Shakers

 It's always exciting to go to the Space Center, but Thursday brought the 'need to go' but also the apprehension. The purpose was to pick up medical records. This is one of those things that puts me back into the 'surreal.'

Thank goodness I was wise enough this time to enlist the company of a friend for the long drive. It is the stillness and quiet that gets me every time and common sense told me that driving and crying was not going to be the best of combinations - especially since this family has had quite enough drama for one year.

It is so wonderful to have a friend who not only laughs with you,

but also listens, encourages, and challenges you. It is fun to have things in common - history of children growing up, learning together - but even more fun to know that our friendship will last for eternity for we both serve the same Savior.

The drive to KSC is a LONG one and I know that it never bothered Roger, because he loved to drive. I, on the other hand, love to be a passenger. As I drove along the road to the coast, it occurred to me that I had no idea where I was going, except EAST.  At one point Janie's GPS kept telling us to "make a U Turn." Oh, how we must have irritated that gadget that kept talking to us!  We actually could have ended up 'somewhere on the coast' had Rick ("Chief") not called at just the right time - before the split in the road. Again, I stand amazed at the way God sends just the right message at just the right time.

It is always good to see Rick and to hear how things are going at KSCFD. I miss that. Roger talked to at least one of the officers, even on his days off. I loved the stories of the crazy calls they had on full moon nights. I might have not known each firefighter by face - but I knew them by nickname and Roger's stories. It feels so weird to not hear anything any more.

I met Debbie - from Medical. Bless her heart, I could tell that this meeting was hard for her. She had known Roger for the better part of his career at KSC and I could tell that handing off his medical records was choking her up. Sometimes I forget how hard this is for the people who worked so closely with him. There is such a void for them, much as it is for me. I'm so thankful for the help offered by each one though.

We had a nice drive home and I have not yet decided to open that medical envelope. I need to be sure that it is something that will move me forward before I do it. There are reasons to open it, and reasons not to. Mostly I wonder if I am just afraid that it will reveal something I should have seen, but didn't.

On the back seat they stayed, and we made our way back to Orlando. What a hoot we were too! We looked for landmarks along the 528. Were we lost? On which side of the airport is Narcoosee?  Have we passed the airport already? How in the world did we miss seeing an ENTIRE airport?  We laughed and kept driving. Sooner or later we would reach I-4, even though we wanted to get off and eat!

Some of our favorite restaurants are the "mom and pop" variety. A diner. Yes, and we found one!
It is called Shaker's, which did not give me a clue about anything, until I walked in and found salt shakers GALORE! What fun it was to look at them and think of when we had seen them before. Salt and Pepper shakers apparently are quite collectible. The folks who owned this restaurant were clearly collectors too!

Janie and I had a great day. Eddie made us pancakes to start off our morning, we ended with lunch at Shaker's. Wise decision, Judi. This day cold have been a  train-wreck. Thank you, Janie, for throwing your cares - and projects - to the wind and taking a break with me. Hopefully, it was what we both needed!

Roger's lesson: I think he would be happy that I took what could have been a train-wreck of a day, and turned it into laughter instead.

Salt of the earth. That's my Roger. Shaker's was such an appropriate place for lunch!