Evie and I drove in yesterday, Sunday, afternoon, an easy drive through drizzle and a few snow flurries, nothing serious. All the family managed to come over at one time or another, as Richie’s family was going to see Billy Elliott, though we got to see them before and after the show, and Jim came by around 9:30, after work. As usual, it was a riotous afternoon, with all the grandchildren in one room or another. They love coming over and get along with each so well. Some were in the basement playing games, others hung out with the adults in the living room, and the older boys were watching Akron U win the NCAA soccer title in the family room. The only real trauma occurred when we tried to take a family picture of the kids in front of the fireplace. For some reason, Owen rebelled, was made fun of my Colin (perhaps), and Owen angrily ran over to Colin and sucker punched him in the stomach. Colin burst into tears, Owen was upset, and everyone tried to calm the two boys to no avail. Some pictures were eventually taken but as always, trying to take a family picture often ends ups torturous and unpredictable
Dinner was great as always; Linda makes it look effortless, like my Mom, but I am sure it isn’t. Evie and I had talked the other day about how ham sounded good to us, and that’s what we had, with cornbread, scalloped potatoes, and coleslaw. We made pigs of ourselves, the only two going back for seconds.
It was fun to see all the family again; we hadn’t seen them since summer, if then. Both Jack and Claire were home from college, looking good and happy. They look so grown up it’s scary. It was Sophie and Vince’s birthday, so we had cake and ice cream. Kirsten’s kids always seem to have sprouted since the last time we saw them. Connor is well over six feet, playing soccer goalie for the St. Joe varsity and Danny is playing baseball, and Emily is her gangly, shy, and enduring self. The boys are all jocks, JP and Richie, leading the pack, playing hockey and basketball and soccer, with Vince and Danny not far behind. The girls are involved, too, with Sophie swimming (she had won four races that morning), Grace played volleyball for Forest Park and Emily playing volleyball for her mom. Both Emily and Shay hung out together, calling me Santa Claus and giggling.
The highlight, of course, was Evie hauling out the treasure chest. Though it’s filled with junk, the kids still love it, no matter what age, and they talked Evie into getting three gifts because it was Christmas. The funniest was Vince, who picked out a grass skirt and wore it, and Shay, who picked out a pack of trick cards, and she went around performing her ‘name the card trick’ for who ever would participate.
Days like this make us miss our own children and grandchildren, and wish they were closer and easier to visit. I guess we each have our own way of enjoying our kids, Linda and Rich in short spurts, we in intense visits of a week. They get the kids for a couple of hours, a couple of times a week, we get ours 24 hours for a week or so. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, I guess. You take what you are given.
It’s now 6:00 in the evening, having arrived home in a heavy snowstorm, after visiting a dentist in Erie till 4:00. It was actually a light snow when we left Erie, so we thought it would not be too bad the last 45 minutes. But when we hit # 86, it started snowing harder and harder, the road was difficult to see, and the wind was blowing so hard that it often blew snow across the road obscuring our view. We ended up in a line of cars, all with their emergency lights on, moving slowly towards our exit. We were very excited to get home safe, secure, in our warm house, fire going, food in the oven. We have at least 10 new inches of snow with more to come, and the snow is dancing wildly in our front spotlight.
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