Virginia Is For Families

Last weekend Beth and I went up to Lynchburg to help everyone celebrate Kate’s first birthday.  There are some photos around here somewhere of Kate in her cute little dress and head band.  She’s a charmer.  I hope her teeth grow closer together some day.  But right now they are new and exploring her mouth in different directions.

Somehow in spite of her teeth and her free flowing ears she manages to still be adorable.  You might say that I am prejudiced in this regard because I am her grandfather.  But Ron Dubin actually was the one who made a pronouncement in the comments.

“She is adorable”.   Ron is a professional photographer and his opinion is not to be taken lightly.

After the party we sat out on the lawn and watched the children play.  Kate’s mom, Sarah, turned to me at one point and said “It doesn’t get any better than this” and I smiled.   Warm breezes after cold winter mornings and children and grandchildren relaxing at your feet is probably a good definition of  “good as it gets”.

And then I looked over at Beth as she soaked in some of the warm rays and cool breezes.  She had made the cake and all the cupcakes for the party.  They were beautifully decorated.   And she was enjoying the moment at well.

I could tell she was happy with her new found family.  Sarah’s mom and sister lounged in the sun.  My son Jeremy asked me to throw a football and I was happy  to find muscles stretching and coming back to life.

Charlie,  Kate’s sister, was still reeling from the realization that not all birthdays focus on him.  And his cousin Abby who is devoted to him no doubt was learning that it pays to keep your eyes on the little guy when he has a tennis racket in his hand.

These are the riches of this life.  You cannot measure wealth in terms of your diminished IRA or the value of your home.  If you do you will miss the treasure that  is spilled all over your front lawn.

Time will bring so many changes to us.  We imagine the things that will not happen and are surprised by the things that spring upon us one day when we are looking the wrong way.

Yes Sarah.  It doesn’t get any better that this.  Later when we were driving back to Richmond I suddenly felt very sleepy.   Beth doesn’t like to drive at night but I pulled over and gave her the wheel.

She drove us home as darkness settled on the road and I listened to Wolfman Jack on the satellite radio and the sounds of the sixties.

I felt protected and warm.  A man doesn’t always have to lead.  If I could go back to the days when Woodstock rose and armies returned from foreign lands I would say “Thank you”.

We protect each other.  And we know how to enjoy life.   We share our energy, our strengths and our motivation to create a better world.

Newspaper headlines do not faze us.  Someday, in fact, we may have to do away with all the newspapers entirely if they don’t quit focusing  so much on the daily, mind-numbing tragedies all around us.

We know about those things.  We want to hear about life.

And so we communicate with each other in blog land.  We have found a place to share our lives.

Our lives happen here.

Good afternoon loyal readers and paid readers.  First of all I would like to say that it has been a special honor to blog for you this past year and four months.  If you should not hear from your blogging buddy again he would like this to be the last thought that passes through the internet continuum to you.

On the way home yesterday from Lynchburg and the birthday party for Charlie I passed by The Appomattox  National Park and decided to go in and look around.  The light was very nice as the air was clear and the sun was nearing the horizon.  Long shadows from tree branches played on the sides of very old replicas of buildings from another era.

I was in heaven.  Little did I know that perhaps this was because I carried within an evil GI bug who at that very moment was planning to literally take his host to  the Gates of either heaven or the other place.

We are still negotiating.  But the blogger feels awful at this moment.  I will spare you the details but let’s just say the human body is a nest of buzzards or a bag of bones and we are the unhappy souls who have for some ill thought out reason decided to inhabit it for a short while.

Bad decision.  Very bad.

Here’s a photo from yesterday.  If the blogger should somehow recover and is still able to take photos these will remind him of the days when he was at the top of his game.

Before the sun went down and the germs came out to play.

Update//  Perhaps I am zeroing in on the BUG that is inhabiting my blog today because if you try to add a photo here everything except the Title of the Post disappears.

The blogger is having one of those days.  Hopefully someone can figure this out or has a similar experience to share.  It may have something to do with going from Admin/comments to Admin/write post without going thru the dashboard again.  I could try it but I’m too sick to mess around with another bug right now.

