A LOVELY WEEK-END

Today is Monday, June 17th and it is a beautiful summer, warm, sunshine day.  I believe that it will be hot later on and they are predicting high humidity.  Therefore, I have already taken Houston out for a morning walk and I enjoyed it and so did he.  We met lots of people walking their dogs and Houston, being the visitor that he is, had to say his "hello" to each and every one of them. 

I had quite a lovely week-end.  On Saturday morning at 7:30 am I left my apartment with Corinne and Mark for a visit to Florence, Alabama.  We arrived at Turtle Point Golf and Country Club at 10:00am - just as Connor's 9th birthday party was beginning.  Approximately 20 boys his age were diving and swimming and playing games in the big, beautiful pool that is surrounded by lovely grounds and a lake with boats going by every few minutes.  Lunch was served on a covered deck of the club house.  Leslie had everything decorated beautifully, and had a wonderful lunch ordered of chicken nuggets, home-made potato chips, fruit that was served from a watermelon carved like a foot ball helmet and lots of cake pops and other treats.  The cake was an ice cream cake with football decorations.  Everything was football decorated even the water bottles and the napkins and plates and the signs on the wall.  Connor was celebrated in complete style to say the least.  After the party we went to Leslie and Russell's beautiful home and rested for a few hours.  I, along with some of the others, took a nap.  At 4:00pm we loaded into cars - Corinne, Mark, Leslie, Cannon, Cord, Jacque, Wayne and myself and went to the baseball field where we met Russell and Connor.  Connot's team played two baseball games. I don't see how they played because these are 8 and 9 year old boys who had been swimming all morning and then played baseball in the heat for four hours.  They really lost some of their steam in the last game and you could tell that they had worn themselves out and totally lost interest in the game.
Connor had some good hits and made some good catches from center field.  After the games were over and the chairs were folded and put in the cars we drove to downtown Florence for a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant called Riggatoni's.  It was so reminiscent of the authentic restaurants in Italy - narrow, long, lots of booths and tables, people having wine and visiting with each other, smelled of garlic and other spices and the food was wonderful.  Needless to say, I was ready for the bed when we returned to Leslie's home.  Cord had graciously given his room to me and told me "Mimi you will like my room and my bed.  It is very cozy".  He was absolutely right.  The next morning I joined the rest of the family on the deck for coffee and a great breakfast of sausage balls, scrambled eggs, french toast casserole with warm syrup and juice.  What a great way to start the day.  It was so pleasant sitting on the deck eating and looking at the woods behind their house anticipating the presence of a deer.  Unfortunately, we never were privileged to see a deer that morning but I understand that earlier several had made an appearance.

After breakfast Wayne and Jacque packed my things into their car and we drove to Athens, Alabama which is my birthplace.  We went to the cemetery to try to find my father's grave.  After walking around for several minutes I remembered that the one time I went there years ago the grave was beside an old tree.  That gave us the clue we needed and we found my dad's grave which is next to my grandmother's grave.  Wayne made my picture standing beside my dad's grave and the fact that the day was Father's Day made it just that more special.  We left there and, with the help of the GPS, found the house where I lived for the first year of my life - until my father was killed in the horrible car accident.  Wayne made a picture of the house for me.  Then we went to the home of my two second cousins (I believe that the proper term is cousins twice removed) and had a lovely visit.  My relatives were so glad to see me after a long absence and I was equally happy to see them.  We went into Ben's house and he shared some genealogy records and pictures with me.  He was able to show everything on his big screen TV which made it so much better than having to go through papers and pictures and such.  He was so happy to serve us a wonderful cheese cake that is made with goat cheese and only available in Elkmont, AL or New York or can be ordered on line.  I will tell you it was wonderful - actually the best cheese cake I have ever eaten in my life.  I loved the short visit that I had with Ben, Jean and Jean's son, Joseph, so much and I plan to go back there for a full day in the very near future.  I have already spoken to Sara about taking me there and she is most willing to do so. 

 Reading the newspaper account of my father's accident which is very descriptive, and seeing his grave and realizing that this man, only 28 years old at death, was a real person who was responsible for me being the person that I am was quite emotional for me.  Since I never knew him I have never spent much time thinking about him or what kind of person he was or was he funny, kind, loving or just what.  According to the newspaper article it was written that he was very popular in the social circle of Athens and becoming a well known baker in the south.  It all makes me wonder just what would it would have been like if he had lived and we had stayed in Athens and my life would have been a totally different story.  It gives me pause to know that there would not have been Billy Cline nor my girls nor my grandchildren nor my great-grandchildren as I have today.  What a different scenario to contemplate.  I do know this much and it has always been apparent to me from my visits to Athens as a child and my visit yesterday, there is not a whole lot of stress there.  Speech is slow, movements are slow, nobody is in a hurry, nobody likes to travel much other than a vacation each year, the house is messed up and nobody cares, four cats were playing on the breezeway and lots of junk stacked up there, the yard in front was freshly mowed but the back was filled with overgrown weeds in flower beds, and grass cut but now trimmed.  My uncle's little grocery store building still sits at the edge of the property and Joseph has decided to "clean out the dirt dobbers and spiders and clean it up for storage".  They would never destroy anything that belonged to their ancestors.  Cars and trucks were parked randomly around the property.  The 140 acres that used to be planted in cotton or soy beans is mowed but not planted.  I know that my uncle had over a thousand acres of cotton when I was young so that tells me that a lot of the property has been sold and houses are all around their houses where nothing used to be. Time changes everything everywhere, even in Athens.

Yes, yesterday was a good day.  It was an emotional day.  It was a day for reflection and pondering and thinking about what might have been.  However, I am glad that I have the life I have now.  I can't imagine not having my girls and their spouses and their families.  They are my delight and my joy.  The Lord has told us that He has a plan for all of us and His plan for me is being carried out each and every day.  It has been a good plan and I have lived a wonderful life and hope to continue for many more years.  Whatever my plan is will be fine with me because God is good - all the time.