Calm after the Chaotic Fun

Arms flailing. Feet in the air. Toys all over the floor. Punch. Hug. Tackle. Two down. Pile on three. Up the stairs. Down through the railing. Under the stairs. Hit back. Smiles. Bellies down. Roll over. Up. Jump.

That is kinda what it was like watching three very sweet well behaved great grandsons in the family room this past week--Aidan, 9; Maddux 7; Payton 5. Perpetual motion occasionally slowed down when one or all three focused momentarily on some toy or game. Or when all three sat in a circle with pencils and paper playing a game they have created. Of course, they were outside a great deal with Gpa Gerry despite rainy weather Their energy is amazing, and I like watching them.

We said our goodbyes to their family last night because they quietly slipped out of the house this morning way before dawn to make it back to Texas where toys awaited them under their tree there in College Station. Tara and Bryan were torn and did stay for the final Johnson celebration last night but yielded to the boys’ eagerness to get back home on Christmas Day.

It was really fascinating the one morning when they were joined by two-year-old twins. Erin’s friend Candace brought Jamison and Mathison to the farm; and before long, they were over their shyness enough to join in the big boys’ play. I loved how the twins already knew about hooking up toy truck beds and tractors and wrestling with big boys.

Christmas started for us a week ago when we learned our son and wife, Gerry and Vickie, along with Geri Ann came in from Texas Thursday night. We were not sure the Archibalds were going to try to make that long journey with three boys this year, but Gerald had things ready for the boys just in case they made it. He received a text they’d be up Thursday afternoon, so when both groups arrived here, there were ten of us sleeping at Woodsong that Thursday night.

Gerald built a fire in his wood burner in his shop. Duke, Chloe, Chance, and Nelly were bedded there. Of course, Gerry seldom goes anywhere these days without bird dogs either taking them to someone or picking them up from someone, so those unnamed dogs were taken to Gerry’s kennels that have been on the farm ever since he moved from Johnston City to Georgia over eight years ago. Gerald and Gerry were up early the next morning to meet up with McLeansboro hunting buddies for breakfast and a hunt. Or did Gerald have a 7:30 physical therapy appointment that morning? The rest of us got up at a more reasonable time! I especially enjoyed some early morning time with Payton before the others came to the kitchen table. All three great grandsons have such tender hearts that they melt mine.

Gerry and Geri Ann were giving hitting clinics in this area, and Vickie goes along to help and encourage them. So they and their three little dogs were off Friday afternoon to the Champaign area for their first clinic in someone’s sports complex in a barn out in the country. From there, they traveled to a clinic at Louisville, KY, before arriving back at our house Sunday night. It is hard work, but Gerry and Geri Ann enjoy interacting with the softball girls. Oh, and there was a clinic this week in west Saint Louis area that I almost forgot.

Tara and Bryan let the boys run off steam Friday morning, before they left for their visit with Bryan’s mother Linda up north, who often has to settle for just Skyping with these grandsons. They had a deadline to get to the Chicago area in time for the boys to play with their cousin Sam before Brian’s sister began her evening nursing shift. They came back to Woodsong on Monday--or was it Tuesday--by way of Galesburg so they could visit Bryan’s dad and step mother there. Duke had stayed behind, and Gerald was watching over him and the bird dogs here. Duke was glad to see his family, and I think he enjoyed having Chloe, Chance, and Nelly back to play with again when they were all regularly let out to run in the yard.

Erin was still teaching on Friday in Belton, Texas, but drove up on Saturday. She dropped by briefly to say hello before she went on to her Gma Shirley’s to spend the night since her new little French bull dog Ruby is somewhat fragile with his little pug nose. If I am not mistaken, I believe I heard he slept with Gma Shirley that night. Erin showed up at the farm Sunday morning briefly before returning to enjoy the Borum family gathering across from Gma Shirley’s house. I think she returned that night then and let Ruby join his dog cousins in Gerald’s shop. As you can see, I am somewhat fuzzy on details because we were so busy having fun with people coming and going that I couldn’t always keep up. In all of this, Erin’s big event of each day was Skyping with her husband Josh over in South Korea.

Of course, the Taylors were soon over to see everyone, and Geri Ann left with Trent and Brianna to spend the night over there. Sam had arrived in town from Baylor on Thursday also, and Trent, Brianna, and he had all immediately traveled to their cousin Leslie and Mike’s house down in Nashville to see the latest Star Wars movie. So Sam was in the cousin mix whenever possible.

I loved getting to sit around and visit with Geri Ann’s high school friends Cece Hutchinson and Dustin Pritchett when they brought Geri Ann home from her visit with Cece, because I had missed them when they dropped by last Christmas when Geri Ann was here.

