Tumbling to Point Pleasant

I slept fine until midnight or 1am. By then I was crowded off the bed both by the pug at my back and Bella at my feet. I couldn’t get comfortable no matter what I did. I upped and headed for the sofa in the family room. That was fine for about an hour but still too uncomfortable. I decided to give the spare room a try having never slept in that bed before. I worried that Mindy would wake, find me there and give me holy heck. I fell asleep but woke at least 4 or 5 times needing to pee. I was having bad dreams too. I never really got the deep sleep my body craved.

Come 7am I headed into our room to brush my teeth and gather my running clothes then slipped off downstairs where after starting a pot of coffee I took to the internet. There I stayed and played until roughly 8am when I woke Mindy with a hot cup of coffee. Shortly after waking Mindy I headed off on my run. It was cloudy and cool – only in the low 40s under mostly cloudy skies. I ran the usual weekend three mile track with no problems.

Mindy was still getting ready when I returned from my run. I poured another cup of coffee then gathered the things I wanted to be sure and take along on our trip. Those items included my camera, book, iTouch and phone. Headed up for a shower around 910am.

It didn’t take me long to get ready. I was back downstairs by 930am. Mindy had a small cooler packed with drinks and a small paper bag with snacks. I programmed the Point Pleasant High School address into my Google navigation program to make sure it knew the way. It did. I was hungry and needed to eat something before we left. My appetite still out of whack, I ended up opting for a turkey and cheese sandwich with mustard. I didn’t want anything too heavy. I chased it down with Gatorade, which is something else I’ve been craving since becoming ill.

Mindy had been texting with Lindsey since Friday about coming over to do her laundry while we were away. We figured that would work best for everybody and give us a quiet Sunday, which is something we haven’t had in a long, long time. I was sitting in the car ready to go at 10am. Mindy and Bella were dragging behind. Not sure what they were doing in there. We hit the road around 1007am. Bella was expected to be there by 1230pm and the navi program said it would take 2.25 hours.

We took I-270 to route 23 south to Chillicothe then 35 east for about 60 miles across the river and into Point Pleasant, WV. Once across the river it was only five miles up the road. We arrived at school at 1220pm. There was a lot going on, including soccer matches, a wrestling tournament, and of course, a gymnastics meet. Mindy and I had to pay $5 each to enter. What a scam!

This isn’t nice but it’s very true. Lots of over weight parents and kids at these events and all of them carrying around bags of snacks. Seems they’re more interested in eating that the competition. Today’s meet was efficiently organized for Bella. All three of her events were scheduled within 90 minutes of one another, her first starting at 1pm and the last at 230pm. Warm-ups for the first event started soon after we got situated, the floor exercise.

There’s a formula there expected to follow and the instructors teach to the faults that the judges are looking for. Bella being a beginner, the exercises are somewhat run of the mills – tumbles. She was supposed to do five in succession but did only four in both passes that counted. Here scores reflected it, too. She came crying to Mindy after the fact.
Mindy did her best to calm her. Next up was the trampoline where she typically excels. Her warm-ups were spot on. I thought she’d nail it. But when it counted she didn’t quite nail her routine as she has past events. One again, the judges deducted lots of points for technical mishaps, and rightfully so.

Meanwhile, I was crazy tired. My head was fuzzy, but there wasn’t anyway to sneak a quick wink sitting in the uncomfortable gymnasium bleachers. I simply had to endure. Tim went pretty quick. Soon it was 230pm and time for Bella’s third and final event, the double-mini tramp. Past events, this is the one she’s struggled with the most. But this time she nailed it and all of her scores showed it. Her first pass netted all 9s, which is fantastic.

Excited that she was done, all we needed to do was head to the hallway for awards. That took seemingly forever, at least 30 minutes. So tired then that I decided to sit on the hallway floor. I almost fell asleep. I envisioned Mindy driving us home and me sleeping the entire way, but that’s not how it worked out. Once to the car I got a brief 2nd wind.

Bella placed 3rd, 4th & 4th. She started cry as soon as we got on the road. Her logic was that she didn’t have anyone besides Mindy and I there to route for her. I asked if a stop at Wendy’s would make her feel better. Yes. We pulled in and ordered chicken nuggets and fries form the drive-thru. That did the trick.

Probably 20-30 miles into the trip home Bella fell asleep. I’m thinking she slept for nearly and hour. It remained cloudy all day long and the temperature never got warmer than 55 degrees. As we neared home the temperature dropped a few more degrees. Mindy & I both agreed that at least we didn’t miss out on a 75 degree sunny day. Bella called her dad as we passed through Circleville to make arrangements for him to meet us at home. Mindy recommended 530-6pm. I expected to arrive home sometime after 5pm.

Arrived home around 510pm. Bottom line, we spent 4.5 hours on the road and 2.5 hours there. I am really surprised that I was able to drive both to and fro. As soon as we were home I made a half a tuna sandwich then went straight up to bed where I planned to take a long, healthy nap.

I leaped into bed then turned on the TV. I switched back and forth between LPGA golf and the NatGeo channel until I fell asleep. I slept hard but not longer than 20 minutes tops. I heard Jimaken & Jacob arrive to pick-up Bella. It had to be near 6pm when they left. Mindy eventually made her way upstairs to ready for dinner out after confirming that I still wanted to go. Yes. We planned on dining at CBC and I was much looking forward to it.

It was 645pm by the time we both were ready and heading out the door. Arrived near 7pm. I dropped Mindy at the door then went for one of the few remaining parking spots. Mindy had our favorite corner. I promptly ordered a Bodhi while Mindy ordered a glass of red wine. We chatted with a few of the CBC peeps then ordered some bread before deciding on food. We asked if we could have some of their yummy risotto we both like so much. It’s not on the menu but after asking the chef, he agreed to make it for us.
As we yum-yumming over the risotto another couple sat down next to us, Jaymie and Brandi from Pittsburgh. We struck up conversation with the two of them for the remainder of the night.

They are engaged to be married on the 21st of April. Between them they have four kids – three are hers, and one his from previous marriages. They were in town for a cheerleading meet at the Ohio Convention center with the 11 year old daughter. We talked about parenting and the teenage years Jaymie had us in stitches two or three times. They were fun. Mindy & Brandi exchanged contact info before they headed back to their hotel.

Mindy and I ordered the barrel cut sirloin dinner entrée and shared it. Since being ill, I’ve been craving red meat something fierce. The steak was absolutely delicious. I drank a third Bodhi with dinner but then switched to water. Mindy needed/wanted me to drive after having three glasses of wine. Our tab wasn’t nearly what we expected. Unbeknown to us, Jaymie and Brandi picked up a round of our drinks. We left a nice tip.

The Buckeyes Final Four game started at 9pm and while we weren’t watching closely by any stretch, we saw enough early on to know that they were ahead when we left for home. We didn’t catch anymore of the game from home. Instead, we headed directly to bed.