The common weather joke here in Tennessee is, “If you don’t like the weather just wait a few days. It will change.” I’m sure locals of most places in the world say that about their homes, but this is especially true for us right now. We’ve had a cold week. We even had snow flurries all day Tuesday and sleet on Wednesday. This weekend has warmed up to be beautiful with temperatures approaching the 60s. However, it looks like rain will move in and park over our area most of the coming week.
HOME. WHAT’S THAT? I think we’ve had something going on every night this past week. Monday night Nate had his final basketball game of the season (it was a make-up game). He played very well. Ben (and Nate) was supposed to go to Cub Scouts, but he decided he wanted to see his brother play ball.
Tuesday night Ben had his final game of the season (also a make-up). They played a really good team and the game was a nail biter from start to finish. Ben’s team won by 6 points (28-22), but it was never clear until the last few moments of the game that they would come out on top. Vicki was acting so crazy I am considering not sitting with her at ball games in the future.
Wednesday night was our Awana Grand Prix, and I’ll have to say this was the smoothest race we’ve ever held. Jeff Garst built our four lane track (I was helping him until Pauline went in the hospital), and we purchased an electronic finish line and race management software as well. We raced 62 cars (with each car racing once on each lane of the track) in a little over an hour. The whole evening was very festive and it was standing room only in our fellowship hall.
Thursday night brings us to Ben’s first baseball practice. He is starting in Little League this year and is very excited to be playing. (Actually, Kenny and Kelly Raglin invited Ben to share some time with their sons in a batting cage Monday afternoon which he really appreciated.) Ben’s coach was really complimentary of him as a first time ball player.
Friday was reading day at the boys’ school. Parents were given the opportunity to help out with this and the boys wanted Vicki to come. Vicki got the chance to help with both their classes as they went from room to room to listen to various stories. I think they all enjoyed the day.
That evening was the Upward Basketball end of season party. Vicki and the kids went (by this time I was sick) and had a great time. They gave out awards, ate pizza, and were entertained by magician Doug King.
This brings us to yesterday where the boys and I went to Flewellyn Baptist Church for the county RA Race (they raced the same cars used in the Awana Grand Prix). This race is not run with any management software and has traditionally been double elimination (each heat is best two out of three and you have to lose two heats to be eliminated). Darn the luck if it did not happen again that Ben and Nate were pitted against each other somewhere around their third heat of the race (somewhere around round six of the losers bracket). Nate’s car eliminated Ben’s for the third time in their racing history. At least Ben took it well.
MEAL IN A RUSH. Jenna is becoming quite a cook. Her peanut butter cookies have won me over. Vicki taught her how to make these and she takes the extra step of putting a Hershey’s Kiss on top of each cookie and putting them back in the oven for a couple of minutes. She won second place in a 4-H contest with them this week. Yesterday afternoon Jenna made another batch (I think she wanted more because I ate more than my share of the last batch). Grandma Jones would be pleased with her, as we are, though we don’t need to have cookies on hand too much.
While Jenna was cleaning up from the cookies Vicki decided to make hamburger quiche for summer. By this time we didn’t have a lot of time to eat and for me to get Ben to the baseball field for practice. Because of this the meal sort of devolved into say your own blessing quietly to yourself and start eating. Ben neglected to do this when he sat down to eat. After putting a bite of quiche in his mouth Jenna reminded him to pray. At this point he says, “Oh!” Then he spits his food back out on his plate, prays, and shovels it back in.
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SEVEN YEARS THIS WEEKEND. Seven years ago this weekend we moved Pauline here from Camden. We had mentioned to Pauline several times that she should consider moving here, but she never considered it until her brother, Joe, passed away in 2001. The next year things fell into place and construction began in September 2002, as soon as the tobacco in the field was cut.
All this was happening during the time Vicki was pregnant with Nate and I was trying to finish The Call of the Whistle. Somehow we got all this done and around the time Nate was born Pauline’s house was ready for her to move in. The move happened when Nate was three weeks old. Will, Darice, and their boys came in to help. I rented a truck and drove to Camden. One of our kids was sick so Vicki stayed home. I got there early and we spent the whole day packing and loading the truck. Pauline had been a door greeter at the Camden Wal-Mart for many years and that was her last day. She also had lunch with several of her high school classmates.
It was well after supper when I pulled out of her driveway with the truck and started the two and a half hour drive home. When I got on the interstate I called Vicki. Because it was so late I suggested she call some people to help us unload the truck when I got there. She didn’t want to do this. I think this has been the only time in our marriage I have given Vicki an ultimatum, but I told her there were five tired, cranky people about thirty minutes behind me who would appreciate beds to sleep in, and that she would be calling people to help unload the truck. She did and we had a wonderful crew of neighbors who had the truck unloaded (most of the stuff went to the garage) by the time the rest of the family got here. Once Pauline settled in it felt like she’d lived here all my life.
Joe
