Code Rainbow

At 7:00 this morning, which yes, is way too early to be alive, I am woken to a knocking at my front door. I cover my head in pillows and ignore the noise.

More knocking, getting louder. Very serious sounding knocking. 7:00 a.m., hmm, not normal at all, maybe I should go see. Random thoughts: do they let the missionaries out this early? What about the witnesses? Confusion.

Louder knocking. I'm up. Pants, good idea.

A sneaky peek out the window, it's the police. Ohh Boy, did I pay that ticket? Do they put warrants out for that? Maybe I should brush my teeth. It would be embarrassing to be arrested with morning breath.

I open the door and stare. Clean and crispy, very tall and thick, walky-talky and a gun, ohh boy. He says "Good Morning. I'm Looking for a Sarah Galli"

ohh boy. "Thats me" I answer.

"Is there someone in Minneapolis that you haven't spoken to in a while that might be worried about you?" Cop asks.

"My Mom?" Why would I immediately say that? I didn't even have to think about it- faster than the funny bone response.

"Bingo." He says. Straight face. "She's very worried about you and would like for you to call her."

More random thoughts: Mom called the cops on me? I'm 31 years old right? Wouldn't it have been easier to just call me?

"May I ask a personal question?" Cop asks.

Yes, I shower at night. -still a random thought- inside my head.

Me "Yes.."

Cop "Is your Mother....a couple bubbles off..?"

Me "Like a couple Dozen."

He Smiles. oh a smile- thank God.

"Well, you should call her, she's very worried." Smiling cop.

"O.k." I say. "...did you by chance talk to her?"

"No, the dispatch did, they're calling it 'Code Rainbow'. Made me promise to stop by and check on you first thing so that she stops calling."

Code Rainbow...Code Crazy.

He hands me his card. Officer Brubaker. Good guy. He turns and walks away.

"Officer" I call. He turns to face me. "You do good work."

He smiles.

Will I see him around town? Will he remember me? Code Rainbow? It's too small a town....geeze, how far do I need to move to get away from my family?

Husband and Wife

One morning last week Chris woke up declared: "I need to go to California and fly in the Nationals ... on Saturday".

And I was all: "Wait.. not without me you aren't"...pause...longer pause....uncomfortable silence.

And more awkwardness. It took me a minute to realize the the only remedy to the situation at hand was to say nothing more and to walk away, which I did.

This is the first time in our 100 year relationship that I've been faced with Chris doing something really fun and exciting- without me. I can't say that my reaction surprised me all that much- I've always known that I have a bit of that Crazy Wife lingering in my blood, I'm reminded of this all too often by my brother who refers to it as 'The Crazy Blood'. And I can't deny that I do occasionally stomp my foot and speak from my diaphragm...o.k., yell, but it's never been a situation so bad that it couldn't be remedied with Wendy's fries and a frosty, but this time we were way past frosty status.

O.k., time for some soul searching. It took a while, but after a couple of days I came up with about a hundred reasons supporting Chris leaving for a week to have fun without me. You want examples? Hmm. 1) No snoring. 2) Finishing laying the strip stone patio without Chris telling my that my lines are crooked. 3) The freedom to read the trashiest of trashy vampire novel and not be made fun of- you get the idea.

Fast forward a couple of days. Chris: "Maybe I don't want to go to California after all."

Me: "Why don't you go to Utah and fly with your friends then?"

Chris:.... silence.

One hour later. Chris: "Why do you want me to leave town so badly?" (with a quiver in his lip)

I'm speechless. After all of my self therapy, you suddenly wonder why I'm being the coolest wife ever by supporting your need to blow a giant wad of cash just to sooth your need to sit around in the dirt and eat Vienna Sausages?

As tactfully as I could muster, I say: "So that you realize how much you miss me and that there is no fun without me. Plus, you'll be reminded of this over and over when your flying friends continually ask you why Sarah isn't here."

Chris: "They already are."

Yes, and that's all I needed to hear.

Fast forward a few more days. Chris is is Ca, The patio is almost finished, I'm on the last book of my vampire series and there is no snoring.

Exactly what I was thinking

Hmm. Should I worry?

Town wide binge

It snowed a few inches today and the whole town shut down- well except for the bars.

I've learned that in Fort Collins 'snow day' translates to 'binge day'. It's too far from the mountains to ski on short notice, so what's second best to skiing? Drinking I guess.

Spring has Sprung

A couple days ago I lost track of Chris. I always try to keep him in my peripheral vision like I would a 10 year old- which takes a talented woman. I looked in his office, the garage, outside....no luck. Eventually I gave up and headed to the basement to make a dent in Mount Laundry and this is what I found:

Finally- Flying season has started.

Thank You to the Queen of Spring. I've never been so happy to here Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.

It's been the longest winter of my life thus far, well, at least of my adult life. Chris and I have been working and trying to keep busy. We're broke along with the rest of the world, but all in all, what is there to complain about? Other than the snow and the lack of sun.

XC Skies is rock'n and we've gotten lots of new subscriptions. Hopefully this means that we'll be on the road a bit this summer. To my family, who is not exactly sure of Chris's profession: This does not mean that we are rolling in the green, no, you are way off-not even close. This means that we are living in our truck, smelly and covered in launch dust (which in all honesty is my preferred past time). So please don't get your blood pressure in a frenzy because you're under the impression that we are ignoring you. No, instead think of Chris and I-and Dyggs and Eighty, as a door to door sales family. We travel to promote, and we are very lucky to Love this life.

Yesterday was our first tow of the season. After much too much communication and clarification we had two great tows -I'm still the best tow job in town.

Our first go started with Chris on tow at about six feet above the ground for about 1000 feet in distance. It was truly impressive, him hovering the ground and staying centered between the barbed wire fences on both sides of the road. We've decided that our problem was birthed out of way too much communication. Our conclusion was this: Just let a girl do what she knows how to do best.

Where's Waldo? The first to find Chris in the picture above gets a free years subscription to XC Skies.

Chris says that there are records to be broken out here. So stay tuned, and if you're a pilot, now would be the time to pitch your tent in our back yard.

would you still be my friend?

Would you still be my friend if Chris and I moved into one of these?

I have to give props to my Father in Law, who, by the way is Brilliant, because it was his idea that Chris and I should purchase an AirStream and travel the world.

I'm thinking that 3 cats and 2 dogs would be considered a true $hit show- a term that Chris commonly uses lovingly towards me when referring my uncanny ability forget, spill, drop, break, lose, change clothes at the last minute and so on as I'm trying to accomplish tasks.

So as long as I'm all ready a $hit show, why not add the family? They're the ones who cause my behavior, so why not embrace them in a 200 sf silver bullet.. on the beach? Yes, the beach always makes the impossible possible.