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July 4, 2002

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!

As the Noisy One was packing up to leave Brussels for our journey to Munich, she was all in a kerfluffle, and in the chaos of schlepping her enormous suitcases down to the taxi below (WHY she needs so many shoes I'll never understand... I've been trying for years to get her to travel light, like me), she managed to leave behind the ONE posession I am attached to: the jingle ball.

(GULP) You may remember that I have referred to it in previous entries, it's a little rubber ball, about the size of a golf ball, with a bell inside. It's my amusement, my exercise, my entertainment, my zen. IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK? Plus, I knew we were headed to a hotel in Munich which would undoubtedly have a beautiful loooonnnnnnggg hallway, just perfect for HallBall.

So we had to turn to the only person in the world who could right this grave oversight:

Beth Yarus. Auntie Beth is one of those brilliant enlightened humans who, given the option, would probably prefer to deal with animals over humans. She has been guardian to countless of my kind over the years and her love extends to, inexplicably, the feline world as well. But I love her anyway. She even went out on rowboats to rescue abandoned animals in the St. Louis floods a few years back.

And she's our travel agent. For years she has been sending us in the best fashion to the best locations (and some not-so-great places, but that's the NOISY ONE's fault), and she knows N.O.'s tendency to be a little scattered sometimes, so she keeps me in mind, and cleverly found a store in St. Louis that stocks this particular ball (my needs are very specific and not easy to fulfill), and bought the entire stock for just such an emergency (I once dropped it down a sewer grate on the street in Salzburg, and she came to the rescue then as well). She keeps them in the drawer at her desk and when the Ball Hotline phone rings, she's at the ready to pop it in a FedEx package (no time to waste) and it's in my hot little paws asap. Very generous of her to spend $40 to send a $3 ball. THAT woman has her priorities in order.

So THANK YOU Auntie Beth, and all those nice ladies at TravelMasters in St. Louis, who have taken SUCH good care of us (and I don't know HOW you have kept such a nice demeanor, not to mention your sanity, dealing with You-Know-Who all these years!!!).

with love and a sigh of relief,