Volcanic Ash and Ear Infections

What do volcanic ash and ear infections have in common? Never in my wildest imagination would I believe these two things would completely cancel our twice-planned trip to Italy. In April, we had cleared two weeks of responsibilities to take a stand-by flight (perk of Darrell being retired Air Force) to Italy where we used to live and visit friends that live there. It was the exact time that Europe experienced the volcanic ash incident that grounded hundreds of airplanes. We made it over to the Atlantic Ocean, put our toes in it, and vowed that we would try the trip again in the Fall. So here we are.....cleared another two weeks, preparing for the trip and poor Alec comes down with an ear infection. His first set of tubes, which worked lovely while they stayed in place, had become dislodged earlier in the summer. So when Darrell took him to the ENT on Tuesday, the dr. said NO FLYING! Alec is scheduled for surgery next Thursday. So no trip again. Since we're persistent in this household (note - a kinder word for stubborn), we will try again for Spring 2011. We do believe that everything happens for a reason, and we have peace that this is in God's hands. So no gnashing of teeth and ripping of clothes here in frustration - there is always a plan B, C, D, and sometimes even E. Plan B - heading to Chicago to spend time with my Aunt Sue and Uncle Lyle for five days. I'm sure we'll find plenty of exciting stuff that we haven't done yet there. So off we go in faithful Blueberry (our minivan) on another adventure!