A-Towns...

So, Stephen's on his way to Astana today, for business. Just a day trip and he'll be back late tonight, thank goodness.

The last time Stephen went away on business, he went to Aktobe and Aktau, which are oil cities in the western part of the big K. He was supposed to get back late at night then, too, and was supposed to be home by 2:00 am. I had gone to bed and found myself waking up at 2:30 am, in a cold sweat.

I was freaking out. Where was he? I called his cell phone. No answer.

It was the first time I have ever felt like I had an actual panic attack. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't stop crying. I was so worried, I didn't know what to do. I actually ran around the house, calling for Huzz and checking every room, just to be sure he wasn't home.

Once I gained some sense, I cracked open the Big Book and read some comforting words. I sent up big P's for a long time, in the bed.

When I heard the car pull up around 3:00, I ran down the stairs and greeted Huzz at the door, sobbing uncontrollably, and so relieved. He hadn't answered his cell because he had to turn it off for the flight and at the time, we had to put a pin # in to get it back on and he couldn't remember what it was. Needless to say, we figured out how to disable that setting!

Let's just hope all of this does not happen again tonight. His plane is due back in at 11:30, so he should be home around 12:30, as he has no luggage, since it's a day trip.

Last night, we were talking about how this will be his fourth A-city he's been to in the big K. Almaty, Aktau, Aktobe, and now Astana.

I'm noticing a trend, as 7 of my 19 students have names that start with "A".

I have a big 'ol headache today that I woke up with and I have to teach tennis after school to twenty 8-year-olds. Oh, the joys.