On the Road Again

It is Sunday night and Mama and the kids just dropped me off at the airport here in Pensacola. I am bummed at having to miss church tonight but it was the best flight I could work out for the family so they would not have to miss. We have had a great time here, some of it spent at the beach, some of it spent working on the home Cori and Nate have just been told is going to be theirs on the 29th of this month. It had been hot and very humid to the point that I got seriously overheated on Friday as Nate and I worked tearing out some awful kitchen counters.


Maggie is staying with Cori and Nate until the wedding in early September. It will give Cori someone to watch the kids while they are packing, painting and otherwise working on the house and it will give Maggie and Aaron a chance to see each other that would not have been possible if she came back to Amarillo. One by one we are seeing our children off to their new lives. It is a bittersweet privilege we have as parents.

My number 2 grandson really adopted me while we were there this time. It was often a battle for him to decide to come to me or go to his mother. Other than choosing her he never chose anyone over me. More akin to the relationship Mama has with Mykenzie – nobody ranks higher than Grammy. I have no idea if it will remain the same between me and Blake, but I will get to come back in only a few weeks when we come for Maggie’s wedding.

One particular family here at West Florida Baptist is very familiar with the Coast Guard way of life. She told Mama before Sunday School this morning that they married only a few days before he shipped out for seven months. We introduced Maggie to her so they could talk. It is something she will need to be able to deal with as she and Aaron begin their life together. All in all, I think we have made a wise choice to leave her here while wedding plans are finalized. Time spent with Cori and Nate will be good also for Maggie to get into some deep and sensitive discussions with her married sister – discussions her mother is not quite comfortable with.

Mama and Victoria have to drive back to Amarillo by themselves. It is my earnest prayer that in twenty hours of time together in the car that the two of them are able to talk; make that, Victoria is willing to talk to Mama.

I have four days of mapping and metrics sessions in Houston. It is preliminary exposure to the training job I am looking at taking over in the next couple years. I have events planned for every evening I am there, so I will not have to spend too much time in the hotel. When I get back I will have a four day weekend to make up the time to Mama, but I will leave the following Sunday for a week in Victoria, TX. I wish I could say things will slow down as I finish these additional training activities, but I do not think that is going to be the case. At least the next away trainings I am aware of are not more that an overnight stay.

I am looking forward to being home – several weeks from now.