Plane Talk

Posted on June 7, 2016 by renbog

I am writing this hoping that someone in the know can address it and set me straight.

There was a piece on the news last week about an uptick in complaints about jet noise from people who live near O’Hare airport. One of the explanations for the increase was that there is an increase in use of the airport’s newest southern runway based on changing wind directions.

Maybe I am an idiot (all right, not maybe, I admit it, I am just an idiot), but how can you complain about jet noise when you live near an airport? It would seem to me that the people who have a right to complain are the ones who lived near O’Hare before it was built, but if you moved into a community near O’Hare after it was built, how could you think that you wouldn’t have jet noise living near what is sometimes the world’s busiest airport?

But even more confounding than complaining about the jet noise is what people want to be done about it. I imagine a call going like this:

Complainer: There is way too much jet noise over my house which is apparently in an approach path for O’Hare!

Complaint Taker: Okay, we will talk to the pilots about that.

OR

We will work on getting mufflers on the planes.

OR

Okay, we will make the planes stop flying over your house.

OR

We will just close the airport.

What exactly is the end game in complaining about the jet noise? What do people want done about it? Or do they just want to complain? I imagine that it is that they just want to complain. People will complain about the dumbest things. One woman I know who lives kind of out in the country is friends with someone who lives near her who has cows. She told me that her friend actually fields complaints from people who get upset about the cows mooing too much. How does one complain about that with a straight face? “Listen, I was up before 6 this morning because your cows woke me up. They’re just mooing so much. They really shouldn’t be mooing that early in the morning. Can’t you get them to stop mooing? Or at least stop mooing so loudly?”

Planes. Cows. Complainers. The world is full of them.

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A Dream Realized

Posted on May 5, 2016 by renbog

I didn’t love my daughter right away. I was in labor with her for 24 hours and then ended up with a C-section. I remember the first time I laid eyes on her. I thought, “What a cute baby!” And when I held her the first time, I thought, “What a cute baby!” But that’s all she was — a cute baby. But I do know the exact moment I fell in love with her. She was born on a Friday morning. She was a little jaundiced. She needed to spend some time under the bili-lights. She needed heel sticks to test her blood. Actually pretty routine stuff. Saturday evening, as my husband was helping me walk around, we walked to the nursery window. I saw Becky in the little bed she was in, kind of tucked away in the back of the nursery. A nurse was by her, writing things down. I saw the nurse unwrap Becky’s blanket and proceed to do a heel stick to draw some blood. I could see Becky was crying and I could her crying faintly through the glass of the nursery. I was suddenly gripped with a feeling that included panic, terror, anger, rage, and desperation. It was that moment I was seized with this all-encompassing, powerful love for my daughter. I looked at my husband with tears falling down my face and said in a panicked voice, “They’re hurting my baby. Get me back to my room and get my baby for me.” He helped me shuffle as fast as I could back to my room and I sat there desperately waiting for the nurse to bring in my baby. The sense of calm and peace that washed over me when she was put in my arms was like no other feeling I have ever had. I inspected every single one of her fingers and toes, touched every inch of her skin, kissed every part of her face, and held her tightly to me chest. My God, how I loved that little baby.

As I spent time taking care of my new little girl, I started to spin dreams out of my head. I began to think about all the things she would do in life. And each time one of my little fantasies actually materialized, it felt like there was a little piece of magic happening in my front of my eyes. Getting a first tooth, and losing a first tooth. Walking and talking. Saying “mommy.” Riding a bike. Starting preschool. Starting kindergarten. Going to prom. Graduating from junior high. Graduating from high school. All dreams I had for my child. All dreams I have been fortunate enough to see come to fruition. Because I know how unbelievably fortunate I am to have those experiences. There are too many moms I know who won’t ever have them.

But I still have dreams. Her first job. What will it be? Where will it be? Her wedding. Who will she marry? What kind of dress will she get? Who will she have in her wedding? Will she ever have kids? Where will she live? What kind of house will she live in? Will she be happy? Will she be content? Will she be comfortable? I dream about those things. I see them in my mind’s eye, but not with clarity. Because the future is ever-changing and not certain.

