Category Archives: Family

All the news that’s fit to read about the family.

Family

Easter

Today is Easter Sunday — the day celebrated as recognition of Jesus’ resurrection.

This morning, Sio, Beck and I went to church.  First Baptist of Ellisville is really a nice church, and I love the contemporary service.  It reminds me so much of the old days, when I would visit the little church on Brainerd Road, and listen to Azariah perform on Friday nights.  These were great times, and this church’s comtemporary service really brings that back to me.  Sio says that it’s “cool”.

After taking Sio home, Beck and I did a little yard work, and started preparing for a family event at Cousin Mark’s.  I love going to these things.  When I married Beck, it’s like I suddenly gained dozens and dozens of family members, and they’ve all always made me feel like I’ve been in the family forever.

After a big dinner, and lots of fellowship with the gang, I came home, and started kicking back, reflecting on the day.  This has been a good Easter Sunday, full of worship and family.

There’s nothing better than that!

Family

Birthday

Happy 12th birthday, Sio!  This morning, Beck and I served Sio breakfast in bed, in honor of her hitting her ‘tween year (between a kid and a teenager).

The rest of the day was spent on the go, most of it at the Carvin Bash in Swansea.  Unfortunately, the bitter cold kept a lot of folks away, but the half dozen or so folks there seemed to enjoy themselves.  It was held in a decent sized hall, complete with a stage, tables and chairs.  By the time we got there, the Carvinites were already in full swing, playing their hearts out… loudly!  It was a lot of fun though, with a birthday singing/playing to Sio, good music and lunch.

Man, what a lot of gear was there!  Kev brought eight guitars and a big amp stack, others brought a lot of their stuff.  We made a “class photo” of all the guitars in their stands, and there were 16 Carvins standing at attention — certainly a thing of beauty.

We pointed the Family Truckster toward Missouri a few hours into the jam session, and Kev joined us sometime later in the afternoon to spend the rest of Sio’s birthday at home, quietly enjoying having family around.

Family

Arrival

Kevin has arrived in the Big Lou.  He’s up here for a Carvin Bash tomorrow in Swansea.  Walking through the house, I caught him really checking out the house a couple of times, and then it dawned on me that he hasn’t seen the house “finished”, as when he was last here was move-in weekend just over two years ago.  Doesn’t seem like it could have been that long.

It’s nice having him visiting — I just don’t get to see my family enough, and it’s nice to have a little part of home in our home.

Family

Seven

Tonight, Beck and I celebrated the seventh anniversary of our wedding by taking in a decadent meal at The Melting Pot.

For years, I’ve heard wonderful things about this place. It’s a restaurant whose whole menu is based around fondue. For example, our meal tonight started with garlic cheddar cheese fondue, with bread, apples, cauliflower, carrots and broccoli to drown. The next course was a salad, simple, yet big enough to be good on its own. The main course was a wine-based oil into which we plunged salmon, filet, lobster, shrimp, spinach ravioli, pot stickers and a variety of vegetables. And for dessert? A glass of 20-year old tawny port, and a fondue called Yin and Yang. It is a fondue pot with dark and white chocolate swirled together, along with strawberries, pineapples, bananas (coated and uncoated), angel food cake and cheesecake to dunk or drizzle.

This is probably the most decadent meal I’ve ever had. The richness of the ingredients, the duration (we were there almost three hours), the process of the cooking….. It all adds up to a tremendous event, and one well worth the cost.

The only downside is that I think Beck is gonna make me take her there often, just so she can get dessert! 🙂

Family

Happy Birthday Molly!

Today, our big lump of Berner turns four years old. In four years, she’s beaten the odds, and has survived potentially crippling joint problems and a bout with bloat.

She’s still puppylike, playful and full of energy, and I couldn’t ask for more at the beginning of her fifth whirl about the Sun!

Family, Weather

White Christmas

Ya know, it’s kinda funny how many hopes and wishes we put on having a white Christmas. And I expect, the farther south you are, the less likely it is. I mean, you’re hoping for a very specific set of circumstances to happen on a specific day. After a week of the weather guys telling us that our chances were way slim, we awoke this morning to two inches of snow on the ground. It was a beautiful sight, and I couldn’t help but compare my view of the snow to Ralphie first looking out upon the new snow in A Christmas Story. It was indeed beautiful.