Hey it’s three thirty in the morning and here I am at the computer!  I was dreaming and having a conversation with someone about Charlize when suddenly there she was!   And I was startled into awakedness.

I wish she wouldn’t jump out at me like that.  Her beauty is rather overwhelming and when she in one of those aggressive characters she plays it’s impossible to keep the dream together.  It vanishes.

But I went to bed early last evening so it’s alright.  Nine to three is six hours.  And it only takes about three to five minutes to exit earth and its concerns.

My younger son Zachary and the beautiful Ashley have parted ways.   He moved out.  She kept the dog Bruno.  It’s sad when young lovers “divorce” but they had some good times and definitely learned some valuable lessons.  Hopefully they will enjoy the rest of their college years.

I would encourage all young people to invest their time and energy in the freedom they have to grow and explore life.   Learn to treasure the freedom you have as much as the love you feel for someone.  Why go down the long road to domestic life now when every day can bring a new adventure?

Zachary told me he is going to go to Spain for his senior year at VCU.  They have a coop program.  I think he said he was going to stay in Barcelona.  And he wants to start a shirt business at school.   He went to Richmond City Town Hall to find out about licenses and insurance.  He needs investors (me).  He found an art student with experience in shirt design.  Away we go!

I heard from my older son Jeremy yesterday.  Sarah had to go back to Virginia Beach where her family live for something.  So Jeremy is alone in a big house in Lynchburg for a few days.  And he misses his young family.  So he called his Dad.  Isn’t that nice?  We talked about the Washington DC pro football team.  When he was growing up they were in their glory years.  We would go to Jeremy’s soccer games and listen to them on the car radio.  What blissful  times we had when the soccer and the football both went well.  Usually the football did and the soccer did not but we enjoyed travelling around the state together anyway.

The Washington DC pro football team (I believe they still associate themselves with Native American culture) have suddenly become amazingly good.  Jeremy says it has a lot to do with their new coach Jim Zorn.  But they have amazing players and their new quaterback Jason Campbell hasn’t turned the ball over in awhile.  Maybe since the year started!  Is that possible?  His passes seem amazingly accurate.  Jeremy says that Zorn used to be a quarterback and he has really helped him.

The coach wanted to give them Monday off after their great win over Philly but the players said they wanted to practice.  They don’t want to have a let down against the teams that are coming up with poor records.  How smart is that!  How amazing too!  Giving up a day off!  Has this ever happened before anywhere?

Both Jeremy and Zachary are ecstatic about the team!  Onward to the playoffs!

Maybe I will make some scrambled eggs.  But only if I can find a pan that doesn’t have a Teflon surface.  And then it will be time to read some of the blogs on the old blogroll.   Or eat some egg rolls.  Or go back to bed.

I’ll be there in a minute Charlize.

“Oh Hi Beth!   Would you like some scrambled eggs?”

The sun is out!  I was assuming it would rain again with all the hurricanes and so forth.  But maybe not.  I have two goals this weekend.  Exercise.  Take photos.

I also need to try and help my son.  He and his girlfriend broke up.  As usual the guy is a lot more demonstrative about his pain than the girl.  Girls do have pain under these circumstances too, right?

Just checking. I have started a little project here about historical events several hundred years ago.  My basic idea is to do this once in a great while under very clear conditions.  It has to be something that took place in Virginia and we (Beth and I) have to be able to touch it in some way as we did the statue of de Grasse.  History is fun but this is not going to become a history blog.  And, hopefully,  we can find other things to examine besides this war or that war.

There are so many wars in our history!   Too many unfortunately.  But there is lots of history right here in Richmond that we can examine from time to time.   John Marshall lived here!   Edgar Allen Poe lived here before he wandered off to die in Baltimore.    The famous stage and movie dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson was born here.   And, of course, Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr.  was born and raised here.

My granddaughter Kathryn was not born here.  She was born up in Lynchburg which is a very old and prosperous community to the west up in the mountains.   In this photo she is perhaps wondering what those strange creatures outside the window might be.  We are slowly winding our way through a safari park.   What has she gotten herself into by being born into our family?

Too late for second guessing Kathryn!   Just enjoy the ride.