Sunday, July 08, 2012

Visitors...no, Family!

If it's been a while since I posted, it's because my brother and sister-in-law have been visiting for the past week. They arrived last Sunday and left this morning. We had a whirlwind week. This was the good kind of visit. No funerals, no weddings. Just a visit. Well, I must tell you all that my brother's son is the proud father of a new son, so they also visited Milwaukee, WI to see their new grandson before coming here.
On Monday, we hung around the house for the day, then joined some "forever" friends in a nearby town for dinner and visiting. Applebees were very accommodating for us and gave us a large corner booth in the back of the place. It was a good thing, too, because we stayed 3 hours.
On Tuesday, we did some more hanging out at the house, then visited our parent's graves and went on out to dinner, then on to visit some cousins on the family farm. It was fun and nice to touch base with relatives we don't see too often.
On Wednesday, we made arrangements to meet some more cousins who live in southern IN, so we picked a place midway to meet. We met at one of our state's casinos and racetracks. We got there early enough to get a good table in the food court on the mezzanine above the racetrack. We gabbed, ate, gabbed and ate some more. Then at 5:00 PM, the trotter races began and we all learned how to read a racing form and place bets. I lost $2.00 on my horse, so I quit betting. Bro won $5.20 on a $2.00 bet, and our cousins won about the same amount. It was a super fun-filled day, even though it was too dry in IN for fireworks. We still celebrated just by having a great day.
Thursday, Bro and Sis went visiting to her hometown and met with some old school chums for lunch, and stopped to visit Sis's brother while in the area. That evening we met my son, daughter-in-law, the Divine Miss K and RJ for dinner at a local pizza palace. More fun!
Friday, Sis went to visit a long-time girlfriend, while Bro and I did laundry and hung out. We met she and one of Bro's school chums at a cafe for dinner and visiting.
Saturday, Sis went shopping and visiting, while Bro and I just hung out together and did the scratch, belch and all that. Then last night Sis and I prepared baked salmon, baked squash and asparagus in olive oil and sea salt. What a feast!
Too soon, today came and my family bid me adieu for a while. They had a 1000 miles to go and being gone almost three weeks, they were anxious to get going, yet hated to leave. It was a bittersweet few minutes, but as they pulled away, I was already thinking thoughts of either airways or Amtrak for later in the year.
It was a joyous and fun week. I am tired!

Peace,
JE

3 comments:

Terry said...

It's always delightful to get together with family. Don't you always wonder what is so demanding in our personal lives that postpones those family reunions. Glad you had the opportunity for a nice and rewarding visit.

Curley said...

Glad to hear that you are thinking about another visit there later in the year. I know you were not sure about going. I say, by all means, go. Life is too short and time flies by so fast. Make those plans.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Hey Jimmie, sounds like you and your family had a great week of visiting and travelling around to see other family. We got together with family this past May and will be doing it again by the end of this week when we go on yet another road trip. Take Curley's advice and make those travel plans soon. You will be glad you did.