Test 2

This is my wife and beloved Melissa:


She's pretty great. And she straight-up rocks that Minnie Mouse jacket.

Today, she turns [redacted] years old. This is something of an 'ode to a happy birthday' for her.

Melissa is the yin to my yang, and nowhere is there more evidence of that than in our living under one roof. I am the laid-back type that operates under the 'take it as it comes' philosophy. But, even before the current state of things related to COVID-19, Melissa has always been the extremely cautious type. The way things are now, she's the one that wants to wipe-down anything that will be entering our house.

No joke. She has been using alcohol wipes to cleanse groceries before we put them away.

But that's okay, because she just wants to protect the ones that she loves. And she's got a lot of love to give.

It's for that reason (and so many, many more!) there is nobody on the planet that I'd rather be cooped-up with in our current coronavirus-inspired isolation. Every day brings a sunshine-filled start, a lunchtime walk with Molly Weasley, and a happy-hour that is like no other.

Happy birthday to my loving, quirky, caring, parent extraordinaire, student-centered, Disnified, and loving partner! (...and yes. "Loving" appeared twice in that list because she's got so much love to give.) When this 'keep-your-ass-away-from-everyone-who-doesn't-live-in-your-house' time ends, I vow to take you out to a lovely dinner and celebrate the annual reminder of just how awesome you are.

But for tonight, you'll have to settle for home-made lasagna and a cake that your daughter baked and decorated.

#GoTeamDolphin

This group text between Melissa, Fiona and I perfectly illustrates why I love my wife.

She helps to even me out.
She smoothes out my rough edges.
She bring balance to The Force that is my life.

This text was from this afternoon when my daughter wasn't feeling well and didn't want to take care of Molly. I (being the consummate skeptic) respond in the most 'me' way possible: "tough". Girl, you need to take care of the dog.

Melissa, on the other hand, is concerned and wants to know what is happening that Fiona doesn't feel well.

Why is she so great? Melissa is more caring and empathetic than I could ever dream to be. She balances out my cynicism with her compassion, and reminds me that sometimes the world is a bit different than I perceive it to be. She helps me to recognize that occasionally I need to give people (read: my daughter) some grace. For helping to provide that balance, I am eternally thankful.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone - but especially my "lobster" Melissa.

A peek inside of an Instant Message conversation between The Wife and I had recently:

The Wife 2:23 pm: phew The Boy got a 91.38% on his math test today

Admissions Dude 2:23 pm: NICE. Attaboy!

The Wife 2:23 pm: this access [to his academic record via an online portal] is addicting

Admissions Dude 2:23 pm: haha... *thump, thump, thump*

Admissions Dude 2:24 pm: that’s the sound of your helicopter blades

The Wife 2:24 pm: he’s 12

The Wife 2:26 pm: it’s going to go like this:

• 12 years old = helicopter,
• 13 = toy heliopter,
• 14 = paper airplane,
• 15 = occasional snowflakes,
• 16 = sprinkles, and
• 17+ = special ops helicopters that only come when called upon

Admissions Dude 2:24 pm: hahahahaha
"special ops"
BRILLIANT

The Wife 2:24 pm: well thank you

She’s awesome. And I’m not worried about helicopterizing my kids – given all of the helicopter parents that both The Wife and I have experienced in our work in higher education. We have made vows to each other that we won’t be like THAT. Hopefully.

A roundup of pictures from our AWESOME vacation. Let’s do it again next week…

But that does not mean that we McBrayers have not been busy!

Fortunately, this post comes courtesy of a healthy McBrayer family.

We trimmed our Christmas tree last night. It is always a special time for our family when we decorate.

Because of The Move, we are decorating later than usual this year. However, with the tree up and most of our boxes unpacked, our house is truly starting to feel like a home.

Now all we need is some SNOW!

We've moved. We did it.