But there’s one dream I’ve had for many years that is finally coming into clarity. This weekend, my beautiful, smart, sensitive, kind, generous, thoughtful, funny baby girl will graduate from college. Maybe some people don’t think that’s anything to gush like this about. After all, a college degree isn’t anything all that special anymore, right? I’ve seen enough comments in the media about how having a college degree is cheapened by the fact that so many people have them. But that’s not how I see a college degree. What I see is will and determination and fear and excitement and stress and effort and sweat and tears and dedication and perseverance — years of it — finally getting a payoff. I see a goal achieved — a goal that I know Becky did not think she would get to even attempt much less achieve. I still remember when she heard from one of the two colleges she applied to. An admissions officer from Lewis University called her and told her she had been accepted there. I have never seen such a look of shock and ecstasy on her face before — she believed she wasn’t smart enough or good enough to go to college. And she just got into a good one. And then when she was accepted into Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, she had that look again. Because now she had been accepted to another college — both colleges she applied to, and her first choice school.

Less than 48 hours from now, I get to see my daughter walk across a stage and get her bachelor’s degree. That walk across the stage is emblematic of the journey my precious baby girl has taken to get to that moment in her life. She has walked through life with so many people’s eyes on her, watching what she is doing and going to do. And Saturday, she is going to graduate.

A dream realized.

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The Meaning of a Life

Posted on April 25, 2016 by renbog

Since Prince’s death last week, I’ve seen many, many posts on social media lamenting his loss. I’m right there with everyone doing that; I fell in love with Prince and his music from the first time I encountered him. But since the day he died, I’ve also seen some posts diminishing the impact of his death. Posts about nobody publicly mourning the loss of lives in the Middle East, to murder, to suicide, to cancer, implying that we humans don’t know which lives lost are really worth mourning. I can’t help but wonder why anyone thinks that mourning Prince means the lives of other people don’t have meaning. Sadly, ordinary people who lived extraordinary lives die every day without receiving the recognition they deserved. They are heroes to people that we don’t even know. The world is a little less beautiful with those people gone. But the fact that people publicly mourn the loss of a celebrity doesn’t mean all those other people don’t matter. Many say that Prince did nothing but record songs, promote unhealthy sexual images, and live a life of excess because of all the money he made. They forget that Prince was an artist. He broke boundaries. He encouraged individuality. He modeled what it was like to follow your heart and do what you loved. He was a writer, an dancer, and a musician. He sought out new talent to promote. He inspired artists that we probably don’t even know about. Just because his music or the way he promoted himself doesn’t appeal to you doesn’t mean he was meaningless. Just because he was rich and famous also doesn’t mean other people’s lives were meaningless, either. It is unnecessary and just disgusting to have to diminish one human’s life to make another “have meaning”. Mourn the people you will miss. Mourn the people who made your life rich but are now gone. But don’t try to imply that I don’t know the right people to mourn for.

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Blogging A to Z — Nebraska

Posted on April 25, 2016 by renbog

NI used to live in Nebraska. That sounds about as exciting as living in Iowa or Kansas, In know. But it’s not as bad as you might think. Most people think of Nebraska as flat and only full of corn. And that’s not far off. There are for sure a lot of corn fields. But where I lived — Omaha — isn’t flat at all. It’s actually quite hilly and has some nice features. For instance, the Henry Doorly Zoo is fabulous. It’s really quite pretty to walk through. There is also Offut Air Force Base near Omaha. Visiting there caused me to dream of flying jets in the military! Another thing that, for me, was notable about Omaha/Nebraska was tornadoes. There sure seemed to be a lot of them there! The most memorable for me was the one that hit Omaha on May 6, 1975. I’m not sure I’d like to live in Omaha ever again, but it might be nice to go back to visit and see all the things I remember from my childhood.

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Blogging A to Z — Mumbai

Posted on April 19, 2016 by renbog

MBoy, do I feel some pressure writing this post! A friend I made on my first trip to Dubai (that’s you, Jean!) is a blogger and a writer and adores Mumbai! So I offer a disclaimer right now that I don’t write like Jean ❤

My dad has been living and working in Mumbai, India, for the past few years, and I have been ever so fortunate to get to visit him there twice, most recently last summer. I’m not going to lie — I really love Mumbai!

I love the alive feel of it. There are so many people and there is always so much activity — the city is alive at all times of the day and night. I love waking up in the middle of the night and hearing the car horns. I even got to where I loved the traffic — because sitting in traffic affords the opportunity to look around at everything, and there is just so much to see!

There is beauty and sadness in Mumbai. You can look at the city and see all the stray dogs and all the poverty and all the poor people on the streets and all the dirt and garbage and think there can’t be beauty. But you would be so wrong. Because there are colors, colors everywhere! The buildings, the trucks, the clothes, the faces of the people.