We got a pot of coffee started, and started tearing into our gifts. With just the two of us, opening presents is an odd deal. We try to take turns, knowing (mostly) what the other one is opening, and trying not to spoil the surprises beneath the tree as we rip the paper from the boxes. It always goes so fast, and with no children around, the suspense of what’s next isn’t quite as prominent, but it is still a grand time.

Becky was overly generous to me, as were Mom and Kevin, and I have no complaints in the “loot” department. No lumps of coal, either, so I must’ve done something right this year! 🙂

After we opened presents, we went to church. The pastor is out of town, so the music minister genned up a nativity play for the kids to do — unrehearsed, unpractice and no idea what was going to happen. In fact, he invited kids in the congregation to come down, and they’d find a part and costume for them. It was wonderful. The story of our Lord’s birth could be told no better than acted out by children. After some hymns and prayers, we were released back into the slowly melting snow.

Beck and I offered up our home for the Day family Christmas shindig, so we spent the afternoon cleaning, and Beck prepared all manner of deserts. Yum! The invasion of the clan began around 6.30, and it couldn’t have been nicer. As always happens at these things, there were Days I hadn’t met before, and some I hadn’t seen in a long time. It was great to see them all, and have time to sit and talk, and listen to stories being told. And, of course, the spread was scrumptious!

So that’s how Christmas passed in the Wright household. Quiet, kinda low key, and filled with snow, family, presents and observance of the real meaning of the season — the birth of Christ.

Family, Vacation

Ghosts

Going home to Chattanooga is always strange for me. Invariably, I end up travelling streets that I’ve been on gazillions of times, but so long ago that I don’t remember the landmarks well, or they’ve changed so much that I don’t recognize them. Of course, Siobhan and Darla don’t have the points of reference, so I feel like I sound like Grandpa Simpson describing the olden days.

No matter. Today was our down day, and that meant Ankar’s Hoagies.

When I was running around with the Chattanooga Science Fiction Association (CSFA) in the 70s, we would almost always invade the original (and, at that time, the only) Ankar’s on Brainerd Road. Aside from the terrific food, and the ability to manage 20+ folks hitting them at once, they also had an Asteroids sit-down coin-op. I cut my teeth on that machine, and it started me video gaming, something that I continued heavily for another ten years or more. Those were fun times, and really come back to the surface when I get my standard meal at Ankar’s: steak in a sack, onion rings, and and a limeaid.

So, I see my ghosts — locations and events — and just smile quietly, and see Darla and Sio with me, enjoying Grandpa Simpson chowing down on his history.

Family, Vacation

Over the River and Through the Woods

And indeed, I cross several rivers, and traveled through many a wood, and wound up at Grandma’s place in Maryville.

I enjoy that drive, and one of these days, I’ll take my time, and enjoy the stops along the way. It’s beautiful up there, and it reminds me so much of why I like the mountains of eastern Tennessee.

Another is the people. I took all us to lunch at Aubrey’s Restaurant, an east Tennessee chain serving really good Southern food. Our waitress was this cute little teenager, who had a smile that wouldn’t quit, and kept calling all of us honey, or sweetie or any of a number of other endearments. That’s not to say that everyone in the South is as friendly as she was, but that’s certainly a good representative of the best that I like in folks from back home.

Grandma’s doing well, and that’s always good to see. I really hope that when I’m 83, I’m doing as well!

We also drove to Oak Ridge to visit Mom’s sister Frances. She’s a hoot, and it was fun catching up with her. Another one of my fans, of which I can never have too many! 🙂

A drive home after sunset, and we wound our way up the mountain, to home, dinner, and sleep.

Family, Vacation

Happy Thanksgiving

Today, I am thankful for my family, more than anything.

There’s a hunt at Prentice Cooper this weekend, so this was the only chance I had to visit Dad at the cemetary. It was a pretty day for a visit, and it was good to see that all was well up on The Mountain.

It still stings so bad to not have Dad’s wit, spirit and life at the table this time of year. When August rolls around, it hurts, but so does fall.

Mom put on a huge spread today (single-handed, no less), and made enough food to feed all five of us many times over. Given that, we’re taking a big ol’ doggie bag to Maryville tomorrow when we visit Grandma. Another short drive (maybe 300 miles roundtrip), and a chip shot compared against the panorama of this ginormous trip I’ve been undertaking.