No one wanted me to cook, so I didn’t much, since people carried in food and were meeting up with friends and family for lunch and dinner. Vickie and Erin had fun taking Gma Shirley shopping and getting ready for family gatherings. Gerry’s cousin Bryce and son Lex arrived a few minutes after Gerry and Vickie had just left for dinner to see her nephew Jeremy’s new house. Bryce just shook his head because Gerry had texted he’d be here. It made me feel better that I wasn’t the only one with memory getting blurred! But Gerald enjoyed taking Bryce and Lex down to his office and making them some family photos including the new one just made that morning of Gerry and cousins Tim and DuWayne when they gathered with the uncles for breakfast in Jonesboro.

Gerry was home at Woodsong the next day when Bryce and Jaime dropped back by. Earlier when Mary Ellen and we were sitting at the table listening to Gerry’s stories, he had us in stitches telling of his and Bryce’s teen episodes hunting in the fields here. I was amazed how he had learned every back road, gate, and creek on the neighbors’ farms. No wonder he could later get around Mexico fields without getting lost. He must have inherited Gerald’s dad’s excellent sense of direction.

Gerry made sure his grandsons could go with him if they wanted when he took the bird dogs out to flush quail. And a midnight rabbit hunt for Wednesday and Thursday nights was a big deal. Although they felt the need to go back to Texas, we were grateful Tara could not resist staying for the annual Johnson family gathering held last night at her Uncle Louie and Aunt Chris’s house this year.

After all the drizzling and rainy weather, we relished Thursday's gorgeous weather. Dogs and people played in the yard without coats yesterday afternoon. Gerald had worked hard and outfitted a wagon with seats to haul folks behind the Gator, and he was able to take everyone for rides around the lake. Everyone was properly impressed that Payton, a kindergartener, was able to drive the Gator responsibly and well!

Gerry, Vickie, and Geri Ann stayed for Christmas dinner at Mary Ellen and Brian’s house today. They had bird dogs to deliver to Texas, and Gerry and Gerald spent the morning building a platform to also haul home a repaired four-wheeler. Vickie was her usual patient and understanding self as she laughed about their rivaling the Clampets of hillbilly fame. Geri Ann just shook her head.

Mary Ellen’s long table for eleven was beautiful, and the meal was marvelous topped off with pies and Brianna’s baked goodies. Since Trent had to leave early yesterday to go to work, we enjoyed the longer visit with him today. Sam was able to show us a photo of his brother Dave and wife Kristy with his new niece Lila Rose born this very morning!

Folks sent Erin back to the farm to bring Ruby over to play with Fifi, which turned out to be interesting. Fifi, eleven years old, did not appreciate a youngster like Ruby wanting to play and she told her so in no uncertain terms. Ruby interpreted Fifi’s barks as encouragement to keep jumping at her and playing. But all ended well, and we had a peaceful time together.

After gift opening, we hugged and waved off Gerry, Vickie, Geri Ann and their dogs. The rest of us drove into to Marion to Katherine’s house, and she got to enjoy Mary Ellen’s yummy food while we visited with her. Her wonderful aide Connie had come in this morning to give her breakfast and morning pills and help her be dressed and in her wheelchair for our visit.

Mary Ellen had prepared the Saran Ball game full of small gifts for us. The huge heavy ball was passed around the circle while the person beside the player tossed dice until a double showed up. If we could get enough wrap off during this tossing, we won a gift. Everyone played with great enthusiasm and much laughter as we tried to unwrap the ball and get to the gifts. By the time the last piece of wrap came off, we all had some goodies to take home and make us feel we had won.

All good times have to end. Gerald and Sam put Katherine back to bed with the Hoyer. I gave her pills; and after goodbyes, we left her to watch a special gift from Connie on her television.

It is now well past midnight and time for me to quit reflecting and turn off the Christmas trees and get in bed. I think Erin is back from a final visit with Candace and the twins—her little godsons. So to all a good night.

Good Times in the Summer on the Farm

Just viewing our neighbor’s  beautiful field of corn along our driveway and our son-in-law’s soybean field on the corner has been a constant summer pleasure.  Both crops are lusciously gorgeous, and so are the crops up at Wayside on the Pittsburg Road when Gerald occasionally drives us by there. (Yeah, I know that all the great crops means the price will go down, but we don’t want to think about that right now.)

Gerald rebuilt our dock down at the lake, and a favorite summer memory is when he let me take all the time I needed to crawl from the dock into the boat for a ride around the lake.  At that time the other side of our little island was abloom with white Queen Anne’s lace and  yellow black-eyed Susans growing in a background  of  tall brown grass.  The memory of riding through the channel while enjoying this natural artistic mural will likely linger through winter.