Being in Mumbai made me feel alive and vibrant. Maybe that is what it is like to live in a big city. I loved being surrounded by people and activity and life all the time. I thought visiting Mumbai would be a once in a lifetime opportunity, but I was lucky enough to be able to be there twice.

Enjoy some of the pictures I took!

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Dhobi Ghat

The craziness of how these guys are riding notwithstanding, I was struck by the colors of their clothes. In the US, neither men nor women would wear such bright combinations of colors, but it is a common sight in India, which I loved!

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Cows are everywhere!

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Gateway of India

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An all too common sight in Mumbai — a homeless dog.

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Blogging A to Z — Las Vegas

Posted on April 19, 2016 by renbog

LIn at least one of my other A to Z posts, I mentioned my road trip to California and back with my best friend and our daughters. One of the places we went on that road trip was Las Vegas. Our husbands flew out there to meet us. If I’m being totally honest, Las Vegas didn’t do much for me. And I don’t think it had much to do with being in Vegas with kids. I just think Vegas isn’t my kind of place.

Our original plan was to do the tourist-y stuff during the day then let the girls relax and swim at night when the adults would come out in drunken droves. That plan got thwarted immediately when we discovered that the pool at the hotel we stayed at (Excalibur) closed at 5:00. Not happy. So off we went in the night time with kids in Las Vegas.

I found Vegas to be not a lot of fun. It was too crowded and too hard to get around. There was way too much traffic flow into casinos when all I wanted to do was walk. But simply walking down the street is difficult. Also, things are pretty spread out. We tried using a cab for a while, but that was bad, too, because there was so much traffic, it took forever to get anywhere.

We did take the girls to Fremont Street, which was cool. But the coolness factor doesn’t last for hours. We also took the girls to the pirate show outside Treasure Island, but it was a teensy bit risque for our girls who were still in grade school/junior high. We also took them to fountains at the Bellagio which was really cool! (At least it was until last summer when I was in Dubai and saw the fountains outside the Burj Khalifa. But more on that in another blog post!)

The girls definitely loved the M & M Store, and we adults found Hoover Dam interesting (but the girls were sure we were killing them with boredom). We didn’t really gamble much. Truth told, I’m not a huge gambler anyway. I enjoy roulette, but when I did this Vegas trip, I didn’t know how to play roulette then.

Maybe I’d enjoy Vegas more without kids, but I just didn’t see much there that I thought was all that great. Time will tell if I ever get back there.

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Blogging A to Z — Falling Behind

Posted on April 17, 2016 by renbog

I had a really busy week and fell one day behind. This has turned into more than one day behind now because of some emergencies that have occurred. I plan to finish the challenge, but I’m not sure I will do it on schedule. I hope to finish by the end of April, but I may have to use Sundays and double up on some days. To those of you who have been reading my blog posts, please hang in there! I’ll be back to it soon. Thanks for understanding.

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Blogging A to Z — Key West

Posted on April 15, 2016 by renbog

KAnother day in the Blogging A to Z Challenge, another day I’m behind! Ahhh, I’ll get caught up this weekend 🙂

Letter K brings me to one of my favorite places to visit — Key West. My first trip there was filled with all the typical tourist events, including the southermost point, the butterfly conservatory, Hemingway’s House, the lighthouse, Margaritaville, Sloppy Joe’s, sunset festival, a ride on the conch train, and key lime pie on a stick. And if you’ve never been to Key West, you should probably hit up every one of those places and do every one of those things. They’re fun!

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A famous Key West sunset.

But I’ve been there enough now that I’m starting to learn about some of the less tourist-y places. Still popular and attractive to tourists, but not necessarily on the tourist-y map. Things like grabbing a mojito at the Rum Bar at Speakeasy Inn on Duval; breakfast at my very favorite restaurant in the whole world, Blue Heaven (get the cheese omelette with Key West pink shrimp and lime hollandaise sauce and a slice of homemade banana bread — screw the calories, fat, and cholesterol, trust me); a dozen oysters to slurp at Half Shell Raw Bar; drinks with a view that is second to none at Waterfront Brewery; and the only peel and eat shrimp I’ll eat accompanied by a frozen rum runner and some terrific music at Schooner Wharf. And for a little adult raucousness, maybe an uproarious and entertaining evening at Aqua 🙂 Top it off with a nightcap and some bathroom graffiti at Captain Tony’s (#ManUpLarry).

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Enjoying a drink with the hubs, watching the sunset.

