Trouble

About 8 weeks old.  You can see how we were deceived by that sweet face.

"Trouble.  That's what her name should be," said my sister.  And it would be appropriate too, except her name is Brownie (and no, your eyes aren't deceiving you, she's not brown). Today is her birthday and she is 5.  Which means she'll, no doubt, do some of this

Asleep on the ottoman.

and probably a little of this

Resting on the sofa.

and she'll definitely do this

Yes.  Asleep, on the back of the sofa, front paws outstretched.  

B.F.'s Birthday

Today is my dad's birthday.  He's 78!  

Born at home in Star, NC, sometimes called "Twinkle Town" (at least by the members of our family), the doctor wrote "Billy", rather than my grandparents' intended "William", on his birth certificate.  He's been known as Billy since, though almost always signs his name B.F. (Franklin).  

In a Popeye suit with a Popeye doll!  

My dad moved with his parents and older sister to Newport News, Virginia when he was 5.  Raised by hardworking parents in tough times, he was athletic (football and baseball) 

That's him, number 16, front row, right.  

and industrious (paper route stories abound) and well-liked (voted Best-All-Around in high school).  He married my mom (a classmate a few year younger) just a couple years out of high school and served in the Army in the late 50's stationed in Germany.  When he returned, he resumed a job working for the local telephone company (did me proud when he put his install skills to use connecting all the girls' phones on my hall my second year in college).  

Father of the bride. 

He helped raise 4 kids and worked long and hard (overtime when and where it was offered).  And, he's smart, I might add. He made his way to and up the corporate ladder and is a true American success story, though I doubt he ever thinks of himself that way.  I'm proud of him and what he's accomplished. 

With his mom in 1997.  He was the "apple of her eye" but his temperment is more
like his own dad's, who was referred to, interestingly enough, as H.F. 

My kids call him "Pop"

I wrote a post back in February about my dad, but didn't want his day to pass without acknowledging the loving and sentimental husband, father and grandfather he is today.  Happy Birthday, Dad!  

XXX Olympics

The summer Olympics begin in less than a week and we're looking forward to it at our house. For as long as I can remember  I've loved the Olympics. Winter Olympics are great, but, to me, the summer  Olympics are even more awesome.

I remember, going way back to 1976 now, Nadia Comaneci's perfect 10 inspiring a whole generation of young girls' (me included) interest in gymnastics (dang, those uneven parallel bars are tough). I still love the gymnastics events. Track and field and swimming have our complete attention, too.  

In 1996, the Olympics took place in Atlanta. Most of the sports were practically in our own back yard. Granted, it wasn't the most illustrious of Olympic host cities, but we had the good fortune of attending several events.  My parents even made the trip to attend a few.  

Our ticket to a women's basketball event

We found a spot on Peachtree Street and watched the Olympic torch pass.

We attended the men's marathon (no ticket required)

At the marathon, someone allowed us to hold their Olympic torch.  I was 4 months pregnant and had a bad case of poison ivy (on my face!)

Some neighbor friends of our hosted a party for one of the visiting men's gymnastics teams (Romania?).  They were nice guys but spoke very little English.  One of the team members won the gold medal in the rings event that year - what a thrill it was to watch him win after meeting him in our friends' kitchen just 10 days earlier.   

For the last week of the games, we rented our house to a family from Ohio (a connection we made through Robbie's job).  It was a ton of work getting the house ready but I'd do it again given the opportunity.  

London seems like a great location for the Olympics. Let the games begin!  

Five

Happy Birthday to iPhone!  That's right.  Eighteen hundred and twenty five days ago today, Steve Jobs and those fine folks at Apple brought us the very first iPhone.  I received my first iPhone as a gift shortly after their introduction. Needless to say, I've never looked back.  Now, 3 of the 4 members of our family are converts.  No worries, we're working on my husband and that Blackberry of his is looking more and more inadequate every day. 

Camp

I didn't grow up in a camp-going family.  The economics of it were just not something that worked for us -- in other words, it cost a lot.  Once or twice I went to church camp, which if you're Southern Baptist is like a whole week of Vacation Bible School plus the added "enhancement" of 4-H style dormitory lodging.

When our kids were very little, they went to day camp, mostly with sports themes or dance themes or chess themes or [fill in the blank] theme of their hobby or interest du jour. 

At sport camp at DUMC

I think the backdrop is adorable.  

And they went to VBS at our church too.  Where they had snack time (goldfish crackers served in Dixie cups) and story time (Noah and Moses and Daniel in the Lion’s Den) and craft time (each day's artwork laid in the hallway so as not to be forgotten).  More often than not, I was teaching the X-year -olds in some room down the hall and we finished up in time to head home for lunch.  

