The third, the fourth....

So now I'm commuting on a regular basis (although I have only one more commute planned before returning to New York full time to sell my apartment). One of my trips was just horrible - a 9:45 from LaG to FtL, which, because of weather, didn't leave till 3:00 a.m. The worst part was that JetBlue had three different recordings on it's departure information line about the same flight number - one leaving on time, one leaving at 12:30, one leaving at 3:30. I went to the Airport at 11:15 and waited. The best part was the flights were SO delayed, that by the time mine boarded, the weather had totally cleared, and the flight was uneventful, although it didn't arrive till 6:00 a.m. on Friday morning, and I slept through the day.
I'm feeling better about the community - Bill was right, there are people our age. I don't think I can get to know them until we're there full time, of course, but it's a relief to see people in their 60's who dance and play together. If it is possible to find friends, I'll be content to grow old there, perhaps. The problems? Our maintenance increaased $50 a month, and we were assessed $50 a month for a year - covering increased insurance rates and repairs to staircases. The apartment is, after all, too small. It was a terrible (and ultimately expensive) error on my part - I won't be happy till I flip it and buy bigger. I'd be happy, I guess to buy in the community or nearby - it's the facilities that are most important to me, but this is costly and fatiguing, changing apartments AGAIN within a year or two. When we settle in, we'll fix up a little, cosmetically, and then sell and rebuy.
In the meantime, after this week, we're in New York. Mom goes down January 2 (Bill's decided to drive home next week, and fly down before my mother and get her settled).
Drew is hardly in contact with me - he sends brief emails and doesn't respond to my phone calls. Today he sent me a longer note, telling me about his and Nicole's work plans (ever-changing). He sent a link to many nice photos of him and his family. It was nice to get that. I sent him a guess-where-I-am phone message from Kravis Center on Nov. 22, with the sound of the live cast of "Jesus Christ, Superstar" included. For Christmas, I made a blanket for Kay, and since he hasn't given us clues about what they want, I'll send a family gift of a food basked of some kind.
Ben's Ben. We're having trouble thinking of a nice Christmas gift for him. I'm crazy about the guy.
Leah's pregnant. I made a little carriage blanket, and we're in the process of ordering shower gifts. For Christmas I got her maternity clothes, and I got Colin 2 books about making furniture, at Leah's suggestion.
I'm worried that all the cost of buying the Florida Place, maintaining the Queens place until it's sold, flying back and forth, may prevent us from traveling much over the next couple of years. I'm really concerned about that, because travel has been an important part of Bill's and my life together.