Day 772: The Chair, Part 28 – The Stroller, Part 3

The plan was simple enough.  I ordered the stroller on Amazon and shipped it over night to Costello’s house.  Whereupon he was to pack all of the pieces into his luggage… and we would put it together when he arrived.


The infant stroller I purchased four year prior arrived in pieces.  Pieces that could have easily been packed into a bag and carried overseas.  With the help of a Phillips head screw driver, the stroller could be assembled in less than 15 minutes.


Problem.


The stroller that arrived on Costello’s doorstep was a more up-to-date model… that came preassembled.  And wasn’t designed to be taken apart.


Long story short… it wouldn’t fit in his bags.

Day 771: The Chair, Part 27 – The Stroller, Part 2

When Grayson was born Serena and I really wanted to get one of those infant travel systems… and for those fellow parents out there, you know what I’m talking about.  


A travel system normally comes with an infant car seat that straps into some very elaborate stroller you can use until your kid gets his driver’s license.  


These systems are very cool, very expensive… and as we later found out… very impractical.  I am almost embarrassed that we registered for it… and I’m equally embarrassed that my father-in-law actually bought it for us… since we barely used it. 


Instead, we stumbled onto the most amazing product.  An infant car seat stroller/cart frame thingy.  


Kind of like this:http://www.amazon.com/Graco-SnugRider-Infant-Stroller-Frame/dp/B0007KMUH4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1274365403&sr=8-1


Originally, we bought this for my mom.  When Serena went back to work part-time, my mom was watching Grayson once a week and she was having trouble carrying him around in his car seat.  As a solution, Serena found the car seat stroller frame and we bought one for my mom.  It worked perfectly for her.  It was light weight, easy to move in and out of the trunk of her car, and most importantly, it was great for moving a sleeping Grayson around without taking him out of his seat.  


This product worked so great in fact that we started making my mom give it back whenever we picked-up Grayson after work.  So, fast forward four-years.  Gilliam is on his way… and where is all of our baby stuff?  In our permanent storage container in Hagerstown of course.  Duh!  


Now we already have three strollers… two are for older kids like Grayson… and the third is this really great two seat stroller our neighbors lent us, however, none were very practical for our time in London or getting through airports quickly and easily.  Which is KEY!


So… of course… we start looking for an infant car seat stroller frame thingies again.  And, the first one we found was in London.  But it is CRAZY expensive.  So, we looked into having one shipped from the States via our department personal mail service.  Well… there was an issue.  All incoming packages must not exceed a certain weight and size.  And according to Amazon, the weight was well within our limit… but the box exceeded our dimensions allowance… so we started scrambling for options.  


And our best option was none other than Costello… he was a week away from coming to visit and more than willing to lean a hand… as always.

Day 770: The Chair, Part 26 – The Stroller, Part 1

After all the twists and turns this story has taken… I think it comes without any surprise as to why Costello came to London to see us during our medevac (hoping to be one of the first to meet Gilliam)… and, in addition, why he ended up standing next to me outside IKEA at 4 o’clock on a drizzle January afternoon.

As we looked up at the monster of a building… the blue and yellow eerily staring back down at us… Costello turned to be and said, “I hate you.”

For Costello, quickly throwing out the words “I hate you” was his way of saying “I can’t believe you talking me into this… when will I learn to stop answering the phone???”

Yes… Costello has been sucked into many of my misadventures… and has agreed to countless favors… and he certainly has grounds for hating me.  After all, I made him carry a stroller from Atlanta to London for me.

Well… From Atlanta, to Charlotte, to London… well… it should have been that simple… his plane was diverted to Manchester… and well… he finally made it to London about 12 hours later.

Sit tight.

Day 769: The Chair, Part 25 - The R&R Ticket

For those of you not in the Foreign Service, you probably aren’t familiar with the R&R concept… at least not in the context of how we use the term in the service.  And for those of you in the Foreign Service you know that R&R tickets are like GOLD!

I will ‘quickly’ explain:

An R&R Ticket (Rest and Recuperation Ticket) is a full fare airline ticket (for you, spouse, and kids) back to any location in the States (or a pre-specified R&R Point) so members of the Foreign Service can get away and use their annual leave in a more ‘relaxed’ environment. 