 A handprint fish made in VBS.
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”
~Matthew 4:19

Finally, however, when McKenzie was 10 (practically a senior citizen, I learned, in the summer camp world), we sent her to sleep-away camp for 5 days.  The camp was a magical place, like something in a movie (think Parent Trap - before Lindsay Lohan lost her way), nestled in the mountains of North Carolina. 

See what I mean?  Movie set, right?

From the setting, to the activities, to the counselors, it was everything you'd want and hope for, and she loved it.  

That's her the in the green sweatshirt, second from the right. 

So much so that she went back the next year for 10 days and finally in her third year she went again for 10 days. After that, the camp offered only month-long sessions for teenagers, and that seemed both expensive and lengthy, and thus ended her camp career.  

Now both our kids are slightly introverted and homebodies so it was with great reluctance that we sent our son to camp this past weekend. As we packed, I was reminded how lengthy and unforgiving those supply lists can be ("there's no way this kid needs 10 pairs of underwear for 6 days of camp") but I was comforted by reflecting on our daughter's experience and praying that his would not be all that different. By all accounts, he's at a really great camp, with generations of attendees singing its praises, almost always using phrases like "life-changing."  

So this past Saturday my husband took our son to camp.  Actually, he drove him 3 hours to the bus that took him the additional six and half hours to camp. So yes, it better be good.  And I find myself wondering if he's having a good time.  Does he like it?  Is he making friends?  Was it a mistake to wait so late in his adolescence to thrust him into this kind of overnight experience?  And, as I so often do, as my children get older, I find myself longing for the days of day camp and VBS.  

One Year

Our change of address postcard.

Three hundred and sixty five days ago today, "our family moved to Texas." Never in a million years did I imagine I would ever utter those words. Prior to last June 22, 2011, we were east coast people and southerners.

Texas, in case you didn't know, is "Like a Whole Other Country." To me, even a year later, it is so different. It's no wonder the governor's recent talk of secession didn't seem too strange to Texans.  

It's hot here but, mercifully, less humid than Atlanta. The climate is really more desert southwestern than southern. I've come to believe there are just two seasons in Texas:  1) summer and 2) not summer.  And though our first summer here was brutal weather-wise (70+ days over 100 degrees), we didn't mind it so much. It wasn't the 100 degree days that rankled us, it was all those days when it was 107 or 110 or even 113 (like the day we took our daughter to college).  Fortunately, we had a lot of rain  during the winter and spring months this year and Dallas is fairly green and lush right now. The weather folks keep saying this summer won't be quite as hot - I'll let you know.

Otherwise, Texas is interesting. The people here are very friendly and nice. And it's true: the woman are beautiful.  Many people have ties to Atlanta so that is helpful.  Most have interesting and long Texas family histories. People seem to leave, but almost always seem to eventually return.  I have had more than one woman tell me that her husband insisted their children be born in Texas - that generational Lone Star thing is obviously important.

Other things about Texas:

• The terrain here is flat.  I wasn't quite prepared for that.  If you ever want to run a marathon I'm guessing one in Dallas would be a bit easier than, say, one in San Francisco.
• The economy is strong in Texas. Unemployment is low.  (Urban myths abound about $16/hr jobs at McDonalds in Midland, Texas because there simply aren't enough workers). Fuel prices are lower (I paid just $3.21 at the pump yesterday, and the national average for a gallon of unleaded is about $3.45).  
• Texans are storytellers.  If you ask them a question, they tell you a story, which may or may not answer the question. 
• The barbecue and the Tex-Mex here are, as you would expect, very, very good.
• There are lots of Spanish language television and radio stations here.  And, watching telenovelas seems to be a surprisingly good way to improve your spanish speaking skills.  

This time next year - if I'm still writing blog posts - I'll no doubt be able to enumerate even more things about Texas.  Right now, I find myself missing the South. Though it's nice to be able to stay up and watch our family favorites The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, and Saturday Night Live because of Central Time, I really do miss Eastern Standard Time, friends and family, and familiarity. I guess you could say that I still have Georgia on my mind! 

Texas

Since moving to Texas almost a year ago, I've learned just token amounts of information about what makes this state so proud. Today's holiday is one of those things.  

According to Wikipedia, "Juneteenth commemorates the news on June 19, 1865, that slaves in Texas were free. The general order, read on the steps of Ashton Villa at 2328 Broadway in Galveston, came almost three years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862."