Okay, who invited Beryl to the party? Nothing says summer fun like an early Hurricane in the Gulf. We just finished getting the May damage to the dock repaired right before we left…my head said to wait as I felt we would see more damage this summer. Wonder if Downtown Houston and the 4,000 blown out office windows will have that same feeling. Yeah, paying the stupid tax once again…we do that bunches cause we are so anal. One bright note, we moved all the electrical boxes for the boat and jet ski lifts up 3 feet…so we won’t have to change all that stuff out again. Of course, when we sell the house, you will need a step stool to get to said lift boxes…but new owners would never know that until they bring home the new boat…the view always distracts folks. After 18 years, we use to love watching storms come in and the wave action…we have learned that wind and waves always have a costly next morning hangover. Then there is the part of finding someone to repair the damage. We have been rebuilding our list of “people” since Harvey…we set the List on fire then and burned a lot of bridges. Scorched earth…that is how we roll.
We are now in the final week of our stay in North Carolina. These last few days were the ones we planned just for us. A final lap to the Famers Market…my favorite. Completion of our restaurant bingo board of favorites…however, Eddie quoted my mom and said “Not as good as it use to be”….and added “that is a lot (meaning money) for that (meaning food)…I agree, but it beats cooking three meals a day any day of the week. 8 years ago when we first started coming here, it had not been discovered by many…now the secret is out, we see car tags for everywhere and crowds where we use to see few. We have explored before, this time we are quite happy to sit on the deck and watch the breeze in the trees…and count the deer population as we drive from here to there. Eddie even saw a newborn baby fawn that was spooked out of hiding by the rumble of thunder. You know you have arrived at that certain age when you can identity the various birds, delight in nature and find a cool breezes exciting. Right, Joe? Oh, he might forget the birds names unless Jill whispers them in his ear.
George was here from the start, and Lauren and fam joined us for the week of the 4th. The week was fairly uneventful except for a Karen story. Yeah, I am sharing one on me…really two. First was Date night for L&D. George and I were responsible for kid entertainment….we picked movie time. Despicable 4…Eddie suggested we get tickets online ahead of time. Check, in my Apple Wallet…no instructions, just the scan code and Theatre 7. We arrived and there was one person working the concession stand, no ticket takers, no indication of which of the 10 screens had which movie. …so, we sit down in Theatre 7 with 3 kids, no concessions…line too long, one person. Well, the next 10 minutes were filled with previews of coming attractions…of course, the green screen with the “suitable preview for all ages” before each…I was horrified when each preview was more scary than the next. The kids assumed the position—- hands over eyes and ears…looked like the three monkeys…I had my hands over Lucy’s eyes and ears for a make sure. Finally, the adult in the room (George) stood up and said, “this is not right, let’s leave”. We hustled out, and I am sure that nightmares would be part of the kids evening activities..date night comes at a price these days. George made a quick detour to concessions determined the theatre was actually number one. We regrouped and sat down for 94 minutes of minions in Theatre 1. At about the 75 minute mark, Lucy announced she was dying from hunger. I attempted to ignore the pleads (which got louder and more attention getting-like I was pinching her each minute) …until the 80 minute mark….Lucy is the most persistent of the three. While at the Concession stand, purchasing my smallish $10 bag of movie popcorn, I inquired about the procedure that had led us to the horror movie (The Quiet Place prequel) theatre instead of the Yellow Minions world. He explained that you were suppose to scan the code at the monitor on the table with the extra butter and napkins and it would direct you to the appropriate theatre. I asked how was I to know this procedure….he answered that everybody just knows it. No signs, not email, not nothing…just you just know. I returned to our seats with the smallish bag of $10 popcorn…apparently everyone wanted popcorn and Lucy was the designated speaker for the group. Oh, I forgot about Rooney…Lucy’s stuffed monkey that she acquired on an outing to Tweetsie Railroad. You know the monkey that has long arms and legs that has Velcro hands and feet to attach around your neck and waist. Rooney and Lucy have been inseparable since Monday. Rooney had to come to the movies. In all the chaos of popcorn and exiting the theatre, Rooney got left behind. We were in the car, half way back to the cabin when it hit me that we were short one Monkey. I asked Lucy if she had Rooney…I glanced at her in the rear view mirror…the surprised look, the shaking of head and the tears that immediately sprang to her eyes said we were going back. I did what any good Grandmother would do, u turned on the top of a hill with double yellow lines on either side. Now George had the sissy bar. Back the 15 minutes to the movie theatre. Uncle George ran inside to talk to the folks that cleaned up Theatre 1….Rooney had already found a space in the Lost and Found box. Rooney rescue complete, and securely wrapped around Lucy’s neck once more. Of course, Eli, our budding teenager, stated that his mom would not have returned so Lucy would remember to take care of her possessions in future. Score one for Uncle G and One for NeyNey (me)….we will take small victories where we can. George is still not over me pivoting far right lane to far left on hilltop. PTSD at its finest. Who needs minions…we have our grandmother….
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