Yesterday we drove to the airport to pick up my sister Jan, from Chicago. En route we stopped at the Air Guard base near the airport and visited with some people at the 171st Air Refueling Wing. That's where I was as chaplain before moving to NJ. We were able to see Debbie Krall. I used to work with Debbie, as she was my admin for about 7 years. She's retired from the Air Guard, but works there now full time in the Family Services section. We were good friends and it was great seeing her again. I told her about my involvement with the Strong Bonds Seminars for the Air Guard at Willow Grove and offered my services should the need arise. She indicated she too had the training to help lead such seminars, but she didn't sense her unit had any urgency about providing the training for their troops as of yet. Later I met the commanding General Uptegraph. He remembered a time when we shared a tent together during an ORI. I mentioned the Strong Bonds Seminar to him, and he said he'd just read about the one we did at the end of May for Willow Grove. Cool.
After we left there we went to the airport, and since Jan's plane was late, we just hung out. Then I remembered that my other chaplain (Fr. Jack Fitzgerald) was the airport chaplain. Sine we were just hanging out, I got his number from the info desk and called him. He sought us out, and we had a great reunion there while waiting. I haven't seen Jack for about 13 years. He's now the head chaplain at the base. I told him and Debbie that if they needed an auxiliary chaplain some Sunday's to let me know. Great reunion times.
Jan arrived and we took her back home. Our visit was great with her. Very relaxed and upbeat. She and Dee came over to our Bogmeister practice about 8 PM. They seemed to enjoy hearing us practice as we continued getting ready for our two Friday (Noon and 5 PM) performances at the Cranberry Community Center on Community Days. Later we all sat on the deck in the dark and chatted the night away. Today, I showed her where I work at Treesdale, and Dee met Jill (Dee's cousin's daughter) who works in the pro shop.
We had a nice lunch at Costco (their hot sausage sandwiches are great! with the peppers and onions. Back at the house. we explored Jan's video cam for her computer. She uses a program (free) called skype that allows her computer to become a telephone, and with the video cam, she can see the people she's talking with. However, both computers have to have the skype program installed. We installed it on mine and now I can do that, but I don't have a video cam to see the other person, or so they can see me. Some day.
When the door bell rang, it was a florist who brought two nice arrangements. One from the congregation at Seaview, and the other from a family at Seaview (planter). Here are what we received...
Later we took Jan to Monongahela where she would spend the rest of the week with our mother. Evaluating how she's doing. While there I plugged in the downstairs tv, and showed them how to use the VHS portion of the new TV. Mom was delighted to see the videos of people doing line dancing steps. Hopefully Jan will be able to coach her on how to use the new TV and remote. Whether the coaching takes hold is another matter. A severe thunderstorm was predicted for the area, so we left and then ran into it about half way back to Mars. The trip is about 70 minutes and 60 miles one way. It was good to see mom again. My shirts were not yet altered, although she had gotten to one sleeve on one shirt. I showed them to jan, and let her know which one was to be used as a model for the other sleeves.
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