What’s an R&R Point?  Well, every post that qualifies for R&R (not every post gets them) has an R&R point.  In Belgrade, our R&R Point was London.  So we had the choice of going to London or the States… technically, there are other options that allow you to go anywhere in the world you want, but I don’t feel like explaining the concept of a ‘cost construct’ right now.

Also, every post has different R&R eligibilities.  As I hinted before, some posts, like London and Rome, don’t have any R&R eligibilities at all… because those locations are already considered ‘western’ and ‘relaxing’.  At posts like Belgrade you get an R&R for every 18 months you’re at post.  Sarajevo, you get one for every 12 months of service.  And for Islamabad you get one for every 6 months of service.  Quick math, for a 2 year tour in each of these cities you would get the following:

Belgrade: 1 R&R

Sarajevo: 2 R&Rs

Islamabad: 4 R&Rs

You get the idea. 

Well, my tour in Belgrade was a two years assignment; even though it was technically a 24 month tour, I would have needed a 36 month tour to get the second R&R.  So, I have just one R&R.

Originally, Serena and I planned a very nice vacation to Atlanta together… BUT… shortly after planning it, we found out Serena was pregnant with Gilliam.  SO, I cancelled my part of the R&R so I could use the ticket to get back to the States for the birth.  However, life came at us again.

About a year ago, Costello contacted me about his father.  Lung Cancer.   The Costello’s, like the Patterson’s, are a second family to me.  And it pained me that I was so far away, but Costello and I stayed in touch throughout.

In October, Costello contacted me about his dad again.  Hospice… they weren’t sure if he was going to make it to Christmas.  Two weeks later, on a Friday afternoon in Belgrade, I came back from lunch and found an email from Jeff.  His father had passed.  My response?

“I’m on my way.”

What Costello didn’t know is that I had been mobilizing. 

By the time I received his email about his father entering Hospice, Serena and I had already decided to have Gilliam in London rather than traveling back to the States, so Serena and I decided I should use my R&R ticket for the funeral.  I quickly got permission from my supervisors and let the management office and our travel office know what my plans were… although we had no idea when I would be leaving.   

Two hours after I got the sad news from Costello I had a sign leave slip, R&R orders, a funding site, and tickets on the first plane out the next morning.  And thirty-six hours later we were in an Atlanta bar together toasting his father.

That’s the kind of friendship I am talking about.

Day 768: The Chair, Part 24 - The Getting On With It… Kind Of

Okay, I need to stop.  Seriously.  If I don’t put myself in check, I could easily continue my Costello stories for the next few days, weeks, months, years. 

I could tell you about the 10 times he’s helped me move.  I could tell you about when I was accepted into the Foreign Service and he said, “They’re helping you move, right?  Cause I’m not doing it.”

I could tell you about the time my car broke down on I-20 about two and a half hours outside of Atlanta and he rearranged his schedule to come get me.

Or, the OTHER time my car broke down and he drove me across town so I could attend a dinner in honor of my Niece/God Daughter Kiersten.

The time he attended my graduation…

Or, when he showed up 10 hours early to my parent’s lake house the day of my wedding… the wedding that Serena and I planned ourselves… and without being asked, Costello took the helm and began stage managing our big day so we didn’t have to worry about the caterers, photographers, musicians… or anything.  And you know what?  We didn’t worry about anything… everything went off without a hitch… and that was thanks to Costello.

No, even if I told you all of those stories you would ever fully understand the bond that Costello and I have.  Except for maybe this one story… the one about the R&R Ticket.

In a nut shell… Costello is R&R ticket worthy.

Day 767: The Chair, Part 23 – The ‘Go Ask Alice’ Set, Part 3

So, by the time our incredibly intelligent teacher helped us move everything the school ever bought the Drama Club to Costello’s house it was lunch time… so the five remaining builders headed off to Wendy’s to carb-up for the rest of our day. 

Shortly after finishing lunch, two of our builders called it quits for the day.  Seriously… they helped us move everything, ate, and then left.

So who was left besides Costello and me?  Well… it was none other than Justin.  You remember Justin right?  I wrote about him on Day 754?

