Back in School

I feel like I have accomplished something every year when we get the first full week of school behind us. The weeks leading up to the start of school in my job is a lot like the Christmas shopping season for a retailer or tax season for a CPA. The same can be said for Vicki as she gears up for the regular “school year” activities at church. Now, hopefully, life can find its normal rhythm.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME. My 48th birthday rolled around back on Wednesday. My birthday dinner was originally planned for Friday night, but, as you’ll read below, it wound up getting pushed back to yesterday evening. Vicki and Jenna got their heads together and planned what was practically a Thanksgiving style feast! We were as full as ticks and too miserable to move now.

GOODBYE DAVID LEE. I have lost another first cousin. David Lee Thompson passed away at his home a little before 7:30 pm on Wednesday (my birthday). He was 84. I say I “lost another” because David’s sister, Marijo, passed away eight years ago.

You can find David’s obituary here.

David suffered from kidney failure. His wife, Betty Jo (Tuttie), called me back on July 13 (it was the Sunday afternoon before VBS started) to let me know David was on Hospice care. I got to visit him about a week or so ago. David didn’t feel like talking much, but he did retell a few old stories, like the time our great grandmother met Frank and Jesse James.

David spent a lot of his time as a boy at our grandparents’ home. He would always refer to Mr. Caner and Mrs. Jo Ella as “Father” and “Mama” just like our aunts and uncles did. He and Betty Jo lived in my house when they were first married. Their daughter, Emaly, was born while they were living here. Soon after that they moved to Nashville where David wound up becoming a police officer for Metro. He was a detective by the time he retired 31 years later. He then served as Chief Deputy for Robertson County before retiring again, this time to farming.

When he and Betty Jo left Nashville they restored an old tenant farmer’s house on Baggett Road. They had a wonderfully large yard with a creek running through it and would host the best Easter Egg hunts for the family. We also enjoyed many pleasant evenings playing croquet with them by the creek.

I really enjoyed my visits with them as they are both delightful people. I have one of those visits on video tape. It was May 8, 1989, and they consented to my filming and they reminisced about life. The interview lasted about 90 minutes. The tape is full of all sorts of stories about life around Mamma and Father’s house as well as other family anecdotes. This visit and a Reader’s Digest article inspired me to interview other relatives and eventually edit the best stories into a documentary film that I gave to the family one Christmas (1993, I think).

We have no way of knowing what the afterlife is like, but I like to imagine that David is now reminiscing with the folks in heaven about those of us who are still here on earth, catching them up on all that has been going on here. He would be a good one for that.

Joe

School Days Are Here Again

At the risk of being redundant I have to comment on how unseasonably cool this summer has been. The weather has warmed up to more normal temperatures this week, but last week I walked out the door several mornings when leaving for work and thought, “Fall is here!” Sure enough, when I looked over at the thermometer and the temp was in the high 50s.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEN! Can he really be 14 years old? I guess he is. He’s practically looking me in the eye now. His voice has grown deeper. He has leg hair (which is fun to pull when he’s not looking). All this adds up to my son being 14.

What Ben wanted to do most for his birthday was invite his friends, Jake and Luke, over to spend the night. This happened Friday night and between the Nerf bullets flying around the house and the chirping of all sorts of electronic games the four boys had an excellent time. They were after midnight going to bed and back up playing before 6:00. Ben may be 14, but there’s still a kid in there somewhere.

Sunday afternoon Vicki and Jenna fixed a nice supper for Ben and we took it over to Mom’s to share the meal with her. They found a new recipe for a cake that they tried out. It was essentially brownie with chocolate chips covered by a layer of cheesecake topped with chocolate icing. It was really good but so rich even Mom couldn’t do seconds.

BACK TO SCHOOL. The kids are back in school now. Yesterday was registration day and today is the first full day of classes. We went to open house last night. It was all very odd not to have to rush over to the elementary school. Nate was a little nervous about his first day, but he did fine.

I won’t go into the boys’ schedules as they have the standard fare of middle school classes, but Jenna does have an interesting lineup this fall. Her first two classes are Advanced Algebra II and ACT Prep. After that she takes a bus to Springfield High for Medical Therapeutics. When that is over she returns to East Robertson for Psychology. This last class is a dual enrollment course with Volunteer State Community College so she will earn three hours of college credit as well as high school credit.

Her Psychology class follows the Vol State schedule so it doesn’t start for three more weeks. This allows her to have an ongoing early dismissal from school every day. And when this class does start it only meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays so she’ll be able to continue leaving early most days. I would have loved that thirty years ago.

This is a good thing for Mom who has been lamenting her luck now that Jenna has her license and a car. Jenna takes the boys to school but the boys still ride the bus home to Mom’s house so she will have them to look forward to most days.

BACK TO SCHOOL SHOPPING. Of course, with the start of the school year comes all the Back to School shopping. Vicki took the boys out shopping a week ago yesterday (the 28th) and she made sure to do plenty of fun things with them (like take them to Game Stop).

She texted me at one point in the day from a try on area in a clothing store (I’ve corrected the spelling and punctuation for readability):

So, I’m at Opry Mills with the boys and a lady asks Nate how many items he has to try on. He replies, “Too many!” The boy had to count all the way up to three!!!

IN THE NEWS! One thing to check out on the Internet is a news story that RFD-TV did on the Threshermen’s Show this year. The story features an interview with Jackie and Charlie. You can find it here on the RFD-TV site.

Joe