Another summer pleasure has been a visit from Jake.  With the Glasco and Archibald families down in Athens, Georgia, and Orlando, Florida, being in a state of transition this summer, Gerry had a buddy bring a couple of dogs up for the rest of the summer.  Jake was delivered to our house, and once again I have enjoyed being able to look out the window and see that little black and white creature with his tail curled above his back exploring the countryside. 

It has been a few years since our main summer social life was attending ball games at local parks watching granddaughters play softball.  But this summer with Gerry coaching USSSA Pride, Gerald and I have watched softball games not just during the college season but all summer.  Often we are eating light suppers in his office—sometimes watching streaming video of the game  and sometimes with Game Tracker.  And we really enjoyed the few televised games that let us watch on the bigger TV in the family room.  So far the Pride is ahead in their league.

Of course, the best summer pleasure has been visits from children,  grandchildren, and far-off relatives.  Our first visitors were our nephew, wife, and son—John and Rhonda Gamble and Tim from Rock Springs, Wyoming.  They were here staying in Marion and exploring our area while visiting family.  Like our great grandsons, Tim liked riding the tractor with Gerald, and we were very impressed at Tim’s patience and politeness with mostly only adults around.  A Glasco gathering at Giant City lodge in their honor was special because we finally met some other new additions to our family.

Since work, camps, and school schedules did not allow our grandchildren to work in our village Vacation Bible School this summer, Elijah and Cecelie came down before his Chicago internship so that five of the six youngest grandkids were able to hang out a couple of days. As usual Geri Ann was the one not here; she moved to Georgia before these kids changed from students to helpers in VBS, but her older sisters and Leslie helped in VBS before this younger crew. I missed hearing them plan VBS skits this year, but I always love seeing them together.

Elijah’s internship was through Illinois State and its purpose was to enlist students to later teach in the Chicago schools. After the internship ended, he came down to see us again, and I so enjoyed hearing him talk about the experience and the excitement of teaching. He lived with a host family and worked in Little Village and spent mornings teaching catch-up math to kids about to enter high school,  Afternoons were spent working in a community center there, and evening classes kept them busy until 8 p.m.  He had not been told he would be teaching math, so he said he spent late evening time on the computer getting ready for the next day’s class.  Even though he is not a math major, he was a good math student whose father taught math, so I am sure he did fine.  (I must confess that the one time I had to sub in an 8^th grade math class, I was lost.  Students and taxpayers were cheated that day.) Of course, once Lige arrived at the farm, Sam, Trent, and Brianna were over visiting too.  (Cecelie couldn’t come this time as she was at speech camp.)

A couple of days after Lige arrived, our daughter-in-law Vickie, Geri Ann, and her older sister Tara and three boys—Aidan, Maddux, and Payton—arrived from Georgia around midnight. And shortly before they arrived, Brianna came over to spend the night for this infrequent chance to see Geri Ann. All that driving is hard on little boys, so Tara had it figured out that the little guys could play hard on the farm for a day before the four of them continued their travel to Chicago to watch USSSA Pride play and visit with her dad and then on to her mother-in-law’s home where her husband would be joining them when he did one of his check-ins with his company headquarters nearby. 

The two Georgia families have traveled back and forth to Orlando this summer to be with Gerry and have seen a lot of Disney World, but last week they were checking in here for visits with family since they will be moving to Texas next week.  After the Pride season is over, Gerry will be joining them and their middle daughter Erin at College Station as he starts his new position as associate head softball coach for A&M.  Erin will be teaching and coaching at a different school this year much closer to College Station, and she is excited that her parents and Tara’s family are going to be there with her.

Tara and Bryan already have their house rented and the boys enrolled in school thanks to Erin’s help. (Gerry and Vickie have a realtor finding them a place in this booming region.) Tara will be working with the establishment of a sports complex that is being built there, and her husband Bryan will continue working for his Chicago-area firm flying in and out when need be, but otherwise keeping office hours in their home. 

Geri Ann is transferring to the University of Oregon, and will be playing softball with the Ducks this year.  So this visit at home with her families and with friends from her years growing up in Johnston City was very important to her and all of us.  We already  don’t see enough of her, and now we know we will see even less of her in the near future.  Oregon is known for an outstanding special education school, so that played into Geri Ann’s choice.  Elijah was excited to get to talk shop about special ed with Geri Ann.

