Wonderful Weekend Surprise

 

Left to right, Jacob, Colin, Kegan, Juju
Lisa, and Morgan

Last week I texted Jacob a message that said, “Please come see me.” I meant for him to come from house to cottage for some trivial thing. But I goofed: I sent it to Colin, my oldest son who lives in Tomball, Texas. I am sure he was alarmed and thought the worst, though as soon as I discovered what I’d done, I confessed all. Still, Thursday evening he called to say, “We’ll be there in time to go to dinner tomorrow night.”

And so they were—all four Tomball Alters. Wife Lisa, teens Morgan and Kegan. We scooped up Jacob and all went to Lucil
e’s for supper. There was one too many of us to fit in the cab of Colin’s truck, but luckily my VW, which sits idle in the driveway, started right away. Colin drove, with me, Morgan, and Jacob as passengers.

Colin shepherding Juju to the car.

We had a grand time catching up—Kegan has gone from soccer, which he’s played for years, to a promising career in high school football with a minor in track. He’s a tall, thin string bean, and I can see the pole vault, but I worry about football. Morgan, almost sixteen, is beginning to think about college but is somewhat interested in a culinary career—she fixed her dad a Father’s Day dinner of Beef Wellington, salad, and key lime tarts treated like crème brulee. Colin, a CPA, is what you would call handy, and he always arrives to a list of chores—this time he replaced a faucet head, reorganized my bedroom to better accommodate my new upright walker, rolled up a rug I’m replacing—and locked his keys in his truck! All ended well, and they were on their way back to Tomball by two this afternoon.

A short visit, but I’ll take what I can get. Hope they’ll come back soon. Sure made my weekend.

Sophie probably enjoyed the visit the most of all. Somehow she recognizes family when they visit, and she has always been partial to Morgan, who once tried to scoop her up and tell me, “I think we’re all packed now.” Colin roughhouses with her, and she runs in circles, then flops down for a belly rub.

Today I attended a webinar from a Florida bookstore, Murder by the Beach. Hank Phillippi Ryan, acclaimed author of thirteen thrillers, spoke on the “Muddle in the Middle”—that middle of a book where many authors bog down. It was inspiring, and I scribbled madly, taking notes of ideas for the Irene mystery I’ve left in a muddle. The webinar was two hours, and I left a bit into the second hour because Colin and family arrived from breakfast at Ol’ South Pancake House. I will get a recording of the entire thing in a week or so. Just another block in a good day!

Tonight we’re having a special dinner—steak and baked potatoes, in honor of Jacob’s departure tomorrow for ten days at Sky Ranch Camp in Colorado. I’ll miss that kid something fierce.

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. Here in North Texas the temperatures are cooler, and it’s a pretty patio night. Maybe we’ll get to sit out.

Love is in the air

Wow, just wow! I’m not quite sure how to describe this evening. Tender, touching, exciting? Jordan’s good friend and a boy (man?) I’ve know probably thirty years, proposed to his girlfriend tonight. Wait! It gets better. He dropped to his knee on the 18^th Hole of the Colonial Country Club Golf Course, with an audience of thirty or forty people watching from the Sky Room, an upper room with expansive windows directly overlooking the 18^th. The only person who didn’t know in advance was Kelly, the bride-to-be. And she was suitably surprised.

Jordan and David

Jordan has lots of close girlfriends, but David may be her BFF. They dated briefly in high school and have remained close ever since. I have always considered David a member of the family, although he has his own close-knit family, of whom I’m very fond. So Jordan was involved in this from the get-go. She went with David to pick out the ring; she met with his parents to plan the party; and she threatened me within an inch of my life if I breathed a word, even to Sophie, before tonight.

Secrecy worked. When I asked Kelly if she expected this, she said not today. They both knew that marriage was in their future and had talked about it, but David’s elaborate planning caught her off-guard. He had even gone so far as to have golf balls imprinted with “Will you marry me?” When they got to the 18^th hole, her dad put the balls in the hole, she went to hold the flag for someone, looked down, and then looked at David. That’s when he dropped to his knee and proposed.

Those imprinted golf ball

Keepsakes, I'm sure

Later I told him I was incredibly proud of him, doing that in front of what he knew was a huge audience, and he said, “I’m proud of me too.” I thought it was a pressure situation to do what he did knowing all those people were watching. We cheered and clapped, but of course they could not see or hear us. Afterward, we milled around, drank wine, and ate hors d’oevres.

Turns out I know Kelly’s grandmother and her mother from our local PEO chapter, now dissolved. But it was good to see them again, and I had a great chat with her father, who is a good friend of a man I used to work for. We veered off into talk about medicine as a vocation and all sorts of other things.

I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, but it was one of those that frustrated me because my walker and I were often left alone at a table—even Jacob wouldn’t come sit with me. Were I mobile, I’d have been up, “working” the room, but I had to sit and wait for people to come to me—which several did. Some of Jordan’s friends of whom I’m particularly fond were there, and it was fun to see them. Jacob was impressed by the proposal and the reception when David and Kelly entered the room to claps and cheers, but other than that he was bored and ready to go home. I watched him though, and he chatted amiably with adults he’d never met. Gets his people skills from his parents..

A happy blending of two individuals and two families. May God bless them.

A monumental day in other ways. I am so impressed by the March for Our Lives across the country and the fact that there were only a few puny counter-demonstrations. Incredibly proud of my fifteen-year-old granddaughter, Eden, for marching with her mom and holding a sign high though I couldn’t tell from pictures what the sign said.

And Jordan planted the things we bought—pictures of that tomorrow. Spring—and love—really are in the air.

Me with David's parents and, far left, a family friend who

grew up on my street, as did David's dad