There is something for everyone in Key West. Do you want to relax poolside or on the beach? Or do you want to be active — biking, kayaking, diving? Or do you want to eat healthy — fresh seafood and tropical fruit? Or do you want to indulge in frozen drinks and friend conch fritters? How about some great people watching? You can have all of this in Key West.

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My very favorite restaurant in the whole entire world! It’s like someone just decided to open a restaurant on their backyard!

Just don’t forget the 2 A.M. fried chicken run at Dion’s!

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One of my other favorite things to see in Key West — there are kitty cats everywhere!

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One of my favorite things to see in Key West — chickens are everywhere!

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Blogging A to Z — Jersey

Posted on April 13, 2016 by renbog

JIf you have ever participated in the Blogging A to Z Challenge, then you know that there is always at least one Achille’s Heel in your alphabet — at least one letter that gives you fits when it comes to choosing a topic. Well, welcome to my Achille’s Heel. Today’s post about New Jersey is quite a stretch.

Right out of high school, I got engaged and moved to Philadelphia to be with my fiance. Not really surprisingly, within months of my arrival, he began cheating on me and six months later I was back home in Illinois. But in the six months I spent out east, I had some fun. I got to see Philadelphia and feel the history all around me there. But I also got to have some fun driving across the Ben Franklin, Betsy Ross, and Tacony-Palmyra Bridges between Philadelphia and New Jersey!

The first time I ever encountered a traffic circle (or a roundabout or whatever other regional name you use) was in New Jersey. I found the traffic circles to be really confusing and, frankly, dangerous. I can remember being in the car with my friends Lauren and Ann, driving through a circle, and being in a cold panic. But I got used to it.

My fiance’s parents had a house in Manahawkin, which is not far from Atlantic City. It was a neat place to visit. The house was right on a lagoon that was fed from the Atlantic. We used to go out on the deck and drop crab traps. This was the first time I ever saw a real live crab. I loved the way they walked sideways! They had a balcony off the front of the house as well, and we would often go out there with a telescope during the day and look out on the wildlife sanctuary and watch birds, and at night we would use the telescope to look at Atlantic City. I was mesmerized by the array of glittering lights. I remember going to Atlantic City and waling along the boardwalk. I had never seen a boardwalk before, so I thought it was actually pretty cool. After all, I was literally walking the Monopoly board!

I don’t know if I have any really impressive memories of New Jersey, and I don’t know if I have a hankering to go back there any time, but I did enjoy the trips I took to Jersey all those years ago.

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Blogging A to Z — Indianapolis 500

Posted on April 11, 2016 by renbog

ILast year, my husband and I joined our friends Larry and Cathy at the Indianapolis 500. Larry and Cathy have been going for many years and Jim and I have always thought it would be fun. Listening to Larry and Cathy talk about it just cemented our belief that this was something that we HAD to do! And it didn’t disappoint!

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Drivers getting in their cars.

I am so very grateful we went for the first time with experienced Indy 500 attendees. You simply can’t prepare yourself for the number of people who are there. I have never seen so many people in one place at one time. We parked in someone’s lawn and walked probably a mile to the race track. The whole walk there was wall to wall people. Now, this might sound ridiculous — parking so far away and walking — but it is a stroke of genius because the gridlock from the traffic is simply unreal. Seriously, such a smart move to park far away and walk! So wear comfortable shoes!

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Before the race.

I was blown away by the sheer size of the race track. I mean, you can’t even see to the other side of the track! And when you look down the grandstand, it simply boggles the mind how many people are there. The place is massive! But the really cool thing about being there with so many people is the buzz in the air. You can literally feel the excitement all around you.

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My husband and I (with an appearance by Larry is the background) on the track at Indy.

I was even more astounded when Larry said we could actually go out onto the race track itself. There is something so cool about standing where these cars are going to be racing, and again, looking all around you and up at the grandstand trying to wrap your brain around the size and number of people continues to be mesmerizing.

Once the race started, the boggling of my brain continued. I was in awe of the speed of the cars. Last summer, after the Indy 500, my husband and I went to a NASCAR race and I was chuckling to myself over how slow those cars looked compared to the Indy cars! I was also unprepared for how LOUD they were! I was extremely grateful for the tip Larry and Cathy gave us about earplugs. I seriously don’t know how anyone could watch that entire race without them.

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Pitting.

The whole day at the Indy 500 was such a fun, memorable experience. Jim and I are really looking forward to joining Larry and Cathy again this year and hopefully for many more to come!

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