We did not know it, but Vickie’s mother (G’ma Shirley) broke an ankle the same day I went into the hospital, so Vickie spent  most of her time at her mother’s house, but she did get to fish a couple of times down at the lake—once even with her brother and nephew.  Mary Ellen joined that boat ride, and some of us feasted afterward with the barbecued pork sandwiches that Mary Ellen brought over.

Even though grandkids were getting together and coming and going with their planned activities, I was thinking they were not as involved with hi-jinks as usual and they too were getting old!  (Who knows what hi-jinks happened that I did not know about?  And maybe that is for the best.) Lige had taken me in to help Katherine one evening, and Geri Ann and Brianna showed up there to visit with Sam. (He has been super busy all summer with various camps and projects including all-day marching band last week and this. They are getting ready for the fall football season). 

Lige took me home, and I left the front door unlocked when I went to bed because he said the girls were going to rent a movie and be out soon. The next morning, I woke up to laughter on the deck outside the bedroom. Lige, Geri Ann, and Brianna were sitting there leaning against the wall looking out over the lake awaiting the sunrise.  They had pulled an all-nighter while watching old tapes of family gatherings when they were little.  Before I rolled over and went back to sleep until the middle of the morning, I could not help but smile that they were still quite young and going strong.  

The three great grandsons’ visiting  is always especially fun for Gerald and them. He will have the lime pile ready for them to dig it, and he’s prepared to give rides.  We have had some tractor trouble this summer and a slow repairman that did not come when he was supposed to.  So there were no tractor rides on the stop here on the way up to Chicago.  I do not think the boys minded because there were other things to ride on, and Aidan has been declared responsible enough to drive the all-terrain vehicle.  Fortunately on their way back through, the tractor was ready, and Gerald was able to satisfy that tradition. They  were even able to ride along in the cab’s buddy seat as he  knocked down a few little trees on the edge of the woods.  Summer time on the farm is a good place to be.

The Pleasure and Excitement of Summer Company

After a spate of company last weekend with the Eilers and the Archibalds here, this week has been relatively quiet.  We often do not know who might arrive during the night and be sleeping in the next morning here at Woodsong.  Gerald did know that Tara and Bryan and our three great grandsons were coming to spend a day at the farm at the end of their vacation on their way home to Georgia, and he had been making sure the lime pile and toy machinery were ready for them.  I knew Jeannie and Cecelie were coming “at the end of the week,” but wasn’t sure when they would arrive. 

I was spending the night at Katherine’s, and when Gerald woke he could see who was in the house by the cars outside. Jeannie and Cecelie had picked up Brianna over at her house, where their family has been this summer—when they aren’t at Waggoner.  Of course, Mary Ellen came over the next day.  We liked it that it worked out so several of the family got to see “the boys” who, of course, are greatly changed every time they visit with most visits several months apart.

Jeannie came prepared with food and ideas and declared she was cooking for all of us.  We declared that her egg salad sandwiches for Friday lunch were the best we had ever eaten. Since people often sleep late and are barely up for lunch or have only recently eaten the bowl of cereal or toast, which is what they usually get for breakfast here, the egg salad was a great idea.  She also fixed supper that night, but the Archibalds had needed to leave before then--knowing they would still arrive home well after midnight. 

As usual, the three little guys rode the tractor, the lawn mower, the Gator, and played hard in and out of the house.  Cecelie and Brianna enjoyed entertaining them as well as Gerald.  When I arrived home, I played peep-eye with the shy one and gradually had my turn interacting with each precious boy.  Still in the flower mode, Gerald took the boys to the fields and let them pick bouquets for their parents.  I was impressed that they made sure their dad had a bouquet as well as their mama.   Later when Maddux was yawning and a mite cranky, his mother asked him if he was getting tired.  He nodded yes and added, “From all that flower picking.”  It is always sad to see them leave and we dreaded the long trip ahead for the parents, although they are pretty accomplished at keeping the kids occupied or asleep. 

The next day Elijah arrived driving down from Illinois State, where he is taking some summer classes and working.  I think the grandkids gathered up at Trent and Brianna’s house on Friday, and on Saturday Sam and his friend Anna were here at the farm for cousin activities. They always have plans since they keep connected by phone and Facebook.

 Elijah sang for us at church on Sunday, and then he was invited to sing again that evening at the Fifth Sunday Sing, where five or six of our rural churches meet together four times a year.  I missed that since I was visiting at Katherine’s.  Earlier that day, I think it was, Jeannie had taken her kids over to Carbondale to visit her alma mater, but she had left a loin roast in the slow cooker all day, and there were delicious pulled pork sandwiches for supper when I arrived back home.

