Mary K came to visit

Mary K and Daniel live in Augusta, along with their beautiful children Lucca K and little Daniel. Our last trip down there to see them, she said they were planning a trip our way. We looked at the schedules, made sure Mary and I would both be off the days they were coming, and it was settled – they were coming Sunday and returning Tuesday.

Then, I went to work one night last week and learned that a co-worker was in jail. For shop lifting. Apparently, you can’t work in retail if you are arrested for shop lifting. My manager told me, “If I have to fire her the schedule is gonna change.” She hasn’t been fired yet, but is still in jail, so the schedule changed. Now, I was going to have to work Sunday. Bummer.

I was awakened Sunday to find Mary K and children had arrived. I don’t really remember Sunday. Oh yeah, we went out to eat at an Italian place in Charlotte. Mary and I, Mary K and children, Sarah and Keith and their children. Ten people. A couple was seated next to our table. I told them as we sat down, “There goes your quiet, romantic dinner.” We had a good time, anyway. Lucca loved seeing her cousins. She would stand next to Tiernan and cry out, “Mommy, I have Tiernan!” And she would stand next to Isabelle and hug her. Jack too.

Mary had plans for Monday that included a trip to the pool. But it rained off and on all day. Nipped that in the bud. When I woke up, there were children everywhere. After all, Mary had planned to take them all swimming. When Sarah went on break she came over, visited for a while, then took her children home. Se we spent the evening hanging out with Mary K.

Lucca is so cute! When she wants you to play with her she will come up to you and say, “C’mon, c’mon.” Sometimes she called me ‘Dddaddy’, sometimes ‘Grandaddy’ and most of the time on Monday ‘GrandmamaDaddy.’ I answered to all of them. Little Daniel is so cute. And such a happy baby. He just looks at you and smiles. And giggles when you play with him.

Monday night, it really rained. We were out for a walk and felt the change. I said, “It’s gonna rain. We better get back before we are drenched.” We made it back, it just took a little longer than we thought. But when it came, it was a downpour. My front yard had lakes and rivers in it! I love the rain. People are always complaining about it, but I have a lot of trees and grass. I need rain. Have you ever heard the advice, “Don’t water your yard at night, it will cause mildew”? Somebody forgot to tell God, He sends rain at night all the time!

Back to Mary K.

Tuesday I woke up early, I mean 12:30, then 2:30 then 4:30 then 5:10. Typical first night off. Then I heard Lucca and Daniel so I went out to join them. We (MK, Lucca, Daniel, me) went to Dunkin’ Donuts for some donuts. Got a dozen. After breakfast we piled back in the car and went looking for trains. I had told Lucca we would try to find a train. We did! And it was moving. We watched it for a while and went up the road to get a lot closer to it. It was stopped by then and we didn’t hear the whistle. But it was cool. Daniel was watching it. Lucca was watching it. Honestly, I don’t know who was more excited, me or the children!

We came back and played inside and outside and watched our Curious George DVD several times. Every so often Lucca would say, “Monkey” (or “Dog” depending on who was in the picture at the time) and “George.” Mary K and I played several games of pool (9 ball), taking turns watching Daniel. She won every time. Fun anyway.

Then around 10:30 she gathered all her stuff and loaded the car. A little after 11 they headed off down the road to Augusta.

We had a great visit. (Sorry that Daniel couldn’t make it. He had to work. In fact, when we were down there last he had to work then too. That boy works hard. And long hours.) Lucca is so cute. She does everything all out. When she comes running to you get ready, she will plow right into you! And she is very definite about what she wants. And little Daniel is such a happy baby. He wakes up smiling. And at supper Monday night, he really wanted something from the plate. So Mary K gave him some potato (we had low country boil). He seemed to really like it. And Mary K and I had good talks.

What a wonderful visit! And on Tuesday I was simply ‘Grandaddy.’ :-)