with my blackberry gripped tightly in my hand watching a lady in high heels walk.  Before I knew it, I was gasping and then crying. A happy and excited cry that it was finally here. I was overcome with emotion, and I don't know why, and I cried.   Then I watched it again. It was hard to see on my little blackberry screen. I then drove faster to home. I texted Andrew and asked him to log into my laptop and open facebook.  I ran into the house, and God love him, he had the trailer loaded and in full screen. He knew what I needed!! I watched it again and again and again and again. At this time, I have no idea how many times I have watched it.

That was it, I was over the edge into Twifandom, again, for the millionth time.  If you haven't seen the trailer yet, here it is....

I found this facebook group many months ago called "So what, I am an older woman obsessed with Edward Cullen! Get over it."  I met the lady who created it, Debbie.  We became facebook friends as she liked all the pics of Edward/Robert I posted.  I have other friends who love Twilight, but no one who loves Edward like I do. I know others exist, I just didn't know them. Debbie was the first.  We became really great friends. She lets me help admin that group.  Recently, we have taken that group and turned it into a page that can be "liked".  We are meeting admins from other Twilight groups and last night, I hosted Twilight Trivia in another Twilight group called TwiMoms.  It was so fun to mingle and play with other fans.

Everyone makes fun of me for being a Twihard, but these groups make me feel better about my obsession.  Twilight is now my hobby. I read the books over and over. I watch the movies, over and over again. I talk about Twilight. I would love to have a Twilight room. I desperately want to go to Forks, where it all began. Someday, I will.

ps. I watched the movie trailer 3 times after putting it into this blog. I *may* have a problem.

Mostly Montreal

I am happy. Sorry, make that, I AM HAPPY!!!  Why? I don't know why specifically, I am just thankful I am.

Its my day off. I got to sleep in. I am having some hard boiled eggs and toast with a coffee.  Sounds good right?
I have a job, my hip is better, school is almost out, spring is here although it is June, my husband cleaned the kitchen last night so I don't have to do it today.  Life is good!

I just came back from Montreal.  I had such a wonderful time thanks to my friend Michele.  She let me stay at her apartment, showed me downtown Montreal.  I found it a lot of fun to take the bus and train, as I drive everywhere here in Calgary.

My first day there we went to an Asian restaurant Zyng, where we made yummy bowls.  It was a cute small place, but the food and service were fantastique!  After we ate, we met up with some of Michele's close friends who were also graduating from McGill the next day.  We had amazing drinks from Le Distilliere, they come in half and full size mason jars. I chose the Basilic Romantique mainly because it referenced the movie Twilight in its description!  It was yummy and had basil in it. Amazing!

The next day was Michele's convocation, it was a hot day but a beautiful convocation.  We had plans for after the ceremony to go get poutine  for lunch and then meet up with her parents for a celebratory dinner at a Portuguese restaurant. But after the grad we were all starving! I tried to get to the restaurant for a lunch menu, but with construction detouring us, we couldn't get there and quickly gave up.  We wound up instead at an amazing little Italian place called Gallo Nero.  What was cool about that is, I was with 3 Italians who could read the menu!  Dinner also included a cappuccino or an espresso. I chose the cappuccino and it was so good!

After lunch Michele and I just needed to sit for a bit. It had been a early big day for her.  We had plans to go out to downtown for some food and drinks...but we were so tired! After discovering my twi hard friend hadn't seen Eclipse yet, decisions were made.  We would order in St. Hubert's and I would get my poutine and we would rent Eclipse.  It was so windy and had a fun walk to the movie rental place.  It was a great night, with just some simple and honest friend time.  We were so tired yet we stayed up till 1am just talking.  That is how you can tell you have a great friend! You are yawning and you know you are tired, but you can't get enough of the person you are with!

The next day we slept in and had a great breakfast. Michele's mom had gotten us fresh bagels the day before and today we were determined to have some bacon with it.  After some breakfast, more talk time, we finally got ready and headed out.  I had a mission to complete. Go to Schwartz Deli and enjoy a smoked meat sandwich.  We took the transit, stood out in the rain for a little bit, but then the moment came.  Once inside, things moved quickly and smelled delicious.  I ordered a very simple sandwich with a Coke.  I was so full, I forced the last of it down my throat. It was too good to leave any behind.   After we finished, I went and bought a large brisket to bring home to my husband who was so jealous of my entire trip.  We were pushing it for time once we had the brisket, so we hopped in a cab and headed back to Michele's place to get my luggage and head to the airport for my flight home.  As her mom so generously drove me to the airport, I was so sad to be leaving.  Michele and her parents were so wonderful to me, and my trip that much more enjoyable.

As I sat waiting for my flight, I knew I would be back.