Dodging the rain when necessary, Jeannie had, of course, ridden her bicycle every day—sometimes on local country roads and sometimes going over to Harrisburg and getting on the bike trail. On  Monday she started to bike to town, and Gerald and I were relaxing at the dining room table.  Suddenly she appeared with one hand over an eye with a bloody face and knees.  Broken glasses were in the other hand, and she was saying, “I’m hurt.” We sprang into action all talking at once--grabbing clean dish towels to soak up blood and trying to figure out what to do.  Cecelie rescued the damaged bike and brought it to the house.

Their little dog Leah, who had never done such a thing before, had run in front of Jeannie’s bike on our driveway before she had a chance to do anything to prevent the bike’s fall and her face going into the gravel.  As soon as we had the blood flow somewhat stanched, she was calling her insurance company and her husband and trying to figure out what to do in order to avoid the emergency room if possible.  There were no approved places in our area for her insurance, but they kindly told here that therefore she could go anywhere with pre-approval from them. 

With a deep looking gash  on her face above her eye, we were thinking plastic surgeon, but the telephone book did not help us. Gerald’s doctor said to call the hospital for a list, but they put him on hold and we gave up on that because we wanted to get things taken care of. We did not want to spend the rest of the day in the ER, and Jeannie did not want to end up unnecessarily with that enormous expense. I tagged along with Gerald and Jeannie because I did not want to sit at home not knowing what was going on. The first urgent care place we went to was closed for lunch.  We went to another. 

The girl at the desk was so attentive and assured Jeannie that the P.A. there did that kind of thing all the time, and Jeannie went in quickly.  Not too much later, she came out after a tetanus shot and four stitches on her forehead with bandages on her head and knee. She assured us it had not hurt anything like she thought it would.  By this time, it was well past lunch time, so we went to a nearby eatery to plot her next move.  She had also talked to her eye doctor at Freeport and was hoping she could have the lenses put in a new unbroken frame, so she could wait to replace the lenses back with her own doctor.   I could not imagine that anyone could get the one lens, which had some damage in its corner, out of the frame without breaking it. 

We bravely went to Wal-Mart and no one was even at the desk in the eye center.  That seemed like a bad omen since we saw some other customers sitting closer to the intersanctum.  But when that clerk came out, we immediately felt her concern and expertise.  Within a very short time, she had found a frame among the children’s frames that fit Jeannie’s lenses exactly, and she had both lenses transferred to the new frame, which cost $9.09.  We were happy campers, indeed, and were soon back at Woodsong feeling very blessed.

Jeannie, Cecelie, and Elijah were actually on their way to Nashville, TN, to visit Leslie, whose birthday was Tuesday.  The kids had concert tickets to celebrate. After a little debate, they decided all was well enough to head to Nashville.  Jeannie loaded up her crippled bike on the back of her van and knew she would be renting a bike in Nashville.  Rick is teaching summer school as usual, and he came through last night and left his truck here and took Elijah’s car on down to Leslie and Mike’s for the rest of the week.

The dilapidated Candy Land  game is once again under the flap of the couch in the living room.  This is the same game that little Tara used to play and made sure rules were changed as we went along because even back then she wanted to win. Now it is her sons who play with Gerald, and the game is interrupted as younger boys join Aidan, who is very kind to let them join in.  I had forgotten once where I had stored (hidden) the game, but Aidan quickly went to the couch and pulled it out

Now faded bouquets have all been thrown out, the leftovers eaten up, the bloody towels soaked and bleached, and we’ve had a calm Independence Day.  I went to Katherine’s most of the day before an aide arrived, and Mary Ellen came over to the farm.  None of the beds have been touched since people left, but since Eilers will be stopping by on their way back north, I will let them deal with that.     

Georgia on Our Minds

Gerald and I have returned from a long wonderful weekend in Athens and Watkinsville, Georgia.  Gerald drove us south all day Friday crawling through the 6 p.m. Atlanta traffic and finally eastward arriving for the late evening with our son and wife, Gerry and Vickie, and the Archibalds.  I hadn’t been down to see their large rented house since Tara join the University of Georgia softball coaching staff, but I could quickly see the house was comfortably large enough for two families.

Bryan and Tara’s three little guys were already in their beds, but the older two, Aidan and Maddux, were not yet asleep. We were able to enter their bedrooms and give them good night kisses.  They were so sweet, and after hugs and grins, they seemed to go right on to slumber land when we left the room.  We did not try that with Payton since he had already fallen asleep. 

With the extraordinarily busy lifestyle the Archibalds-Glascos have and with an important visiting day for UGA softball recruits the next day, they were tired. And, of course, so were we.  We tried not to talk too late but to all go on to bed. I think Gerald was too tired from the trip down to sleep well; so as he is most mornings, he was up very early. Gerry wanted his dad to go on campus with him to observe the huge crowd already there at 7 a.m. ready to camp out tailgating all day for the 7:45 p.m. football game against Vanderbilt.

