Home Alone, Again!

My wife left me again this past weekend. She was off for three days so she went to Louisiana and met up with her twin sister (born 18 months apart) and they travelled over to visit their older brother who lives in the northeastern part of the state. He’s been recovering from prostate cancer and they very much wanted to see how he is doing. He’s the kind of person who would rather not share his aches and pains, therefore, they had to see how he was doing for themselves. After more than forty-five years of hanging around these girls, I can tell you they can be quite persistent. Their report is that he is doing great. What a blessing and what an answer to our prayers!

But this left me all alone at home. Friday evening I visited the grocery store for items needed. On Saturday I was up early putting the finishing touches on my Bible study lesson for Sunday. I called my mom and talked with her over in Louisiana. I always do that every Saturday morning. I called and checked on my wife. We had a two hour Christmas music preview at the Church at 10 a.m., so I attended that. They had catered a meal but I left after the rehearsal and went over to our middle son’s house and picked up his four kids and took them to eat lunch at McDonald’s. I had not seen the kids for a while, therefore, I was anxious for them not to forget their Poppy.

They had a great time and we sat and visited and they ate their food and then they ate their ice cream. On my way back to drop them off Lil Alex who will be two in a couple of weeks fell asleep. He was asleep whenever I got them back to their house so my son just carried him in and put him on the bed. I said my goodbyes and returned to my home some twenty minutes away. I messed around doing this and that and in a couple of hours the phone rang and it was my daughter-in-law who said Lil Alex had woke up and was very sad because his Poppy was gone. She put him on the phone and I talked to him. I asked if he wanted me to come get him to bring him to Poppy’s house. I heard my daughter-in-law tell him he had to talk not just shake his head. Once she got back on the phone I told her I was on my way back over there to pick him up.

They were waiting for me on the sidewalk. He was so happy. I loaded him up and brought him to the house. We played in the play room. He banged on the antique pump organ and I did the pumping. He rode the tricycle. He ate grapes and a banana. He had some diet root beer to drink. He had his Poppy pull him in the wagon up and down the street. He had a wonderful time. He did go from room to room looking for his MiMi. I didn’t have to tell her he did that but I decided to let her know he had not forgotten his MiMi. After a little more than an hour he was ready to go see his mom. I loaded him back up and carried him home. Of course once he got there he was undecided about whether he wanted to stay there or go with me, but he stayed and I returned home.

What to do when you are home alone on Saturday night? Well, the NASCAR Richmond race was on and Dale Jr. had this last chance to make it into the championship playoff. My driver, the number 24, Jeff Gordon, dominated the race for more than half the night but towards the end he began to fade. Nothing infuriates me more than when this happens! I was already flipping forth and back between Grand Slam where the finals were underway. This is a lightning fast game show where the highest winners from previous game shows face off. In the final match it was Ken Jennings of Jeopardy fame and Ogi Ogas who had won $500,000 on Millionaire. Ogi was a lower seed but had beaten every one he faced to gain the opportunity to face Ken. You may not like game shows. We watch them at our house because my wife loves them and this particular one is pure skill, no gimmicks, just person to person, with the clock ticking down. Ken Jennings won this match convincingly and nailed down another chapter in his legendary quiz show accomplishments. I highly advise anyone to watch the replays of this final match. It doesn’t get any better than this one! It is on the Game Show Network (GSN).

Okay back to the race and my guy is still fading. Here’s what I do when that happens. I turn the TV off and go to bed and first thing Sunday I run upstairs and check the results on my computer. I was up early on Sunday morning preparing for the day. I and another fellow arrive at the Church a couple hours early to get everything turned on, coffee made, and have everything ready for the day. We do this to keep our pastoral staff from having to do it. We had a good Bible study and then a good morning worship time and sermon from our Pastor. After this I returned home fixed me a sandwich for lunch and turned on the TV. I was wanting to keep up with Tiger in the golf tournament, the US Open tennis matches, and Texans football game, and I was also watching that investigative series on A&E called The First 24 Hours. No wonder my wrist stays sore!

My middle son came over and picked me up to drive me across town to our youngest son’s to fetch his pick-up truck for us to borrow a few days because my wife’s car has to be put in the shop for repairs since a lady at the Church piled into the rear end and did $1500 worth of damage. That was a couple of hours. Of course once I got to our youngest son’s I had to spend time with our little Brady who was so happy to see his Poppy. He woke up after I got there and was very surprised to see me. Talk about a sweet time with the youngest of our ten grand kids! Poor Poppy, home alone again, with so little to do, and guess what? Lil Brady didn’t go looking anywhere for his MiMi! More later……………..