[DrDolphin]

Day 1 - Thursday, Oct 9, 2003

I spent most (if not all of today) trying to get my desk cleaned off and things settled in the office so folks could deal with my absence (or at least I hope cold deal). I had agreed to take my Blackberry with me on Friday to read some emails and only respond to the real pressing ones (Ok – so I a real fool). Before Cheryl arrived, I planned to walk the Home Depot Corporate Challenge 5k with a group of co-workers. The race started at 6:30pm, across the river from our offices. Being that it is a 5k (3.1 miles for the non-runners) – and my back is still hurt from the car accident and I would we walking the race, I knew it would take me about 45 minutes.

I walked the race, and then “raced” home to take a shower and change clothes in preparation of a dash to the airport to get Cheryl. I checked on her flights from Baltimore a couple of times and everything looked well. I also worked on continuing to pack for the trip. I had been packing for a week – stuff into the suitcase, then out of the suitcase… I checked the weather on the Internet and finally sat down to watch CSI and Without a Trace to wait till 10:45 or so, since it can take an hour (or better) to get to the airport in Jacksonville (absolute north) from my side of town (way down south).

Well – the best laid plans (theme of the trip) being what they are – I fell asleep on the couch!!! I woke up at 11:12pm!!! So I literally grabbed my purse and car keys and jumped in the car… Ok – here is where discussions with God began – let her flight be 20 minutes late… Let the luggage take longer to get off the plane than usual (ok remember here – the flight lands at 11:40pm in JACKSONVILLE – this means it is likely the ONLY flight landing at 11:40pm... luggage thing should not be an issue….

I get to the airport at 11:50… And circle the arrival area twice without seeing Cheryl. She had tried to call me from Atlanta on her cell phone and I missed the call (didn’t dash into the bedroom fast enough) and then she turned her phone off – so I was never able to get in touch with her before she landed to discuss a pick up location. We had originally said I would pick her up outside baggage claim… so… After 2 attempts, I parked the car and walked to baggage claim. Before I got to the door – I found her, getting ready to call me on my cell phone. So we walked back to the car and headed to the house. Remember that it is now midnight, and we have a 40-plus minute drive to my house… with plans to be up at 6am for a no later than 7am departure planned for our little excursion in the morning. This will set the tone for our day…

After arriving at my house and getting settled… neither one of us is tired. We both were excited and wound up about the trip and ended up watching the Food Network channels’ “Unwrapped” episode on Walt Disney World dining…. Then we tried to go to sleep. It must have been sometime between 1:30am and 2:00am…..