Kentucky?

I let myself sleep in as long as I wanted. I slept until 8am. And figuring I fell asleep somewhere near midnight, I got a full 8 hours of sleep. As I headed out the door, Mindy asked that I bring her coffee in a little while.  I acknowledged her request as I tip-toed down the stairs.

Because it was Sunday, I didn’t do any calisthenics. Instead, as soon as I started the coffee, I sat down in front of my PC. For starters, I read about the Vikings 23-17 preseason loss to the Cowboys. Vikings had a field goal blocked and returned for a touchdown. That was the difference – a ten point swing.

Sipped coffee while playing at the PC. Weather was ideal, about 64 and sunny under beautiful blue skies, which was more than I could say for NYC. Good thing I wasn’t still there. First and earthquake and now hurricane Irene was wreaking havoc with NYC and the Jersey shoreline. The good news was that the storm had lessoned to some extent, although heavy rains were still expected to pound and flood the area.

Eiknarf was crying from Jacob’s room. Went and fetched her, leashed her up and headed out on a walk. She took care of business fairly quickly.  No sooner were we back when Bella and Olivia joined me downstairs. Immediately, Olivia asked to play Wii. As always, until everyone else was up, the answer was no.

Both of the girls asked for whipped cream on their fingers.  I obliged their request. They asked for coffee too. Instead of no, I made them each a cup of fru-fru coffee – mostly chocolate milk with just a hint of coffee. They loved it.

Mindy was up around 9am, or just about the time I was preparing for my run. She all but insisted I spend a little time with her out on the deck. My mind was all set to run, but I gave her five minutes anyhow. I’m guessing that it was near 930am when I finally dressed and left for a run.

I ran three miles without any problem whatsoever. Of course, I didn’t expect any either. As soon as I was back, Mindy asked if I still planned on getting donuts with Bella. Yes. I said we’d go ahead and take the Honda so I wouldn’t have to jockey the cars around to get to the BM’er. Mindy quickly said that Bella was looking forward to a ride in the BM’er. She was right. I did tell her as much. I moved the Accord to the street to unblock the BM’ers path out.

Bella and I headed off for Tim Horton’s right up the road. Didn’t take long. We got a dozen donuts and 20 Tim-Bits. The girl working the donut counter was a bit aloof. Seemed stoned even. Laughed incessantly when she almost fell over. Scary! 

Mindy had pancakes ready for the kids by the time we were back home. I said I wasn't interested in any, but eventually ate one of the plain one’s. I passed on the donuts, at least for the time being. After the kids enjoyed their donuts we headed out back to swing. I already knew that Ashley was on her way to pick-up Olivia. Lindsey called a little earlier from Ashley’s house. Rode the bus their from the YMCA downtown. Heading to church.  We talked briefly. Said she’s not liking it much. Says it’s dirty, but then again no dirtier than her mother’s place. I chuckled about that. It pains me much to think that my kid and here kids are living/staying at the ‘Y’, but she’s got to forge her own path. Can’t help her more than providing encouragement.

Ashley was over by 11am to fetch Olivia. She came out back and watched us swing.  I could easily sense that Ashley had something she wanted to tell me. I didn’t prod, however. By the way, her teeth are already moving back into place after having her braces installed for only about ten days. More importantly, she feels good about it.

As we walked back towards the house Ashley came clean. She said she’s giving strong consideration to moving to Kentucky, where Steven’s father and step-mother reside.  She cited several reasons, as if she had to justify it to me. She didn’t mention her mother’s response, but did share that her grandma went off about it. I only said that she needs to follow her heart and dreams. Live her own life. Now believe me, the last thing I want is for my daughter and grand daughter to move away, but I also realize you only live once. If that’s her calling, who am I to rain on her parade?  Several thoughts/questions raced through my head, but I knew then wasn’t the time to espouse them. She said her stomach was in knots thinking about telling me. I laughed about that.

In the end, she said it wouldn’t be any sooner than next spring, after her orthodontics are completed and only after she secures a new job/career down there. She again cited several reasons for the move, most of which I cringed at, but once again opted to only listen and encourage. Also whirling in the back of my mind were my own youthful moves to Florida and California. Those experiences were invaluable to me.

