You saw the pictures, now hear the story.
Originally published at The Poetic Exodus. Please leave any comments there.
This might be a long one. This entry is going to be the play-by-play, chronological version of events. It’s more for me to remember than for anyone to really find interesting. If you wish, you may read on…
I left late Saturday afternoon to drive to Jacksonville to catch a plane to Nashville. The flight was pretty uneventful. Read the in-flight magazine, dozed a little. Rented a car in Nashville. I loved it… a cute little red Dodge Stratus. Hopped on the road at about 8:45 Central time and headed for Missouri. I had debated whether or not to go ahead and drive, because it’s at least a 3.5 hour drive to Sikeston from Nashville and I knew I would be tired. I decided to just go ahead and push on. Scanned radio stations, talked on the phone and generally just tried to stay awake. The drive from Nashville to Paducah, KY isn’t bad. It’s after you get past Paducah and start driving through two-lane winding roads in Western Kentucky that it gets interesting. It was dark and I kept thinking a deer or something was going to jump out in front of my car at any moment.
Arrived in my lovely little hometown of Sikeston at about 12:15 AM. My mom, for some unknown reason, was at Wal-Mart when I got to the house. She pulled up shortly after I arrived. Stayed up awhile and talked to the fam, watched TV, etc. then we all went to bed. Well… except for my mom. I think she stayed up to wait on my brother to come home. He was “out.”
Sunday, Mom, Terri and I got up and went to church. I hadn’t been there in probably a year or more. Not much has changed. The music is still old-fashioned. The preaching is traditional. Some of the families have left and I saw some new faces. People I last saw when they were little kids are now young adults with whiskers. I got my neck hugged over and over. It’s funny how no matter how much time goes by, I’m always “home” to these people. It’s like I never left. At any rate, I was disappointed because the point of the whole service was to honor the graduates, and my brother had to work. I guess Lowe’s sells so much mulch between 10:30 and 11:30 AM that they can’t spare one high school senior to go to church for an hour. Whatever.
Went home and had lunch with the family. Mmmm. Fried chicken (skinless). My dad’s famous noodles. Mashed potatoes. Green beans. Mmmm. Granted, it wasn’t the most on-program, healthy meal in the world, BUT… Afterward my mom and sister and I went to my grandparents’ house, scooped up my grandmother and we all went walking. Our church has some property where they’re going to build a new church sometime in the future. Right now the property has a walking track, ball diamond, concession stand, etc. It’s really nice. walked a couple of miles out there, so I didn’t feel so bad about lunch. I don’t really remember what I did for the rest of that evening. Nothing exciting, apparently.
Monday during the day, I don’t recall what I did either. LOL That night I went to dinner with some girlfriends with whom I grew up. Had a great time. Then I went over to my other grandma’s house (on my biological dad’s side) and spent time with Grandma, Daddy and Uncle Randy for an hour or so. Daddy had to be back in Jackson (45 min away) to be up early for work the next day, so we headed our separate ways. I watched the movie “Ray” with my family, and then we went to bed close to 2:00 AM.
Tuesday I got up fairly early to go with my mom to see my parents’ financial guy, who transferred over my universal life insurance policy to me and changed the beneficiaries. It’s neat finding money you didn’t know you had, even if you can’t really access it right now. (It’s got cash value.) Left there and went to Cape Girardeau to see my friend Marge, whom I hadn’t seen in at least ten years. We had lunch together, reminisced about being CAP cadets together, about boys we had crushes on, and about what life had brought us. Good times.
Came home, took a brief nap, and left for graduation. My aunt, uncle and cousin had come to town from Fulton (4 hours away). I hadn’t seen them in a long time, so it was great getting to visit. Graduation was really nice. I got chills when the choir started singing our alma mater, “The Red and the Black.” I stood proudly and sang along. It seems like only yesterday that I was standing on that stage, giving a speech at my high school graduation. In reality, it’s been nine years. NINE YEARS. Where did the time go? The speeches were good, and aside from the typical and customary showboating idiots walking across the stage like pimps, the ceremony was otherwise uneventful. My baby brother received his high school diploma. Afterward, everyone kind of mingled in the parking lot for a bit. I ran into my friend Doyle, who just got back from Iraq. We all went back to the house for ribs, BBQ, dessert, etc. Guests left and we all went to bed.
Got up bright and early Wednesday morning and left for the airport…
So that was my trip. Whirlwind. Too short, but a wonderful time.