THE Party
11:10 PM - Sunday, Nov. 09, 2003
Yes, it was a COOL DAY.
I spent all morning cooking and preparing for company. I do not know why I am not a better planner. I always think I have things planned out well enough in advance. And I am always wrong. Maybe I should continue to plan, just add a couple of hours on to my estimate. I had all four burners going on the stove, both ovens ready for casseroles and veggies and rolls. And I only missed my estimated lunch time by about 40 mins, so not toooo bad.
We had a lot of fun over lunch with all the family around. The big excitement was when a nun and another woman walked by. They were walking right down the middle of the street. And this nun was in complete traditional nun attire. Long black skirts and overblouse and the black and white head dress. It was interesting seeing her walk by. I really don't even remember seeing a nun in such formal dress before. So many of the nuns these days seem to dress more informally. Anyway--we watched them walk by. We continued with our lunch. Then my sister yelled "The nun is coming back by!" We all pressed our little faces against the windows to watch--only to have both women turn and look straight at us. That was a bit embarrassing. Sorry, ma'am. Just a bunch of Baptists gawking.
After lunch we paraded outside on some pretext or another. I think Son#1 was having some faint realization of what was going on. My brother-in-law had gotten out and tied streamer on the pick-up and made a really cute sign for the front windshield. (He is a really creative guy.) About that time my dad tossed the keys to Son#1. He was cool. He was calm. That's just the way he is. He takes it all in, processes it, never letting you in on what exactly it is he is thinking. I had predicted that response. Don't get me wrong. He is so sweet and so grateful and very humble about it all.
A few minutes later, all of a sudden Son#2 realizes what has happened. I had also predicted he would be more excited (at least outwardly) than #1. Sure enough, he went nuts. The funniest part was that he just kept hugging his big brother and saying "I'll never have to ride the bus again!!" When was the last time you saw two big ole teenage brothers hug each other? It was the best! After hugging big brother over and over, he proceeded to hug the grandparents, the parents, the aunt, the uncle, then back to the brother. It was pretty funny.
Son#1 and his grandfather went for a drive, then spent a lot of time going over all the details of all the buttons and controls in the pick-up. I think it was as exciting for my dad as it was for my son.
We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the football game and taking it easy.
I have loaded the dishwasher twice and there is still more to clean. I do believe I used every pan, utensil and casserole dish that I own. All well worth the work.
I think I'll go find the Alka Seltzer, then rest my weary bones.
