26 Years

Today is the anniversary of the day I ran off and married a guy who confessed to liking me just 3 weeks before. We may have been a bit hasty in getting married, but 26 years later here we are still together, with an additional five kids and eight grand kids.

As Usual, we have no plans of any celebration to mark the 'event'. I have chicken cooking in the crock pot. (Boneless/skinless breasts simmering in Italian dressing. I had three remnant bottles of salad dressing... one was actually a bottle of balsamic cranberry vinaigrette . Pour over chicken and turn on low. Plan to serve with rice pilaf and some sort of veggies.)

I had a wonderful trip to DFW over the weekend. I saw my Mom, Ralph, my brother Roger, and my son Chris, Granny and others. I misplaced my wallet, which I discovered when I arrived to visit Chris. My ID was in my wallet. It had fallen from my purse into my "suitcase". Ralph offered to bring it up to me, but I suggested we meet him at the nursing home where Granny resides. The nursing home is halfway between downtown Ft Worth and Mom's house.

Mom and I arrived at the nursing home before Ralph did, and we were waiting outside when a car pulled in right next to us. It was my cousin Jeanie, who was as surprised to see us as we were to see her! She had brought her little tiny puppy to see Granny. Inside, Granny and Aunt Jean were already waiting in the lounge for Jeanie. They were surprised to see us!

Granny was more alert than I have seen her in nearly 2 years. It was obvious she recognised us on some level, and she managed several intelligible phrases. She exclaimed, "There you are!" quite plainly, and what sounded like "Where have you been?". Her eyes followed us and she was making an effort to speak to us. Ralph came inside, and Granny's eyes never left him. She made motions with her hands for him to come over by her.

We visited there for a little while, until I figured mom and I had better be on our way to see Chris before the Sunday After Church visitors made their way downtown. I needed a drink of water, and discovered the water dispenser near the front door of the nursing home was empty. Mom said she had seen a fountain back by where we had visited Granny. So I took my cup and headed back there. As I went by Granny again, Jeanie had just put the little puppy up near Granny's face. Granny exclaimed, loud and clear, "WHAT was THAT?" My Granny is still "in there"... she just can't communicate as well with us.

We had a good visit with Chris. Well, I did. I mostly hogged up the allotted visitation time.

Then Mom and I had lunch at El Chico's, and went to Thrift Town. Mostly just hanging out and looking at stuff, and visiting one another. We were too full of lunch to even think of supper that night! Monday morning, we went to Target. There really isn't a Target near me, so I don't go there often. Mom had a few items to pick up for her friend Bonnie, who is also in a nursing home. We wandered Target looking at "everything" and laughing at cards. I have always been one to buy a card on the spot if it is "perfect" for a person. (I found one for Bill Joe's birthday. I was too broke to get it, so Mom got it for me. His birthday isn't until the end of April, so I have it put away until then.)

Time to head to the airport came too soon. I had checked in and printed out my boarding pass from home. I got through security... even though they decided to "pat me down". I made sure of the gate, sat down for a minute, and decided I really HAD to have a drink. I set off walking to find some water for sale. And as long as I was walking, with plenty of time to spare, I counted off (over) 6/10ths of a mile. (I walked from American Gate A9 to A39, beyond, and back. I arrived back just as the plane began to board, so rested for a few minutes until it was my turn. Yay! I got my walk in, and it was MUCH more fun than a treadmill....even if I was lugging an extra 25 lbs. over my shoulder.

The guys made out fine without me. Their fishing trip was cut short when they became the bait... for mosquitoes. They did catch a few small fish, I was told.

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Today was back to work. I had a LOT of outgoing freight, and worked until after 11:00. That was over 5 and a half hours without "making" work.

Thanks, Mom for having me down and feeding me all the delicious food that I didn't have to cook!

Have a blessed day, everyone!