Saturday I sang happy birthday to Daddy in person and watched him blow out his big "84" candles. What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.
It was a very low key weekend, just what I needed. We glanced through Daddy's college yearbooks - Texas Tech '47 and '48 (By '49 he was a Highway Patrolman.) He discovered them in a wooden chest in the storage room - such a surprise to me, because I thought I had stuck my nose into every chest and box in that house. How did I miss these??
It was a treat turning the pages, going back in time with Daddy, listening to his stories... long-buried memories that climbed from the book... glancing at the photos, seeing Daddy's handsome young sophomore face...
We also watched the birds feasting at the bird feeder, and spent hours around that kitchen table again, sharing pizza and some of this delicious "ugly" mega-chocolate cake laced together with fudge that my sister made (she's the one who called it "ugly" - all I could see was the chocolate... beautiful in my eyes!)
...and just talking, joined by my friends Robert, Shari and their friend Archie for a little while. (This is how my quirky memory works... I never really knew Archie in high school, but I have a memory of his band playing at a dance... specifically I remember them playing "Smoke on the Water." I'm not sure who I was with, what grade it was, what I was wearing... but I remember he was in the band, and even now I can see them up on the stage, rocking out forever in my mind. Weird.)
Anyway... before heading home on Sunday afternoon, we treated my parents to lunch at a new Chinese buffet in town. Tom didn't laugh like I did when I popped open my fortune cookie... I thought it was so funny I had Mama hold it while I took its picture...
Tom, on the other hand, muttered something about me trying a new husband if I decided to try anything else new.
As much as I hate to admit it, I think he's right - my daily plate is already too full. In fact, it's been nearly two weeks since I worked on my book... long enough to qualify it as something new again, right? So I think I'll close this post and mosey back to the 19th century to spend the rest of the evening with my great-great grandpa... hope you have a good evening, too!
Me with my parents and siblings... I am blessed...
October birthday boys... Daddy and Daniel...
