We survived our second week in New Jersey. Except we weren’t in New Jersey the whole time.

Monday when David came home from work, he said, “I put in a request to go to a training conference in Virginia. It’s Wednesday through Friday. They’ll never approve it on such short notice.”

Tuesday afternoon, David calls me and says, “Pack my bag. I’m leaving in three hours.”

Seeing as we live so close to such a rough part of town, and I don’t know a single person here in New Jersey, I didn’t feel comfortable staying by myself for three days.

I tried to fly home to Dallas. I learned that flying with a pet is very difficult. It cannot be done on short notice. Henry would have to have seen a vet within 10 days of flying, and it seems that most flights (and all of the flights available to me) don’t even accept carriers over 28 inches long. Henry needs a carrier between 42-48 inches long. So I couldn’t take him with me.

When we were sneaking Henry into the hotel, I had tried to board him at Petsmart. We then discovered that our vet in Dallas didn’t tell us that Henry was way overdue for a Bordatella shot. Petsmart suggested a vet that also boards dogs. I called them, and they said that Henry would need to get the Bordatella shot two weeks before being boarded. So I couldn’t board Henry here and fly home.

I ended up driving to Virginia with Henry. David left on such short notice that he was making his own travel arrangements anyway, so we were able to stay in a pet friendly hotel.

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen me complaining about a domestic disturbance our neighbors were having. It was neighbors at our hotel. This lady was screaming obscenities and kicking her husband (or perhaps boyfriend) out because she missed her hair appointment. This was happening while I was in the hotel by myself and David was at the conference. So much for staying in a safer place. After twenty minutes, the guy left.

Later that afternoon he came back and the screaming started again. I called the front desk to report the disturbance and was told, “Oh, room 207? That’s a nice lady. She’s just arguing with her husband. They won’t bother you. Oh, and I’m not going to charge you the pet fees. I didn’t see your dog. It’s okay.”

Wow. Basically, they just didn’t want me to call the cops. I would have, had the fighting next door not stopped while I was on the phone with the front desk. It made me so mad. I mean, what if that fight had escalated? It was pretty bad. The man could have come back with a weapon to kill that crazy lady. I was trying to be a responsible citizen.

Anyway, David loved his training. He was very happy the company sent him. I got a good bit of reading done in the hotel. Virginia was very pretty. The weather was great, and we went to Bull Run one night. David and I had a really nice time on the drive back. We got in a lot of talking, and we had our Garmin, so we weren’t stressing about getting lost.

David is very happy in his new job. We should be finished unpacking this week, barring any unforeseen trips.

David’s arthritis has remained remarkably stable, praise God. After the crazy week we had, he wasn’t up to visiting church this Sunday. We were so looking forward to worshiping with other believers and meeting new friends, but we’ll just have to wait until next week.

The only major concern I have right now about David is his diet. David can’t have gluten, and he’s had gluten at least twice now while eating lunch with co-workers. Many people have dietary restrictions. What’s the big deal in saying, “I can’t eat pizza. I’ll just order something else.”

As for me, the appliance I wear at night for my TMJ Disorder is not right. I need to see my specialist back in Dallas for an adjustment, but that’s probably not going to happen any time soon. I’ve had a lot more jaw pain this week, and even some headaches. My gums are bleeding every morning when I wake up. Maybe when we find a chiropractor, he’ll be able to help some.

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!

Love,
A Young Wife

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