Tara and Bryan were busy early Saturday morning claiming the spot close to the stadium and setting up the canopy tent for the tailgate supper for  potential softball recruits and their parents and for the hosting freshmen players and parents. Gerry and Tara were working all day, so we had plenty of time to enjoy visiting with the little boys until the late afternoon tailgate time.  I had not seen them for much too long.  Payton, who turned 2 in early March, woke up smiling, and I loved getting re-acquainted with him.  Aidan, 6, and Maddux, 3, had school crafts they had made to show off and lots to tell about. Soon the kids and the adults were playing with Legos, and I spent some time watching Maddux write the alphabet letters of his name and then playing a paper game with Aidan.

After Vickie came back with lunches for all of us, the boys napped, and I even had a chance to review some family history material I had brought with me. Later we sat on lawn chairs in the garage with the door open watching the three boys play a variety of ball and bike activities, some take-offs of real sports and some made-up games. Bryan was there encouraging and playing right with them.  

When Aidan, who has just started first grade, asked me what we played when I was in school, I had to think hard.  I told him about Red Rover, which we played with the entire grade school lined up in two large opposing lines on either side of the huge side yard of our school building.  Obviously we did not have enough people to do that. 

Then I remembered how we sat on steps with crossed hands and tried to fool the kid playing the teacher as to which hand had a rock in it.  If the teacher did not guess correctly, the pupil promoted up a step to the next grade. Aidan soon had a piece of chalk for us to use, and he and Maddux and I moved over to the front steps and played school where two little bulldog statues greet guests at their entrance. Maddux liked getting promoted to fourth grade at the top of the three entry steps. Then I remembered the game about taking giant steps, baby steps, scissor steps according to a leader’s direction, and we played that for awhile. (Although I really could not remember the rules.)

Finally, it was time to don our red and black clothes and join the throngs heading to the tailgate area. Far from the stadium, cars and trucks were already lined up on all approaching streets, and lawns were full of lawn chairs and UGA fans and their friends grilling out.  Parking spots were available for $50 or $25, and scalpers had tickets flashing for the unprepared. Before Bryan put their van in the parking garage, he was kind enough to drop Gerald, Vickie, and me and the boys as near as possible for us to enter the village of red canopies set up on campus in the stadium roadway. Patient people behind us waited while we undid three car seats and grabbed boys and lawn chairs.  Actually Gerald and Vickie did that as it took me that long to get out of the high van. I got to grab Payton’s hand as we headed to the softball tent. 

I don’t know if Norma Holliday and her husband Mike were there all day or not, but I think they were--busily helping the caterers and getting every thing ready for the recruit party. They greeted us and guided us to lawn chairs when we arrived at 4:30 or so and helped keep the boys occupied since they are special friends of these little fellows. They had bean bag games set up and were letting other revelers use them until the softball gang arrived. (Coach Lu Harris-Champer and three little daughters, were up at Macomb at her alma mater Western Illinois University.  Her husband Jerry Champer, UGA associate head swimming coach, was being inducted into Western’s Hall of Fame for being the most winning coach in Western Illinois Swimming and Diving history.)

Although we had slept in our granddaughter Geri Ann’s room, we had not seen her until now since she lives with the other players on campus in the dorm. There was time to socialize with the players and parents and eat supper before the band started arriving and setting up next to us. I never in my life saw so many marimbas marching into play. The weather was very warm, and these brave band members had on heavy uniforms and gloves, but they were obviously enjoying themselves as we listened to drums giving us rhythms to add to the festivities.

Very early people started lining up three and four deep to be behind the band members who formed a large aisle for the traditional Dawg Walk.  Norma and Mike generously let softball players sit in the bed and even on top of their truck parked by our tent. Hundreds of spectators crowded at the wall atop the stadium and hundreds more filled balconies over the stadium staircases long before the band started playing for the Dawg Walk. 

The band was so large that it spread out over the area below those many spectators looking down on them but then they also stretched around the corner from our tent up the roadway.  I was fascinated by not the one director below but another up above looking down and at least two other student directors on very tall sturdy ladders that allowed them to see one another around the corner and, thus, all stay together. 

Because I am short, I had to enjoy just the music and the directors on ladders because all I could see with the rows of taller people in front of me were sometimes the tops on baton twirlers’ heads and then the large tubas as their owners marched by.  I am assuming that football players had marched in during all this pageantry, but I never did even ask.  The whole spectacle was quite exciting with everyone anticipating the lone trumpet player mixed with the top crowd who would sound a few notes on cue.  Then after the band finished playing, two members replaced the on-top director and led the crowd in cheers.

