It’s been a whirlwind week.
Monday I scrambled to get some World Race stuff done before I had to fly out of Atlanta at 9:30 pm. I flew that night to St. Louis where my brother had just graduated from Seminary. We watched the end of the Cardinals game and then got up early on Tuesday to go pick up his moving truck and start loading all of his, his wife’s, and his 7 month-old son’s belongings into it. When we were done we drove out to the suburbs and ate dinner with my aunt, uncle and cousins. That was a fun and the bratwurst was delicious (Thanks Phil and Diana). After dinner we drove back into St. Louis where we went to Ben’s favorite bar and met a friend of his, drank a few beers, watched the Cardinals games and were serenaded by Karaoke led by two ladies who had to be in their late fifties or early sixties and who weighed probably about 200 pounds a-piece. There were only about 15 people in the place so the old ladies tried to get things going by doing their favorite songs highlighted by Cher’s “Life after Love” and then encouraging the girls in the bar to “drink up and start singing”. That was an experience.
On Wednesday we started our drive. The 15-foot Budget truck with a full-size trailer carrying their Jeep Liberty scared me a little bit so I let Ben drive the whole way until we got to our stopping place for the day in Chattanooga, Tennessee where a couple of Ben’s friends from college live at the base of Lookout Mountain. Ben’s friends Mark and Sarah (sorry if there’s no H there, let me know if I need to fix it) took us to a disc golf course on top of Lookout Mountain and we played 18 holes (or baskets I guess). Afterward we went to this Mexican restaurant in downtown Chattanooga where I randomly ended up seeing a good friend of mine who went to Oglethorpe for the Fall of our freshman year before she transferred to Samford, that was fun and surprising. We went back to Mark and Sarah’s ‘calming’ house on the mountain and tried some moonshine that their neighbor had given them before calling it a night.
We got up Thursday morning and were in Atlanta by 9:30 where we loaded up my truck and, after trying to no avail to sell some furniture to this thrift store-type place down the street where the lady tending he counter was sipping on her flask, began the last leg of our drive to Orlando in separate vehicles. I drove my truck and Ben continued to drive the Budget “biz-nass” (“you can change lanes whenever really because nobody can challenge you because they don’t want to mess with all this biz-nass we got behind us”). We got to my parents’ house about 10 PM where they were just seeing off a couple from dinner who organizes the fundraisers for our church’s Academy, where my Mom is Principal. We had a few drinks in the living room and then went to bed.
We woke up Friday morning and my brother, my dad, and myself went out to my brother’s new house to unload their stuff with the help of the associate Pastor Jon, Worship Leader Bob, and Communications Director Chris (all three pretty good friends of mine/ours). After that I sorta hung out with Chris for a while (I worked with him on graphics stuff at church all through High School and he’s now my main confidant/accountability buddy) and then came back to my parents’ house to get myself set up for the Summer in the guest house. Later in the afternoon Dad, Ben, Chris and I all went to see the new Indiana Jones movie, which had aliens in it so you know it was crazy sweet. Shia Lebeouf was pretty awesome too.
Dad, Mom and Ben went out to the Beach last night and I said I wanted to stay at home because I wanted to be able to remain in one place for more than a day. I spent some time on the phone with Tech Support trying to get my laptop to recognize my Dad’s wireless, hoping it would work in the guest house (it doesn’t), but we did get it working so I can use my computer to do things like update my blog and not rely on my parents’ computer which seems to get slower every time I come home.
So now I sit at my favorite spot at my parents’ house updating my blog for the enjoyment of all you out there in cyberspace. Hopefully I’m about to figure out how to embed a picture below so you can share my view right now. My parents’ house sits on five acres just outside of Orlando and the land is pretty much covered in trees, which are in turn draped in spanish moss. It’s a pretty calming scene which is nice at the end of this week. You can see the guest house, my abode for the summer, in the background.
In two weeks family will be coming down for my brother’s ordination and installation as he becomes our family’s sixth-generation Lutheran Pastor and the third Pastor at the church my Dad started over 20 years ago. That’s pretty crazy-sweet if you ask me.
I’m pumped to be here all Summer reconnecting with family, especially Ben, his wife Megan, and my tiny new nephew Wes as they start a new life together in Orlando and at Holy Cross.
God is great and his people are beautiful. I thank him for safe travel, bratwurst, old ladies singing Cher on karaoke, “biz-nass”, disc golf, moonshine, chance meetings at a Mexican joint in Chattanooga, drunk thrift store attendants, awesome church-worker friends, aliens and Indiana Jones movies, tech support, and this beautiful environment I’m currently enjoying.
It’s going to be a good Summer. Praise God.
