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June 3, 2003
a whirlwind weekend with Corinne…
Thursday, May 29th:
We had been looking forward to Corinne’s visit for weeks. Rachel & I counted the days off on the calendar and the excitement grew as Thursday approached. We did our best to get the house and the guest room ready, presentable, and comfortable for her stay. It seemed Thursday would never arrive and then suddenly it was Thursday afternoon. The airport is a 30-minute drive from where I work. I left work on time and got to the airport by 4:30. I parked and roamed around the baggage claim area for a few minutes. Corinne was not there, nor was there any sign of her flight on the monitor. I walked upstairs to the terminal and checked the monitors for her flight with no luck. By the time I got back downstairs, two more flights had arrived. There were a lot more people in the baggage claim area. We recognized each other immediately. It was not like the last time, when we fell into a big pile of hugs and kisses and tears. We just smiled at each other and, then, I had to shield my eyes from the glare of Corinne’s white teeth. I squinted and reached for my sunglasses. The last time I saw Corinne was one week before she delivered Cameron. Nearly 15 months later, she was the same person, but yet she looked so different. She was very thin, very tan, smartly dressed, and her hair was shorter. But I already knew all of that; it was just different to see her in person. She brought two large suitcases. They were the last two bags circling around on the conveyor belt. We wheeled the bags out to the car and drove through a bit of rush hour traffic. We went to Houston’s restaurant on Kirby and had a few margaritas, Caesar salads and grilled trout. We talked for hours, and then it was beginning to get dark and traffic was thinning out. We drove to Katy and pulled in front of the house around 9 p.m. We brought her bags inside. Mitch was already asleep, but Jerry and Rachel were waiting at the door. Corinne opened one of her suitcases right there in the living room. It was stuffed with wrapped presents. She sorted them into three stacks (pink for Rachel; blue for Mitch; and the others for me). Rachel tore into her presents. She was in complete Barbie heaven: two Barbie dolls, a pink Barbie jeep and a grey Barbie horse with long mane and tail). Mitch’s stack was set aside since he was asleep. (You’ll have to bear with me as I talk about the next 4 hours. A tragedy unfolded two doors down, and it’s kind of a blur.) I was in the middle of opening a set of high ball glasses, place mats & matching napkins, a serving set, a set of margarita glasses, and a margarita kit when all of a sudden I hear two loud booms. It sounded like fireworks going off, and I asked Jerry if he heard it. We joked about how Texans are famous for setting off fireworks (no occasion necessary). Some people fire guns into the night air on holidays. Suddenly I looked out the back bay windows and I saw what looked like our next door neighbor’s entire backyard engulfed in flames. I screamed “oh my God!” and told Jerry to run outside and get the hose. I grabbed the phone and dialed 911. In the midst of screaming that we had a fire, the phone fell on the floor and disconnected. I started running around looking for the mobile phone, and finally got the phone put back together. It began to ring. It was 911 calling back to confirm the fire, location, etc. I asked Corinne to stay inside with Rachel (who was a bit nervous and scared after seeing flames outside). I ran out the back door and into the street. The neighbor’s garage was totally engulfed in flames. One of their cars was inside along with gasoline cans, and the typical lawn equipment, bikes, etc. A few minutes later, an ambulance arrived on the scene and there were people running out into the street. The first two fire engines arrived on the scene and were trying to find the closest fire hydrant. I shouted that it was in front of our house and started yelling at people to move their cars, to get out of the way. There was a short delay as they unwrapped the fire hose from the ladder truck. There were several small explosions when the car’s tires exploded, then the gas tank exploded followed by cans of gasoline. Then, the entire garage exploded and pieces of the garage were blown onto the 2-story brick home and over the fences of the adjoining yards. The homeowners (family of 4: Richard & Susan and their children, Lauren & Taylor) made its safely outside wearing only the clothes on their backs. I found them sitting on the front lawn across the street just sitting there staring in horror at their home in flames. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion inside the home, and the entire middle section of the home exploded in debris. The little boy (Taylor) was sobbing because his pet hamster and favorite stuffed animal were still inside the home. I rubbed his back and hugged him. Susan was in shock and Lauren seemed to be scared, but not crying. I invited them to our home, to get away from the trauma. I told Susan that this was too traumatic for the children to watch, and she asked me to take the kids inside. Angela came out and said she’d take the kids inside her home, but she never did. The dad (Richard) totally lost it. He kept pointing to the house, yelling and shouting at Susan & the kids that “just look at it, we lost everything!” Taylor was very sad, and here is his dad yelling “son, do you realize that you lost your stuffed animal?” You just never know how you are going to act or what you will say in this situation. By this time, there were 8 fire trucks and two ambulances on the scene. There were at least 200 people standing in the street, just gaping. I noticed one person had a video camera and one person was taking pictures with a camera. It was just crazy. I began searching the crowd to make sure our other neighbors & children were out of their homes. They were all accounted for. I went back inside our home to check on Rachel & Corinne. Jerry came back inside and then he and Corinne went outside to watch as I stayed with Rachel, trying to answer her questions and divert her attention to the new Barbie gifts. As I said, the evening was such a blur, but I do remember apologizing to Corinne. For what? I’m really not sure; as I’m sure no one expected her first few hours to be filled with the reality of a home fire. We put Rachel to bed, but it was hard for her to sleep with the glare of flashing lights in her bedroom window as well as the noise of walkie-talkies and sirens and hundreds of people standing in the street and lawn. We turned on her lamp and a Disney CD and eventually she fell asleep. Although we felt like reality junkies, Corinne & I went back outside to watch. We learned that the hamster had been found dead in his burned out cage. The fire chief walked out the front door with the dead hamster cupped in his hands. He began CPR and revived this beloved pet. It was a moment of elation for everyone. They also reported that Lauren’s room was undisturbed (aside from smoke and water damage) and although Taylor’s room was destroyed by fire, his bed and all the stuffed animals were fine. By this time, it was 1 a.m. Still, Corinne and I stood in the street and talked to Susan and the kids. We talked to some of the firefighters. I wanted to know how long they would stay to make sure the fire was totally out. They assured us that they would not leave until it was perfectly safe. As we looked around, we noticed that there were lawn chairs set up on front lawns and people were sitting with their beers and drinks just watching all the action. What a sad, sad night! After the fire was out, we were still standing on the lawn with Susan and the kids. The firefighters approached and told Richard to get a garbage bag, because he would be allowed inside to gather items from one of the downstairs bedrooms. Corinne & I ran to our garage for garbage bags. Susan gave him a list of things she needed. The only things Susan worried about were her family photographs. Good news came when they walked out with arm loads of photographs. Susan had all of her albums organized and kept in her armoire which was not destroyed. She was elated. Eventually, the fire was out, the fire trucks left, and everyone went home. Corinne and I stayed up talking into the wee hours of the morning. It was 2:30 a.m. when Rachel woke up with a nightmare. We let her sleep with us. I was still watching the clock at 4:30 a.m.