Gerald, who had attended a UGA football game, warned me about the multitude of steps inside the stadium without banisters for us oldsters, and I had instantly declined any plans to attend since I am not a football fan.  Gerald too was glad to go on back to the house and make up for the poor sleep the night before.  So we hugged Geri Ann goodbye as Gerry and Vickie and Tara went on to the game to sit with the recruits and parents and probably over 90,000 more folks who saw Georgia win over Vandy.  After some straightening up, Mike and Norma did yet another good deed and drove us and Bryan and the boys over (way over) to the parking garage. 

On Sunday before I even got up, once again Tara and Gerry were off to campus very early preparing for the first game of the year for the 2013 softball team that afternoon.  Fall games are considered just practice games, but coaches and players know they are very important preparation for the real season during the spring semester. 

I dressed casually for the day and the afternoon game before I came downstairs, where I was pleasantly greeted by little Payton who looked at me and said, “I like your shirt.” 

The Archibalds go to a different church than Gerry and Vickie, because the boys are satisfied in their classes there, so Tara and Bryan are less likely to be called out of the service. Payton will stay happily if the teenage helper named Miss Allie is there to befriend him.  So I decided I’d attend church with Bryan and the boys, and we were relieved that Miss Allie was present.  Started in 2005, the Athens Church was created to provide a place of worship for people who might not like traditional buildings or services. No one needs to dress up or feel pressure to conform.  Music is  loud and passionate, and the two wide screens high in the auditorium allowed an enjoyable view of the talented drummer and other  musicians.

The church’s stated mission is “to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ,” and they have available staff to help seekers who want to learn more about Jesus.  The sermon too was a different format than I am used to, but it was given by an extremely talented communicator and the message was very helpful to me personally on the importance of our knowing how to draw a line with our own values in difficult situations and to avoid addictions.  I won’t read about Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar ever again in quite the same limited way as before thanks to the pastor’s excellent content.

As we drove away, I liked the way Bryan asked the boys for reports on what they had learned in their classes, and I was more than amazed when Maddux recited his Bible verse along with where it was found. With lunch boxes from a drive-in, we headed to the softball stadium to join the rest of the family already there.  Bryan let the boys decide if they wanted to go to the game and assured them they could leave when they wanted for nap time.  Only Aidan lasted through the double header. Always full of energy, he was happy to the end and as we waited for Geri Ann afterwards to go to dinner with us. 

We were there this particular weekend because we wanted to see Geri Ann’s first Division I college game, and we were not disappointed.  The softball Bulldogs won both games by a respectable score against Georgia State, a good team.  Geri Ann played at first base while junior Morgan Montemayor pitched an excellent game, and we were able to see Geri Ann’s and Tina Iosefa’s first homeruns of the season. Geri Ann pitched the second game, and Tina played first.  The night before, we had met Chelsea  Wilkinson’s mother, who had come from North Carolina to see Chelsea’s first college games. When Chelsea relieved both Mo and Geri Ann, we were able to see why she had such an outstanding high school record.  (She had set the North Carolina record for high school shutouts, perfect games, wins, and innings pitched as well as being an ESPN first team All American.)  Of course, we also liked meeting or at least seeing the other freshman  players—Sam Lazear, Cricket Blanco, Kaylee Puailoa, and Katie Brown—as well as the talented players we enjoyed watching last year.

When the games were over, players iced down, and goodbyes said after more socializing, Aidan and Geri Ann took me through the locker room and offices.  We left to meet up at a steak house with Brian, Maddux, and Payton, where Gerry and Vickie treated us to a celebratory dinner.  As reluctant as we were to end that good time, Vickie had to take Geri Ann back to campus for a tutoring session, and we took Gerry back to the office to do some lock up and tape watching before we gathered again to rehash the games until bedtime.   I was able to hear Aidan read Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, and I started  packing up for our trip home.

We had a morning visit around the table drinking coffee and admiring Maddux, who loves to dress up.  He was in his fire fighting outfit because their preschool class was going to be concentrating on the letter “f” this week.  I had a hard time thinking of short nouns starting with that letter, but Tara with her elementary ed experience was good at it.  Too soon Tara was taking Aidan and Maddux off to school while Payton was looking forward to having Gma Vickie all to himself.  Bryan, who works for a Chicago-area firm, excused himself to go to work--in his office in their part of the house.  Gerry helped me carry all my bags downstairs and to the car before he left for campus, and Gerald and I were off to creep through the Monday morning Atlanta traffic and on up through Tennessee and Kentucky back to Southern Illinois.  Our conversation on the trip back and now here at Woodsong has mostly been remembering what we laughed at there with our great grandsons and how much we enjoyed watching Geri Ann’s first Georgia games.

