What a weekend!

Whew, he said with a smile on his face and in his heart. This was a big, busy weekend, and a good one.

Friday night, went out to Munchie. I don't care what they name it, it will always be Munchie. Then I took my bride to get my hair cut. Wow! What could top that? How about another drink for the Mrs. and an Irish Coffee for me at the Blu Tomato. Irish Coffee, 'cause I was sleepy, but I wanted a little drink. Wrapped the night up with something funny on the Comedy Channel.

Saturday, the last Saturday that I have to go into the radio station to babysit the talk shows. Alarm kicks off at 5:45AM. An hour later, I'm at the station, working, sorting, filing, until about 12:15. Then it's off to the downtown StarB. to give Rach a pair of tickets to the Stem and Stein that night.

1:30pm. I pull into the Verizon store and Abby and I sign up for a new cell phone plan for her. 90 minutes later, and a few Hundred dollars later, we are over at W-mart picking up my new eyes and then we head homeward so Ab can go to work.

4:45pm (still Saturday) Me and Kathy head downtown to the Stem and Stein Wine and Beer tasting at the Art Museum. At about quarter past 5, Kath reaches our friend Marcia W-R, cause we have a pair of tix for her too. Good thing, because Marcia thought the event was Sunday. So we wander around, talking to each other and others too under the big top and the bands are playing tunes, the beer and wine is flowing along with the snacks from Club Soda.
Rachael and one of her long time friends from middle school-on, Kyle Camp (That's his name, not a place to go camping), arrive and at various times we go inside the Gallery to cool off until around 8 when we decide we've had enough booze and now it was coffee and desert time.


So for the second time in 8 hours, I'm back at the downtown StarB, this time with Kathy and Marcia. Finally it's time to head back to our spot in the woods and wait for the next event....

So, in order to stay awake, I'm organizing crap on my computer. Reading and watching TV would put me to sleep and I've got some special visitors coming to spend the night. Around 11:30, they've arrived and when I say they, I mean Jon and Tiff. Mad and Josh are over too and after awhile it is time to hang it up for the night.

Around 6:30 Sunday morning, I hear Kathy up and around, getting ready for work and I force myself to go back to sleep. Close to 9, I wake up and toss some clothes on and start making coffee. Jon gets up and we talk and eat and one by one, everyone else gets up and nibbles on this and that and drinks this, that and the other.

I set up my laptop so Jon and Tiff could scan their wedding pictures. Jon did 1/2 then Tiff did the rest with a little help from her sister. (Someone called Rachael and told her to come join us).









In the afternoon we played the Fort Wayne version of Monopoly, until both Josh and Jon went broke. Then it was time for me to make cd copies of the wedding pictures while others were playing Euchre. Finally 4:15 arrived and the party moved into the next phase.





Kathy got off work, got cleaned up and out the door we went to Casa Grille. The food was DELICIOUS. And as I looked around the table and saw my wife and three kids, two of them with their girlfriend or husband, it was a very special moment that I will treasure.

As I think about it now, it reminds me of the first time I met Kathy's family, all 7 siblings with some of their kids, and Kathy's mom, watching with a peaceful look on her face. This was Christmas, 2000.

After dinner, we all climbed into our cars and headed off. We got hugs from Tiff and Jon as they were headed back to Indy. Rachael came over, and Josh set up his 'puter to the TV in the living room so we could all watch the movie, "Happy Feet". Ian and Jacob came over for awhile, and Abby came home after she got off work. By now it was after 9pm Sunday. (Oh, Brandon was out of town on business)

I think that just about describes my action packed weekend, except to share with you why this time was so special.

You see, on Saturday August 11th, less than 5 days from right now, Abby moves to Purdue. Abby just turned 19 last month and I've known here since she was 11 and we have been a family since I married her Mom, Kathy on St. Patricks day, 2001. One day, I'll blog about some of my Abby memories. Then in about 3 weeks, Josh and his radish named Madeline, head to Maine for the College of the Atlantic. Josh has been under our roof since January, nearly 9 months. And during this 9 month gestation period, I have watched him grow, change, and come alive again.

Today, it was back to work, fix some problems, help some people and sign some new contracts. Overall, life is good and we are blessed.