Back from Vacation

I am finally back from vacation, and settling into my normal routine. I was blessed while I was gone by getting a letter from my son (he is away at Basic Training), and upon my return home, was blessed again with a phone call and another letter. We have written him back and sent a couple of photos. The Army is very strict about what we can send him. Anything that does not meet their strict guidelines is destroyed. Period. If you would like to write him, please e-mail me. I must have all your contact info before I give out his mailing address. Once I get that, I can send on the format that is required for mailing him letters. He really needs people to write to him.

My wife is in the process of painting the living room. I want to give here a lot of credit. I do not like to paint and she has allowed me to do a lot of other things while she paints. I cook, wash dishes, fold laundry, cut the grass, walk the dogs and do other things. This is week number two of my two week vacation. The first week I was visiting my mom, sis, and friends in WV. While my mom and some of my friends there are Christian, my sis and most of my other friends are not. This was a bit painful, since I care for them deeply and I see them struggling with their lives. If they would only give themselves to the Lord they would be so much better off.

The weather was hot and humid. Many of my friends are "financially challenged" and do not have A/C in the entire house, choosing to use window units in their bedrooms to keep cool at night. Mom has A/C and she finally used it. She is a bit old-fashioned and does not like to "waste electricity" on such a luxury as A/C.

The drive up (Friday and Saturday) was good and uneventful. I stopped off at the halfway point of my drive up (and back) to camp at Natchez Trace State Park in Tennessee. It was nice, but a bit humid. No rain that night, although it had rained a few days before and everything was still damp.

When I finally made it home to visit, I spent the rest of Saturday (the day I arrived) and all of Sunday with Mom, Sis, and her kids. We went to her small church on Sunday. We went early to visit with her friends there, and after a good sermon, came home to eat. Since mom had forgotten to take anything out of the freezer, we did not eat until 2 PM, way past my normal lunch time. I managed to survive.

Monday, Mom had a storage building delivered and we chatted off and on all day. Tuesday, I loaded up her shed with her lawn tools and installed a tool rack for her. I put in her mower, lawn cart, chainsaw, trimmers, and the rest of the tools and we still had plenty of room left for her to fill up. I am sure she will.

I spent each day with mom and my nephews, helping out where I could. I walked the mall a few times with one of my friends, and also walked the park with my sis and by myself. I had errands to run and My friend Keith chauffeured me around, He has a big heart. His car does not have A/C so he was constantly buying me ice cream and Gatorade to rehydrate me.

My evenings were spent with my other two friends, Rob and Brenda. Both are recent additions to Christ's Kingdom and are growing in faith at a rapid pace. Both are very active in their church which is down the street from Mom's house. They are very giving people. I have known them for about 15 years or so, right after I divorced my first wife. They always insist I come by every night to visit with them when I come to town.

I visited my Dad's and Grandma and Grandpa's grave. I did not get out to the other cemetery to see my other Grandparents graves. I should have and I feel bad about not doing so. Hard to believe that Dad and Grandma have been gone 3 years.

Keith and I had lunch at Ryan's on Thursday, since I was leaving early on Friday. I wanted to have breakfast with him on Friday, but I needed to get back on the road. I can only drive about 8-10 hours before I need to stop for the day and it is a 18-19 hour drive. The first day of my drive back was uneventful, but the following day was marred with rain and bad traffic. I still made pretty good time. Including my pit stops for gas, toilet, and food, It took only about 20 hours total. Not bad.

I was glad to get home and so was my wife. She was a bit stressed not having me or my son to help her with the myriad of things she does on a daily basis. I would have to agree with her that I did not realize how helpful it is to have our son around. He does a lot. I miss him. A lot.

Reflecting back on my trip, I am glad I do not normally make it more than once a year. It is a hard trip to take and is very bittersweet. I love my family and friends, but to see the way they live is heartbreaking. My mom is a packrat, keeping broken, rusted and rotten items in her basement. She has cleared out a lot of it, but she still has a way to go. I think my dad was the reason. He was raised during the Depression and people saved everything, not knowing if they would need it in hard times. Mom had a habit of saving wire bread ties, plastic butter and ice cream buckets, bread bags, popsicle sticks and a lot more. We have finally gotten her to recycle what she could.

Enough rambling...I should have regular posts in the next few days or so. Not much free time. I am supposed to give a testimony at church on Sunday...pray for me...I do not like speaking to large groups.