Succeeding with Elijah, Cousins, and Buddies

Bouncing through the streets of Freeport in the pickup last night, I felt great waves of success as I listened to the constant giggles of the two young teens and one near-teen in the back seat. I think Gerald felt it also.

As the three cousins—Brianna, Sam, and Cecelie—planned and plotted, they were oblivious of their grandparents up front. We could have been miles away for all their awareness. They were in their cousins’ world, which started back at Jeannie and Rick’s house where we’d just had a delightful relaxed dinner with Mr. Higgens, their very special former neighbor who has meant so much to the Eiler family. The adults were at the dining room table, but those three and three others had filled their plates and were in the living room pleasantly occupied catching up with each others’ lives.

Elijah had left first for Jeannette Lloyd Theatre to prepare for the second night’s performance of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Jeannie and Rick, Mary Ellen and Brian were all on their way too. Trenton, a senior like Elijah, was riding, I think, with his cousin Leslie, who had driven up all the from Nashville, Tennessee, to see her brother Elijah play the lead role of J. Pierrepont Finch. (She’d had a late dinner Thursday night with her cousin Erin in Southern Illinois and then spent the night at Sam’s house with her Aunt Katherine before she started the seven-hour drive upstate to her home town.) Mr. Higgens like some of the rest of us had already seen the Thursday night show.

As I heard all that excited backseat talk as we drove across town, I knew one of my life goals had been achieved. I wanted these grandkids to be close enough that in the years ahead if they happen to travel through Chicago or Podunk or New York or Hong Kong and they have a cousin there, they will feel free to phone (text?) and say they need a couch to sleep on and know they will be more than welcome.

After the usual outstanding performance by the Freeport High School drama students and orchestra, we relished seeing all the performers in the backstage hallway where traditionally family and friends meet up with their thespians. It was a homecoming, of course, for Leslie seeing old friends, but we were all pleased and proud to be waiting to congratulate Lige and cast for their fast-paced hilarious rendition of this highly successful 1961 musical that will be reprised on Broadway in February with Daniel Radcliffe as J. Pierrepont Finch.

We were happy to visit a bit with director Tim Connors, who amazes me at his skill in consistently producing challenging musicals and drama with large casts. Thursday night was fantastic, and I thought Friday night was even better. They surely could not be any better tonight. The shows were not just error free, but musically and artistically completely satisfying. Cameron Rockwell and Elijah were perfect foils for one another as ambitious competitors at the World Wide Wicket corporation. I had fun imaging how much fun Connors had figuring out what terrific synergy these talented two would create together.


Back at the Eilers, Rick got the fire going in the fireplace and Jeannie spread food out again for late night socializing before Gerald and I headed back to the Country Inn where Mary Ellen and Brian were also staying although they were up for a little later stay than we were. I suspect Jeannie and Rick had a very late night slumber party with all the cousins at their house. We have still not heard all about that yet because shortly after we picked up Sam at 7 this morning, he was sleeping soundly as we headed down to the middle of the state for him to reach his friend Josh’s birthday celebration.

Josh’s birthday and the Freeport musical unfortunately conflict each year. Last year Sam went to the musical and he was especially desiring to see this year’s since Elijah is a senior. Yet he naturally wanted to be with Josh and their buddies for this super birthday party which started with the Illinois-Minnesota football game. So we made plans to skip tonight’s performance and help Sam connect with the birthday gang. With text and phone messages, we managed to meet up with Josh’s mom and dad and their van load with surprising ease.

Watching these eighth grade boys happily and confidently take off walking to the stadium, I felt more waves of success that we had actually made it safely from the opposite ends of the state and realizing how near those kids are to not needing us any more. (I’ve heard from Katherine that they are all back to Josh’s house now for a sleep-over and birthday cake and the guys all loved the exciting game despite the Illini loss.) I also found myself admiring Kirsten and Chad’s bravery in hosting this extraordinary party providing these lucky kids with a memory for a lifetime.

We reached the farm with the hope they’d be a message saying our car was repaired. If so, we planned to take off to Cape Girardeau to retrieve it. (We’d been told it would done in three days, so we had expected to drive it to Freeport, not the pickup.) The only phone message we had was from our neighbors Winnie and Jay Payne telling us to let them know when we returned home because they had prepared fish ready to bring over to us. Too tired to go to the church Thanksgiving dinner, we had a wonderful fish sandwich for supper, watched some of the Georgia-Auburn game and caught up on two days’ newspapers and mail. We watched the slide show of all the photos Gerald took of the cousins and the rest of us, and as you might have guessed by now, I again felt great waves of success. We did not have a book like J. Pierrepont did to guide us and we tried really hard, and we had a very successful weekend.

Lost Dog, Good Neighbors, and Veterans Day

Monday started with Gerald waking me with the good news that he had found Gerry’s bird dog. Wanting to get acquainted with the dogs, he had taken them “hunting” on Sunday afternoon (without a gun), and he was dismayed when one ran away from him and he could not locate it. A road away from Woodsong in a far neighborhood, Gerald found the dog upsetting two sweet women who were fretting about the lost dog going back and forth between their houses. They were taking care of the dog even though they were needed to get ready to go to work.

They had inquired and tried to find the owner, one had called the no-longer-in-use lodge phone number on the collar, and both had fed the dog. One was so worried the dog was hungry. Until it ran away, it had free access to its feed, so Gerald knew it was not yet suffering too much even if the dog had not found such caring neighbors. Gerald was glad to meet such nice neighbors for the first time, and he was greatly relieved to find the dog. I think Gerry was even more so because he was worrying about his father searching for them.

Later in the day we had a phone call from our fourth-grade neighbor Katie telling us the time for the Veterans Day program at Crab Orchard School. She invites Gerald for the program and lunch each year, and he was again planning to go with her. Unfortunately, a Tuesday morning call reported that Katie had a high fever and would have to miss school.

That cancellation allowed Gerald to finish the repair of a tin roof on a machine shed up at Wayside Farm on the road to Pittsburg. He had acquired the tin and started the job on Monday, and he was eager to finish up one more derecho-caused problem. He came home at noon yesterday saying he was now done with replacing the tin. However, while on top of the roof, he discovered how rusty all the nails were and was amazed more tin had not blown off. So he announced that maybe ten or so two-hour sessions between now and spring would complete the project and allow him to repaint the tin. He put in his two-hours this morning.

I am old enough to remember when Veterans Day was still Armistice Day, and my daddy would cross the street to the Jonesboro Grade School to ring the bell at 11 o’clock. I remember his telling our school assembly once how people in Goreville beat tubs and celebrated with great vigor when World War I ended. He wanted us to sing “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again” with a little more enthusiasm and thoughtfulness, and we did after his story. While the many programs across our nation were planned before the dastardly deed at Fort Hood, I am sure we were more thoughtful and more tearful with this tragic event so fresh in our minds. We look forward to the day when we can sing “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again” and ring a few bells. But too many will not be coming home.

Daughter Jeannie posted on her Facebook the Journal Standard’s video of the Freeport School District program yesterday in appreciation for veterans. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk1KXYGlM3M&feature=player_embedded.

If you watch it, the first soloist is our grandson Elijah singing. Then the next three nights, their high school will be performing their fall musical. I wish we were able to go, but it is just not working out for us.