WOW!

Sebastian and I have not been feeling well the past couple of days so I did not have time to post or check comments on the blog. This morning Sebastian and I are feeling much better and Paul has already whisked the kids out of the house and over to Denise's where he is fixing the roof. I thought I would take a couple of minutes to check my blog and do a quick post to let everyone know I was still kicking.

I was amazed at the comments! Thank you all for such an outpouring of support! I wondered if I was being a little a crazy when I posted it and as it turns out I am surrounded by understanding and support. Thank you all so much.

I have decided to take matters into my hands. Paul said he would call the airline for me sometime this past week and he never found time do it, funny he found the time to book the flights. I will call Alaska airlines myself and see what I can do to fix things. I will try a sob storey first and see if they have a heart. If that does not work I will see if it is cheaper to just change the return date on the tickets instead of both ticket dates and then I could return with the kids in time to do the wheel and perhaps spend less than $800. If that option does not work I will just change the dates to one that works for the kids and myself and Paul learns a very expensive lesson.

Just so you know I think to some degree Paul's intentions were honorable:

1. He feels that is it is important for me to remain close to my family and wants me to go visit them once a year.
2. He wants the kids to have time to get know the family too.
3. The dates of the Wheel Weekend had changed, he booked the flights around the weekend (it was mid November) and then the folks who put on the seminars changed the dates.
4. He asked Debbles if she wanted to go to, but she declined.
5. He was trying to take advantage of a 2 for 1 seat sale.

Paul is still in hot water:

1. He knew full well I was apprehensive about traveling with the kids without help.
2. He failed to communicate with me (this is huge)
3. It was a big commitment both financially and in time and energy that he was making for me without even caring how I felt about the matter.
4. If he had told me about the ski weekends, I would have sought some sort of compromise so he could get some skiing in and we could all have some family time on those weekends as well.
5. Instead of realizing and admitting he made a mistake he has chosen to be defensive and accuse me of not wanting to see my family and saying things like, "I did not realize the kids are such a hardship for you to take care of for a few days."
5. He has made no effort to set right what he screwed up.
6. He has not, will not or can not apologize.

Will is right, I am not as angry after blogging about the whole mess. I will find a way to get things settled, hopefully it wont be to expensive to set things right. I was thinking I may schedule the tickets around Shannon's birthday, or during Spring break. Anyone in California have a request?

Shannon- Paul loves everyone in California as much as I do. Paul's strong point is not showing his emotions. His whole family seems to keep things bottled up pretty tight. They are changing gradually and they all seem to working to express themselves and their love better all the time.

If Paul stays here then we can better afford the tickets and the whole trip. We have to pay a doctor to take care of our patients when we go out of town and then we don't make any money. This more than doubles the cost of any trip we take. There is no vacation pay when you own your practice. Paul always feels bad about being allergic to everyone's animals and there is not to much he can do about it. He knows that everyone keeps clean homes and does there best to minimize the dander, but he gets sick whenever we go to Nevada or California.

Well, I had better get off to work now. I hope to get in some knitting this afternoon during quiet time. The sun is finally shining today, so perhaps I can get a couple of decent pictures of what I am up to on the knitting side of things.

Thank you all so much for being there! I feel much better after reading all your comments and suggestions.