The Jackson Family Online

Happy Weekend! This is our big contest weekend for my two honor groups and Lauren and Lydia doing solos. So…tomorrow bright and early we’ll be up at the school to catch the bus to go to contest. Even earlier than a normal school day…ugh! Good thing I’m a morning person! At this point we’ve prepared as best as we can…I hope it all comes together for the kids…I always hate it when they practice hard and then go in and make some simple mistake and get marked down. Clearly it’s also a reflection on me…or at least that seems to be the general line of thought for music teachers. I try not to focus on that part of the equation too much…I know I’ll be fine whatever happens.

Tonight was a trip to Best Buy and we had a great surprise before we got there…we went to Red Robin and ran into Scot and Hillary Stanifer…haven’t seen them in a year and half, since we left The Bridge. Seemed like such a God thing, was great to give them all hugs and catch up a little on life. I did go ahead and get a netbook tonight…I had debated about it…I kind of hate to buy technology because of how inept I am. But I listened to what I think was good advice at Best Buy on a couple of occasions and went for it. So…tomorrow I will pick up my virus clean computer for home and my netbook…woohoo…I’ll go from limited access to great access…at least that’s the plan. I also thought the netbook thing would work out well for traveling…and it gives me more opportunity to have it on me to be able to write at a moments’ notice…seemed important:). Plus watching movies on the plane is a plus:).

Ok here’s my panic moment for the day…I checked my email, our plane tickets for Europe were purchased online…something I do most of the time when going somewhere…sometimes times get adjusted a little but it’s never been a huge deal. However today…I had a surprise when I realized that my plane that had been routed through Zurich to get to Budapest and back is now routed through Milan. This wouldn’t be a complication except that I was planning for us to catch the connecting flight in Zurich to come home rather than go to Budapest to fly home. So…I had reserved hotel rooms in Zurich through Priceline…thinking I was all set. Now I realize…I’m not…who knew they could change it that drastically…I mean the end and start location are the same…but Zurich and Milan are two totally different countries…So…I guess we’ll throw in a little side trip to Milan now to catch our airplane home. Makes me wonder…how many more changes might occur before July. It was just another moment when I thought…holy cow…what have I gotten myself into?? Lydia and I talked about it over lunch today…and who knows…obviously God knows all about it and for whatever reason that’s the flight we’re supposed to be on. Who knows what we might be skirting around without even realizing it. I’ll just have to trust God…and make arrangements to get to Milan.

One of the great conundrums in life is always the issue of when to buy the back up insurance or not to…I mean when I travel often it’s all nonrefundable but a great price…seems like a great thing…but what happens when plans change…and tonight on the netbook I stood there and had to debate about the coverage in case anything happens to it. I think I’ve probably just guaranteed that nothing will happen because I bought the coverage. If I hadn’t then guaranteed something would’ve happened and I would’ve been upset with myself. It’s kind of like the whole umbrella thing…if you have one it won’t rain…don’t have it…guaranteed it will.

Anyway…I hope you have a great weekend…I can tell we’re going to need naps tomorrow…
Love,
Ruth