Can’t recall if I or Ashley told Mindy once inside. Like me, Mindy only encouraged her to follow her dreams. And as she often does, Mindy offered Ashley some gas money just before they departed. She said she didn’t need it.

As soon as they were gone, I headed out to start on the lawn. Mindy said she’d be making a run to Target shortly. I asked only that she get me some work gum. Once engrossed in the lawn work, I asked Mindy to move her Pilot to the driveway’s center enabling me to edge and mow without concern for the vehicle. She obliged.

It was warm and sunny, but far less humid than it’s been all summer. I worked up only a mild sweat. The mowing part behind me, I kept at it, moving on to weed whacking next. Initially, I chose not to bother changing out the line to the thicker stuff I bought on Thursday. But once one side broke off, I decided it was time to give it a whirl. Took about five minutes to reload the spool with the .95 mm line.  Wow! Should’ve done that a long time ago. Did the entire yard without needing to tap n’ go even once. Nice!

After finishing the edging and blowing, I headed inside for a shower. I was itchy from  bits of lawn debris. Mindy wondered if I was planning to go somewhere. Nope, just getting the grass off. I was done working too. Wanted to relax. After my shower I got comfortable in the recliner and started to dose. It was 255pm when Mindy said she was leaving for Target. Wasn’t sure exactly where the kids were. No worries. I’d take care of them.

She wasn’t out the front door for 20 seconds when Bella came in the back door asking for her mom. Said she was back to go to Target with her. Oops! Told her to hurry and catch her backing out the driveway. Only problem was, Mindy was already down the road. Bella was disappointed, but not distraught.

I spent the rest of my afternoon napping and playing on the PC. At some point I ate some leftover pizza. It was good. I’m guessing that Mindy was back in a little more than a hour. I shared how Bella was disappointed that she missed her. She said she forgot that Bella wanted to go. Said I should’ve called her. Would’ve turned around to get her. Ouch! I told Bella not to bother her. J  No harm. Bella was back outside playing joyfully with her friends.

Mindy started dinner soon after she got back home. She made penne pasta with shrimp. The kids came home from play around 5pm. Said Kenny was on his way down for a visit. Still hadn’t seen Kenny since I’ve been home from NYC. In fact, haven’t seen hide nor hair of him since the last weekend of July. Wow!

Mindy put the finishing touches on dinner while I watched a NatGeo special on the events leading up to 9/11. If memory serves, it all started in 1983. Hmmm? I found the linking fascinating. Did a nice job bringing all the evidence and circumstances to the forefront. Went into extensive detail about the terrorists that actually flew the planes into the WTC. They’d been living amongst us for nearly 2 years.

Dinner was served earlier than usual. Sure enough,. Kenny stopped down, but when he saw that we were eating he said he’d stop by again later. I didn’t realize it at the time but he was home alone with Lillian. Chrissy, Jake, and Makayla were off to church and soccer practice. He could’ve eaten with us.

After dinner and clean-up Mindy asked if I wanted to walk Eiknarf. I suggested we stop down and see the neighbors. Mindy concurred. We took Eiknarf down to the neighbors. Kenny was prepping their dinner for later, making sis kabobs. Looked good. We didn’t stay too long, probably no more than 20 minutes.

I was eager to get home and watch Rising – The Rebuilding of the WTC on Discovery Channel. Turns out, the family watched with me. Interesting story lines following the folks doing the work and hearing the stories that inspired them to be part of the new WTC. Some of the footage was so fresh that it had to have been taken while I was still there. Could see our building in several shots.

We watched for over two hours, eventually bagging it in the third hour and DVR'ing the rest. It was about 1015pm when we all headed for bed. Jacob was asleep even before I made it up to tuck him in. Bella, on the other hand, was still wide awake. Mindy toyed with the idea of sleeping with the windows opened but changed her mind when the house hadn’t cooled as much as she had hoped an hour or so before bedtime.