Where Did the Weekend Go?

Greetings, friends!

Seriously, where did my weekend go? It seems like such a whirlwind of a weekend. It is difficult to imagine that it is already time to go back to work tomorrow morning!

Throughout last week I had made plans to visit some of my favorite people on the planet. Friday came around, and I left school as soon as I was done ushering through the extraordinarily long car line that amasses each day. As always, I got stuck in some traffic on my way through Knoxville. I texted my friends to let them know I would be arriving at about 6:30 central time.

I arrived at the door and was instantly and enthusiastically welcomed by my hosts for the night... Mikeal and Mandi. Actually, Mikeal greeted me at the door with a big hug. Mandi was slaving away in the kitchen! Dare I forget to mention that there was an additional blond head in the house that night...Miles! We sat down to dinner. Mandi wanted to introduce Miles to the southern specialty of beans and cornbread. Let me tell you, that woman can cook! It was delicious! Miles had made some additional bread for the meal. I definitely got my load of carbs for the weekend. (By the way, Miles...the bread was incredible!)

The rest of the evening was spent sitting around the table talking about this and that. We got to see various pictures from Mikeal's computer, then Miles showed us pictures from his 6-week trip to an orphanage in Ethiopia. (Yes, the guy is amazing!) I must mention that I was in the presence of Mac maniacs. Everywhere I turned there was a Mac laptop, a Mac desktop, several different iPods. They love their Macs!

I awoke the next morning to the sounds of the three cutest kids on the planet scurrying upstairs. Once I made my bed I got myself up the stairs to the main floor. Mikeal was in the midst of making breakfast for the brood. I think he referred to them as swedish pancakes. (Mikeal, my apologies if I am wrong.) Nonetheless, they were delicious. Little HMJ put three of them away...far more than anyone else. I think Peach finally caught up to him later.

Sadly, I had to leave my favorite family because I was due at my annual family reunion about an hour away. I did not want to leave. I could spend days and weeks with them. I wish they would adopt me! (Hey, free child care here.)

I got to my family reunion just in time. When I got there I almost did not get out of the car. I did not really want to be there this year. In fact, I had mad plans not to be there until my great aunt Betty called me and demanded I be there with a mandarin orange cake in tow. I obliged. Walking up to the family I realized it was much smaller than it had been in years past. Growing up we would attend this reunion with over 200 family members in attendance. In the past few years that number has diminished. I counted about 75 people there this year. It was hard being there. My dad was out of the state, and my Aunt Sue (the matriarch of my family) was not there either.

I stayed for about an hour. The food was phenomenal, as always. My great aunt Sarah always makes several pots of chicken-and-dumplings from scratch, and it is the best part of the meal. Honestly, just put them in an IV and hook me up! Yummmmmmmm!

While I was in town, I made the 10-minute drive out to the lake-side cemetary to visit one relative who has not been able to attend the reunion in 7 years...my grandmother. Every time I am in town, I make it a point to visit her. She was my best friend, and I miss her dearly. I took a picture of her tombstone this time, which I have never done before. I forgot that Boo and I were taking pictures before I left M&M that morning. The picture was beautiful, and I was just surprised by it. I will try to post it later if I can get it from my phone.

Got back home Saturday night just in time for a party fundraiser. That's right, I love me some politics, so I attended a fundraiser/rally. I loved it. I got all fired up and was ready to ouster some legislators in our state. We really need to get rid of some of them. I will save the naming of names for another day.

Fast forward to today...Sunday. This afternoon I made my way over to my school to get some work done. However, I hung out for about 45 minutes before I gave up. I had zero motivation to do anything. Instead, I found my car driving over to Kohls, Target, etc. I went to one of our beautiful state parks here in the mountains and walked for a bit. I found the most incredible kids playground ever. I believe they referred to it as a boundless playground. They weren't kidding. It was a kid's fantasy playground. Even I wanted to go play around.

All-in-all, I had a wonderful weekend. Friday night was definitely the best part of my weekend. Thanks to Mandi, Mikeal, the munchkins, and the incomparable Miles for making this weekend the best I have had in a very long time!