Jackie - thanks for checking up on me.

Well - the DB gathering at Virginia Beach was a blast! I was one of the first ones there - ran into some rain (at times, bad rain) on the way but got there despite making a wrong turn and nearly going through the Midtown Tunnel in Norfolk. When it was all said and done, here is the rest of the attendance list:

MAL (the hostess with the mostest ), Berto, DC Guy, BJean, Zero12, Acorn, Dagny, Nikatnight, MarchHare72, SteveO, EvansMom, Jorge, AlmostGone, Leenie and RJJ.

Positives from the trip:

* Both nights I drank entirely too much wine.
* But I found out that you can drink wine and do tequila shots without harming yourself too badly!
* Berto is an awesome chef. The feast we had Saturday night (BBQ pork, tuna seviche, crayfish, crabs, green beans, corn on the cob, sauteed s, tomatoes with garlic) was to die for. And the fringe benefits of being the chef are not too shabby - are they, Berto?
* Listening to everyone there just reinforced in my mind that I am still very much a work in progress. I could see parts of myself in a number of those stories - noncommunicator, etc. Believe me, it's good to see that I have made some progress but I still have a very long way to go...
* I did wear my loud Hawaiian shirt on Saturday. It was one that my mother made for dad a very long time ago. Mom made a matching one for her and she eventually gave both shirts to W and me. If things do go badly for me, I'll make sure that I claim the other shirt - someone's already interested in it...
* Only called W once on Friday night to let her know that I got there safely - talked very briefly with her before I talked to the kids. When W went on her weekend junket to DC last month, she only called once herself.

When I arrived back on Sunday, W and the kids were walking back from a nearby pond with the dog. The dog was very muddy so we took her into the backyard to rinse her off. The kids were very curious about where I went and I talked with them a lot - W's attitude conveyed that she didn't care a bit. She was not at all hostile - just very indifferent. The evening was a very quiet one as well - W did some work on the computer that she brought home with her while I fixed dinner and got the kids to take their baths.

So things are getting back to what passes for normal back in the BobCave. Got my weekly grocery trip knocked out this morning and attended a job fair earlier in the afternoon. There are two more job fairs on Wednesday that I'll likely attend as well - maybe I'll get something positive from one of those.

Bob