N as in "knife"

It all started Thursday July 28th, 2011. I went to service in the morning as usual, went to my last day of work for summer school and hung out afterwards with friends from work. I ate some food, I picked up my brother and then went to check out some clothing/shoes in Wicker Park. I get home around 4 and I was about to get prepped for my nap (haha) and then my sister calls. I was just expecting a question about our Mom’s birthday, but instead I get “my water broke and I need you to bring me to the hospital.” Mind you no exclamation point, she was totally calm, haha. So, I snap out of my sleepy state, throw some clothes on and install the child seat to my car because I needed to pick up my niece and drop her off at home as well.

I was more nervous than she was, which is expected. This is her second tour, so she’s pretty much a veteran. I picked her up some fast food then we were on the way to the hospital. Traffic sucked and I tried my hardest to avoid any major pot hole. We safely arrived to the hospital and then the waiting game started. Thankfully the hospital had great wifi. So to fill the time I had some sweet conversations via FB chat! Y’all know who you are! My sister’s husband and the rest of my family came near 11pm. At that time I ran to the cafeteria to get some food then drove home….in the storm.

Friday, July 29
While I was asleep my new niece, Catherine, was born 3am. Which is fun because my mom and her share a birthday! Next years celebration will no doubt be over the top.

I woke up at 8am to do a birthday pickup for my mom. I headed back downtown to pickup some Sprinkles cupcakes! Alongside the tasty treats we also picked up a gift card for my mom from Nordstrom.

The family relaxed for a little while, Maddie slept over and we eventually got ready to visit Christine and her new baby. I only stayed at the hospital for a little while then headed over to meet up my friends.  From the text I thought it was going to be a simple BBQ, play video game and chill type party. Boy, was I mistaken. It ended up being a get rich quick scheme. The video they played and the way they explained it didn’t even try to mask it was a pyramid scheme. To say the least I was very disappointed in what I was tricked into.

I escaped after the 1st 1/2 of the presentation to grill the food in the back. I also had to pick up a friend who needed help driving his car back to the place. He left previously to pick up some items for the party. Well, it was my reintroduction to manual transmission. It was a long ride back, haha, but we made it back safely. We went to another house near midnight to play the games we were supposed to originally. I made it home around 4am.

Saturday
All I was looking forward to was the MABC8! Before hand I met up my friends Doug and Renee for some Five Guys burgers. Then we chilled out before the crawl and were on our way. This was my 1st time starting from the beginning with everyone. This year was 80’s themed and it was a blast. They had sweet shirts resembling MTV shirts from that time period. I didn’t get a shirt so I decided to dress up Miami Vice Style. Don Johnson would be proud, haha. The Crawl was successful! I didn’t make it to the end, maybe next time.

Sunday
Got ready for service as usual. Before leaving I saw my oldest dog Chloe just hanging out near the porch. I tried calling her in, but as she attempted to I saw her stumble. I picked her up and brought her in the house then ran to church. Well, after a weekend of fun and games something real hit. When I got home from church Chloe passed away. I tried my hardest not to let any emotions come through, but once my sister came home to say her final goodbye I just broke down. We had Chloe for 10 years and I would of never expected any of this to come all of a sudden. I called up any animal hospitals in the area because I had no idea what to do with my dog’s body. Luckily I found one not too far from the house. It was surreal carrying her to my car in this state. Usually when I brought her out it would be to the park, to the groomer or the vet. It was heart wrenching having to do this. At the Vet’s office we went over the procedures. We had Chloe cremated and we even got her footprint on a clay piece. Her paw print and her urn will be the last two things we’ll see of her. RIP!

Afterwards I was kind of a mess. I didn’t want to be home so thankfully my friend from Indiana texted me. We decided to hangout which was a nice escape. We watched Cowboys VS Aliens and tried out some Indian food! I’m grateful she got a hold of me or else I wouldn’t of know what to do that day. That was the end to my weekend. Roller coaster of emotions and a variety of events.