Tuesday, July 13, 2010

The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia






It's been so long I hardly know where to begin or how to start to write again. I have missed you all and have spent my days reflecting, sweating, worrying, sweating some more, loving, laughing, crying and obsessing. And that's before breakfast.

I spent the last week in Atlanta, Georgia. Yes, my 20th wedding anniversary was spent watching my boys fence at Nationals. See how it is 'my' wedding anniversary and 'my' boys. After 20 years, poor Tom still corrects me. "It's 'our' anniversary and 'our' boys!" I don't know what I would do without the love of 'my' life.

The four of us together again for one week, together making lemonade out of lemons.

It was hotter than Hades and 'cause we are from Northern California we are not used to the heat.

Our visit to FAT MATT'S pretty much sums up our visit to Atlanta. It was over 100 degrees when we arrived at this local barbeque joint. I wanted the real thing. I got the real thing. White bread and meat with so much fat that the pork falls right off the bone, slathered with barbeque sauce.

Will took his knife and fork and began to eat his barbeque chicken. The waitress ran to our table. "It's against the law to eat barbeque in Atlanta with a knife and fork," she admonished my poor son. "You need to get messy and then lick all that good barbeque off your fingers."

Will looked at me in shock. He takes his eating seriously and doesn't really like to get too messy with his food. But he dug in and we let the sauce stay stuck around our mouths for the rest of that hot Atlanta day.

It was perfect. Messy and foreign and it was just the four of us sharing a unique experience.

Yesterday we flew home. Kyle sat next to me on the plane and he began to discuss his plans for his European tour after he finishes high school. I have no idea where he came up with the idea that he "gets" a European vacation with his friends after he graduates from high school, but somewhere he did.

I looked at him with despair. It wasn't the cavalier way he assumed he was going to travel to Europe with friends after high school. It was that I wasn't going to be with him to get messy and enjoy all things foreign and share endless unique experiences with him.

Is our time together, the four of us, limited. I don't know. But I do know that I had the time of my life in Atlanta, Georgia. Go figure. As long as the four of us are together, Mommy is one happy lady.

11 comments:

  1. Terry, I have missed you! And worried about you! I'm glad to hear you were just preoccupied with your family and traveling. How did the boys do in the Nationals? I'm sure it was worth the trip, even though I think you were there during a record heatwave!

    European tour? Something new for you to worry about ahead of time.

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  2. Welcome home! I can't imagine how hot Atlanta was--whew!

    Sounds like a great trip with your tribe. And can I just tell you that I want a European tour,too?

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  3. Welcome back! I missed you! But I'm so glad you enjoyed your family time.

    My son thinks he's going on a Caribbean cruise after graduation. Ha! At least the European tour sounds much more sophisticated.

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  4. Would you believe I lived in Atlanta for 11 years and never made it to Fat Matt's? I'm not a barbecue person, though. The Varsity's frosted orange is more my speed. =>

    Welcome back! I've missed your voice.

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  5. Welcome home! I'm so glad y'all had a great time! Looking forward to hearing all about it sometime soon

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  6. Glad your back Terry. Wondering where you were, but relieved to know it was spent making some memories.

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  7. I missed you too! Don't worry too much about that European tour... high school senior boys come up with grandious plans on a daily basis! My boys finally settled on Grad night and going to a concert the next day. Sounds like I might have just lucked out in that department! Glad you are back!

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  8. We spent our 20th in Chicago with our 2 kids in tow. We ate at an extravagantly different kind of restaurant and took taxis everywhere we went.

    The whole experience was so different than our very rural life here in Colorado where cows and grass are the mainstay. It was memorable and a fabulous celebration.

    Glad you had a great time.

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  9. Does the menu really say 1/2 chicken for $5.75 and a pitcher of beer for $8.50? How could you resist?

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  10. I'm glad you had a treasured week with your boys, and with your family 'complete'. My sister lives in Atlanta (the other in Dallas) and I tell them ALL the time that I could never survive their heat. They love it. Go figure. (but then again, blizzards scare them but only excite me, so I guess to each her own)

    Great to have you back. I had decided that if you did not post soon I was going to hunt you down and figure out what was wrong!

    Happy summertime, my friend!

    Judy
    justonefoot.blogspot.com

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  11. I just stumbled across your blog. I love it! I'm going to poke around, I promise to put everything back where I found it!

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