A photo-documentary will be forthcoming, but for now let me say that it was quite an ordeal. Special thanks go to both Popeye & Mamaw McBrayer (my parents) and Grammy & Noni Angelo (Lis' parents) for helping with the move -- and with the kids. I have no idea how we would have been able to pack up a 26-foot-truck with children running around... to say nothing of unloading said truck.

Yowza.

The schedule went something like this:

Wednesday, November 26th: A surprise, one-day-earlier-than-planned visit from Popeye & Mamaw. Also, a surprise call from the U-Haul guy to invite me to pick-up our truck one day early... at no extra charge. Everything was coming up BERT! Popeye and I drove to Shamokin Dam to pick up the truck while Holden was at school and Mamaw took Fiona for a walk. Awesome.

Later that evening, Grammy arrives to spend the night as well. All seven of us dine on delicious Chinese food. Yum. We were one fortune cookie short -- so I gave mine up.

Thursday, November 27th: Happy Thanksgiving! We were all up early. The kids ate breakfast and said their goodbyes to the Browns (our neighbors). Grammy packed Holden & Fiona into her car and left around 8:30 a.m. Then I grabbed the keys to the truck.

After parking it sideways across our street (making it so that nobody could pass the beheamoth), we all started carry boxes to the truck. Thus, the long process of loading began. Around 10 a.m., Noni (Melissa's dad) arrived with his pickup truck, and some real muscle, to help load. Shortly after Noni's arrival, my brother Sean showed-up to lend a hand as well.

Packing the truck continued well into the afternoon. Finally, circa 4:00 p.m. when there were only some odds'n'ends left in the house, Melissa and I dismissed our workers to head home. She and I then spent another three hours cleaning. Vaccuuming. Scrubbing. Sweeping. Etcetera-ing. The last thing to go on the truck was our mattress.

The Wife and I finally hit the road just after 6:30 p.m. Having had no food since lunchtime, we decided that stopping in Lamar, Pennsylvania would be a good way-point for dinner. Our plans for a Dairy Queen dinner/treat were dashed upon the realization that the store was empty due to the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Fortunately for us, the TA Truckstop was open, as was the diner housed within.

Weary from our day of truck-packing, Melissa and I dined on some scrumptious truck-stop food. Melissa had an open-faced roast beef sandwich and french fries -- both drizzled with gravy. I had biscuits and sausage gravy with two eggs (over-medium) and a side of white toast.

We both got milkshakes to go.

At long last, we arrived in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania around 10:00 p.m. The first thing off of the truck was our mattress, so that we had something on which we could sleep. Unfortunately, we had no bed linens, so we simply slept on the bare mattress.

Friday, November 28th: Black Friday! No shopping for us though (not that we would have wanted to). The morning started with a cup of coffee and some Sheetz food. Our closest Sheetz store is a mere six blocks away (Melissa counted). After breakfast, we opened up the truck and went to work. With the (much appreciated) help of Melissa's cousin Benjamin Lang and our friends David and Brooke Meadows, we had the truck empty by lunchtime. Simply amaza-zing.

Added bonus: Popeye hooked-up the new gas range and the washer and dryer while we unloaded the truck.

Also keep in mind that we did not have to worry about our children at any time. Thursday night they were with Melissa's parents and all day Friday and Saturday they were with my parents. Awesome.

All day Saturday we unpacked before heading to Huntingdon for Melissa's families' Thanksgiving dinner. We repeated the process on Sunday with my family. Every chance that we have, we are unpacking boxes and hanging pictures and shelves.

On Monday (yesterday), Melissa started her first day of work at her new job. Despite being a little bit overwhelmed, she seems to have enjoyed herself. I think that she is very eager to dive-in, but first she must go through all of the rig-a-ma-role that comes with a new job (signing health insurance forms, W-4, etc.).

So, that is the long-form version of The Move. As I mentioned earlier, I will be posting pictures soon (as soon as I can find the device that uploads pictures from my camera).

Until then.