Friday, May 30th:
I was dead tired, but I figured sleeping in for a few hours wouldn’t really make a difference. I showered, got dressed and came downstairs. Jerry left for work. The kids slept in, and then came down for a breakfast of pancakes and morning cartoons. Mitch opened up his presents (3 Bob the Builder toys) and began to play with them. Corinne came downstairs and we thanked her for her generosity. We took a walk past Susan’s house to see the aftermath of the fire in the daylight. We could see the charred remains of the car where the garage once stood. The neighbor in between our house and Susan’s house—the one whose backyard I originally thought was on fire—suffered black charred damage to the fence, and lost their pool and grass. It was a black mess. The cedar trees lining our back fence were singed brown. There were 3 home restoration company reps already in line to meet with Richard & Susan, as well as other insurance people and the city’s fire inspector. As creepy as the house looked in daylight, it was just one of those things that we just had to look at. We noticed an increase in traffic through our neighborhood as people naturally wanted to see the house that burned the night before. We got the kids in the car and drove over to Angie’s where Mitch played with the 3 boys for the day and Rachel went to preschool. Corinne & I ate breakfast at Einstein’s, just relaxing and talking. We drove to the Galleria to do some shopping. I wasn’t sure just how much Corinne would want to shop considering all the pre-trip shopping she did in the weeks leading up to her visit. But, we did not disappoint. We found the MAC cosmetics shop and sampled all the eye shadows and lipsticks. We were perusing the eye shadow display standing beside some very tall athletic females dressed in sweats. Without wanting to seem stereotypical, I whispered to Corinne that they just had to be basketball players (hey it’s Houston and we are in the middle of the WNBA’s season). I asked the one beside me if she played basketball. She smiled and said yes. She played for CT and it turned out that Corinne knew who she was. We didn’t want to intrude or embarrass ourselves, so we didn’t chat up the other 3. Corinne liked the ice skating rink which is in the center of Galleria I. This is where Tara Lipinski works out, and Jerry & I have seen her there before. We went to Nordstrom’s and Corinne bought some sandals. We sampled and bought foot products at the Body Shop. We strolled through the Disney Store looking at the new Finding Nemo merchandise. We ate lunch at Cheesecake Factory. By this time, it was close to 4 p.m. Rush hour was gearing up, so we were lucky to get the heck out of the Galleria area at 4 p.m. It was nice to get on the HOV lane and cruise at the posted speed level for a change. We picked Mitch up and brought him home. Jerry came home with Rachel. We relaxed for a while. We planned to see a movie, so we skimmed through the movie ads. We decided on Bruce Almighty (Jim Carrey/Jennifer Aniston). After driving to the theatre, we bought our tickets, popcorn, Twizzlers, and headed to our seats. The theatre was packed. The only seats available were in the front row and there were many scattered single seats. This would never do. We stood in the aisles and, of course, no one would move over. The manager had to come in and ask people to move over, so we could sit together. What a hassle! Regardless, we really enjoyed the movie. I laughed so hard. I didn’t pee my pants, but I did cry in some parts. Corinne had warned me that eating the snacks (popcorn and Twizzlers) while watching the movie was an important part of the entire “movie experience.” I was stuffed but enjoyed watching her eat a few handfuls of popcorn, then a few Twizzlers, then a sip of water, then she repeated this routine several times, all the while offering me popcorn and Twizzlers. I could see she had this picnic down to a science, but I just couldn’t see eating a Twizzler and messing up her formula. What if she ended up with too much popcorn and no Twizzlers? (grin) After the movie, we stopped at the Randall’s on Fry Road to buy food for breakfast on Saturday. When we got home, both kids were in bed. We stayed up late (again) talking.
