Various Goings On

I know it's been a while. Busy mainly, but I will admit to some ambivalence. I started posting last Wednesday, but then got a severe case of writers block. When I realized nothing I was writing made any sense, lacking any structure or logical flow, I scrapped it. So here we go with a fresh attempt.

Prior to last week we had been on vacation for about 10 days. We had a nice time at Cape San Blas, although punctuated by a bit of sadness. Just as we were leaving for Florida my mom called and passed along that my aunt had died a couple hours earlier. If you read this little outlet with any regularity you will recall a tribute I posted several months back to my uncle who died last August, who was this aunt's husband. They were both wonderful people, and I will continue missing them. I am encouraged by their lives and can only hope to be as fruitful in my years.

A big part of this vacation was family time. Although not in the best of circumstances, we were able to introduce the boys to many family members they had never met. As so much of my family, on both parents' sides are from around the Chattahoochee, FL, area, many folks from both were at the funeral home at the visitation. This was fun to see, although the boys weren't always excited, it was nice to make them go through meeting all the same people I thought torturous to meet when I was a kid. (Not to say it was truly torture, but I sure thought it was when I was a kid. I sure learned a lot from those folks as I got older.)

Of course there was lots of other family and friend time too. We got a visit from Shelly's good friend and her kids, spent the beach portion of the trip with my parents, travelled up to Tallahassee for a couple days' visit with Shelly's folks, and dropped in at our old church in Tallahassee to visit with folks with whom we shared many wonderful years. It was exciting to see so many folks, and I know we missed some, but hopefully we'll catch you soon!

Since we got back it's been pretty hectic too. Shelly worked a wedding last weekend and I played at a benefit in Mt. Juliet. All of that plus the daily work and kids, along with trying to get back from vacation has been a lot to get through. Finally it's all settling off and we're all able to better focus on getting back to normal.

One last thing. A couple posts back I mentioned a big announcement may be coming for the band. Well, I can say for certain now, we are booked for the entire length of the Wilson County Fair in Lebanon, TN. If you're already in the area, or want to make the trip, it's August 21-29 and we'll be playing from 7 to 9 each evening. This is a great fair, with last year's attendance pushing 1/2 million. It's the biggest fair in Tennessee and last year was the 23rd largest county fair in the U.S. Needless to say we're all pretty excited about the opportunity.