 

 

 

Took Two Grandmothers

Whew! Just finished two of the busiest weeks of my life with house guests for 14 days straight. All family, so no real stress—just lots of fun. Most were grandkids or their friends, and they were all very well behaved since they are growing up real fine! But time was taken with VBS, funeral visitations, and meals for five to twelve oft times. Groups overlapped, and it wasn’t always possible to visit with individuals the way I would have liked to do.

Gerry came in Wednesday night and picked up his daughter Geri Ann and two other Georgia Southern Force players, Courtney and Samantha, who been dropped off earlier on their way home from a Chicago-area tourney. Vickie and another player dropped off Geri Ann and Courtney on Sunday evening—not even coming in the house--and then drove all night to reach home in Georgia. On Monday, Sam’s parents and sister dropped her off after a visit with central Illinois grandparents

When Gerry arrived Wednesday night, the girls had their gear packed after three days of visiting friends in Johnston City, boat riding, fishing, and relaxing. They watched a lot ot television and a video that Geri Ann found of one of her cousin Elijah’s plays. When Lacey, who plays on the local Southern Force team, stayed all night here, she took them to Marion for snow cones. They visited Gma Shirley down the road and she insisted of cooking their supper. Softball players live such disciplined regimented lives that it was good to see them plan their own agenda while they were at Woodsong.

Since it would be raining down the highway, they put their suitcases in black garbage bags before putting them in the back of Gerry’s pickup, where Gerald added the new batting tees he had worked hard in this summer heat to complete before Gerry arrived. They too drove all night after leaving here and arrived in Georgia the next morning.

I had two down days to relax myself, put fresh sheets on all the beds, catch up on some reading, and thought I might blog yesterday for the first time since the flurry of activity started.

However, Tara phoned Friday night explaining she and the boys (aged 4 years, 19 months, and four months) were coming down for a tourney Saturday afternoon at the softball stadium at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where the local Southern Force team was playing.. She was just stopping by on her way to her parents’ home in Georgia for a practice of the Georgia Southern Force team, who would go from there to College Station, Texas, to play in the nationals there.

We immediately put our heads in gear to see how we could take our turn helping with the three great grandsons. Tara handles them with great calmness and efficiency—it is sweet to see three little outfits and shoes all laid out in a row the night before. Gerald wanted to see Lacey and the Johnston City girls play, so he was the logical one to drive with Tara and Aidan, the four-year-old, to the game. Aidan, just like Tara and Gerald, would not pay any attention to the sweltering heat.

It hurt my ego to admit that I could not handle the two younger boys by myself since Tara, a tiny thing, lugs three little ones around so easily, but I knew I could not. So Gma Shirley came to the rescue and arrived to help. Believe me, we kept busy all afternoon! We both enjoyed all the snuggling, rocking, giggling, singing, and playing with our mutual grandsons. Maddux kept wanting to go outside, and Gma Shirley finally accommodated him for a brief time after it cooled off a tiny bit, but Maddux was sweating when he came in and I think he understood why we had been telling him it was hot, hot, hot outside.

The gamers arrived back with pizza in the early evening, and Tara took a brief nap downstairs while Gma Shirley and I had final loving-time with Payton. It had cooled off, and Gerald was outside taking Aidan and Maddux on all the rides they demand when they are here—the lawn mower, the tractor, the “mule,” and the boat. And they both had to hit off the little tee fixed for them. I even “caught” a few balls off the ground and threw back for them. Soon Tara was up and organized as always and had all three happily in their row of car seats in the back. She would be driving all night to reach Georgia and was planning on the boys sleeping.. I am sure Gma Shirley and I were both saying a silent prayer for their safety as they drove off in the dark. We went back inside tired but pleased with our afternoon.

Daddy's Birthday

My father was born April 15, 1898, and so he would have been 112 today. Tonight his great great grandson Peyton Archibald is sleeping in his little crib that his grandmother paid 50 cents for.




Our granddaughter Tara and her three boys came to Woodsong around 6:30 to spend the night here before leaving in the morning for Athens, Georgia. We have had so much fun playing with Aidan (almost 4) and Maddux (16 months) and snuggling Peyton (5 weeks). The two big boys had to use their shovel on the lime pile and push the little wheelbarrow around. Aidan took a ride on the "mule." Maddux did not want to. Everyone is sound asleep now after supper, baths, etc. I am going to bed now too.