Saturday, May 31st:
I slept in until 9 a.m. After showering, I tried on my new MAC eye shadows and decided I loved them. I got dressed and came downstairs. Jerry was frying bacon, and Rachel was manning the mixer as Jerry spooned pancake batter on the griddle. After we ate breakfast, I gave Mitch a bath. Corinne painted Rachel’s toenails with red nail polish. Rachel sat on Corinne’s lap and they played with Barbie’s together. It was fun to see Corinne play with Rachel. Rachel really wanted to see the Finding Nemo movie. We had planned to take her next weekend with Avery Stephanie. But, Corinne said she’d love to go see Nemo with us. Rachel was so excited! We took a walk past Susan’s house again before driving to the movie theater. We parked and walked to the ticket booth. There were only two booths open with long lines out to the street. It was hot waiting in the sun. I noticed some funny handwritten notes posted over some of the movie titles. When we walked closer, we saw that every Nemo movie was SOLD OUT for the day. What a disappointment. We left and drove to Katy Mills where they also have a theatre. On our way to the theatre, we passed by the carousel, which Rachel wanted to ride. We wanted to check on the movie tickets first. There were several Nemo showings, and they were not sold out. We bought our tickets for the 1 p.m. show and then took Rachel back to the carousel for a ride on the horse. We bought our popcorn and drinks and found our seats. There were lots of kids and parents, but it was not packed. It was a great family movie. Rachel had to go potty toward the end of the movie. We were able to get up and go and get back to our seats fairly quickly. On the way home, Rachel fell asleep in the car. It was really hot outside and as we sat at a red light, I saw red fire trucks with flashing lights in my rearview mirror. The trucks passed us and soon another one was coming up on us. I can’t remember seeing so many fire trucks in two days. We got home with enough time to change clothes and head out again for our joint pedicure appointment. It was fun to be pampered while sitting side by side, sipping drinks and chatting for an hour. Even the pedicurists listened in on our conversation while Corinne filled me in on the lives of some of her friends I met while visiting her in VA last year. After our pedicures, we met Jerry & Rachel & Mitch at Willie’s for dinner. It’s our favorite ice house/burger joint where the kids can play in the sand and we can enjoy ourselves. We had grilled shrimp and margaritas. The kids played in the sand for a while, but it was really, really hot that night. We decided to drive to Marble Slab Creamery for ice cream. Then, Jerry took Mitch home. Corinne & Rachel & I decided to drive by the home of Frank Beilic (Trading Spaces) who also lives in Katy. We drove past the house and then turned around at the end of the street to pass by it again. Corinne had her digital camera and so did I. She jumped out and took 2 quick pictures of Frank’s house, and then it was my turn. I stood across the street and took one picture at the exact same time that two people rode by on their bikes. The woman gave me the evil eye and then gave Corinne the evil eye. We just laughed all the more. I should have taken her picture too! Once we were back in the car, we quickly checked our cameras to see the pictures. Oh, the things that amuse us! We were pretty well worn out, so we headed home. I gave Rachel a bath, and then Corinne wanted to look at our photo albums. I pulled out our wedding albums and the albums of baby pictures, etc. It was fun to go down memory lane. We were supposed to make brownies, but we both felt so gluttonous for pigging out all weekend. The kids went to bed, Jerry went upstairs, while Corinne & I had our hen party downstairs watching Trading Spaces and gabbing away.
Sunday, June 1st:
Jerry got up early with the kids and they had breakfast. I came downstairs and made smoothies in the blender (no cooking required). We talked over breakfast and took a walk past Susan’s house again. Corinne went outside to take some pictures of the house and kids. She played with Mitch and braided Rachel’s hair. We took some pictures sitting on the sofa and in the back yard. Corinne’s flight didn’t leave until 5:30, so we had plenty of time for relaxing. Corinne wanted to learn some things on the computer, so we sized pictures and uploaded them to Cam’s web page. I showed her how to type messages in RED, so I expect to see some RED messages on my TTM board. It was 1 p.m., well past lunch time, and my stomach was growling. Jerry loaded the bags into the car, and we waved goodbye to Jerry & Rachel (Mitch was napping). We had lunch (Mexican food and drinks) at Chuy’s on Westheimer. On the way there, I looked in my rearview mirror and (surprise!) two fire trucks were fast approaching with sirens/lights flashing. Geez! (This reminded me of last year when I met Jenny & Jenn in Vegas and the fire trucks were on the scene soon after we checked into our room. I was on the phone with the front desk while Jenny & Jenn were planning how they would shimmy down New York, New York’s rollercoaster to safety.) I hadn’t been to Chuy’s in a while. It was nice to enjoy a great meal and drinks with Corinne. We talked all the way to the airport, right up to the terminal where I had to hug my friend and wave goodbye. I looked in my rearview mirror, smiling while tears welled in my eyes. It’s true, time flies by when you are having fun.
Warmly,
Megan
web page updated 6.2.03:
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/m/millimaki/
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