That’s right… it’s a Costello Crossover story!

Yeah, so when I started developing my interest in theatre and started peeling away from band, most of my band friends were like, “I can’t believe you would do anything except band, band, band… AHHHH!”  They grew fangs and would chase me through the halls… no, not really.  For most people, band was their only social outlet and they didn’t really branch-out… so when I stared to branch-out… they weren’t interested in coming with me… except for Justin.

You see, Justin was also the younger brother of a Pope High School badass… His brother had been in both Band and Drama… so when I made my move, Justin though it was only logical and came along as a stage hand.

So… there we were; the three of us… Justin and I were already good friends… but we were still fairly new in our friendship with Costello… at least until after the build… our ‘shared experience’.

Well… we dug in deep and the three of us started building… and about five hours later… we had finished… about half of the set.  We were a little frustrated… annoyed… and a bit discouraged.  We probably had about 5 hours of work left (or more)… and we were getting tired and started slowing down.

Now, when I am faced with something that ticks me off and I’m tired… I like to finish it… I totally buckle down and push through no matter how painful the process is (or how painful my attitude is).  And Justin balanced that beautifully, because he’s a pretty positive guy… so he was our cheerleader.  And thankfully, Costello is a bit more realistic.  When it was time to break for dinner and we were completely battered and beaten… Costello looked at us and said, “Have you guys ever seen the movie ‘Brain Donors’?” 

Neither Justin nor I had seen it… BUT, stopping to watch a movie in the middle of a build went against everything I believed in and I fought the idea.  I lost… well… we compromised.  We decided to watch it while we ate dinner.

Now, Brain Donors is a totally stupid, yet hilarious movie dreamt up by the Zucker Brothers (who made Top Secret and Airplane!).  ‘Brain Donors’ was their tribute to the Marx Brothers and it stars John Turturro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Donors).  The last ten minutes of the movie is the most hilarious thing I have ever seen!

Anyway, we ended up watching the whole movie… and we just laughed and laughed.  After the day we had, we needed to laugh.   And that laugher gave us the energy to push through to the end.

By the time the movie was over it was dark outside… but that didn’t deter us.  We turned on our headlights… and mounted work lights all around Costello’s driveway… and got back to work, all the while quoting the ridiculous lines from ‘Brain Donors’… and then…  and we finished the set!  It took us until midnight… but we finished. 

Three guys, fourteen and a half hours, and a liability waiting to happen produced the entire set for ‘Go Ask Alice’. 

After that day and unbreakable bond was forged.

Day 766: The Chair, Part 22 – The ‘Go Ask Alice’ Set, Part 2

Don’t worry folks, there are only two parts to this sub-story… there is no telling how many parts there will end up being in the main story of “The Chair”… but for the ‘Go Ask Alice’ set there will be only two parts… I promise.

So, where was I?

Okay, when our Drama teacher told us it was time to clean-up and finish our build we proposed an alternative:

To transport everything we needed to build the set from the school to Costello’s driveway, which was only about a mile down the road. 

Our drama teacher thought this was a good idea and agreed...

Let me repeat: ‘Our drama teacher thought this was a good idea and agreed.’

Folks.  About eight years after this incident, I actually became a High School Drama Teacher.  THIS WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA!  The liability issues of a maneuver like this insane! 

How so?  Well, let’s break this down and discuss what she really agreed to.

1.       She agreed to let students remove school property from the school grounds UNSUPERVISED.  Building a set on the weekend at someone house is not abnormal… BUT, not having a teacher or a booster club member there to supervise IS abnormal.

2.       This property didn’t simply include lumber, hammer and nails… No!  It included POWER TOOLS (screw guns, circular saws, and even a TABLE SAW!)  Seriously… do you really think sending a table saw, owned by the school, home with a bunch of teenage boys is a good idea?

3.       She helped us load the trucks!

Seriously, folks, I’m dumbfounded by the actions my teacher took… once I became a teacher I would look back on this and cringe. 

What the heck was she thinking… oh yeah… half price margaritas at ‘On the Board’… it was a weekend lunch special.

Okay… I lied… it’s a three part story.