Initially, I thought about dedicating this post to the recent happenings in my life:
Various art projects, a NYC trip of my own, Easter with the family, getting caught in a particularly fierce hailstorm that led to seeking shelter and buying scratch-off lotto tickets in a gas station outside of town... Etcetera.
Perhaps there will be a time for sharing those stories, but today, tonight, I'd like to talk about this weekend.
It's no secret that the great state of Alabama holds a piece of my heart. It is where I was born, where many a childhood story is set, where I learned to paint, where I have learned a great deal about Jesus, and where I cannot help but be at rest. So, when two fellas I'm friends with here in Milledgeville informed me of their plans to travel to Auburn this past weekend for a sorority formal - the same weekend of a wedding shower for my cousin and his fiance in Montgomery - I decided I needed to weasel my way into the boys' travel plans and make a weekend out of it. Serendipitous, no? I convinced my friend Sarah she needed to be a part of this adventure as well, so on Friday afternoon the four of us piled in the car and headed straight to the Plains.
In Auburn, Sarah and I saw off those going to formal (side note: Anna was lookin' fly), ate a considerable amount of snacks, and continued further south to Montgomery, Alabama - my birthplace and home to some infamous grandparents, Gommy & Gaggy.
Gommy and Gaggy, so lovingly named by their young grandchildren who couldn't pronounce a normal-sounding "grandmother" or "grandfather"back in the day, are a couple of the most wonderful folks I know. Occasionally when I admire the seemingly endless gallery of Gommy's beautiful paintings decorating their home, or listen to the witty and perfectly-told tales of Gaggy's excursions on Mt. Rainier, and the Swiss and Austrian Alps, I forget that these fascinating people are my own grandparents. However, I am quickly reminded of our genetic ties when Gaggy, for example, displays his ability to connect almost any conversation topic back to his love of ice cream - something near and dear to all of our hearts. In addition to a love of food, their love for Jesus is evident and never ceases to make me fall more in love with Him as well.
Needless to say, I enjoy spending time with those two and was thrilled to have Sarah meet them (and meet Millie the dog) as well.
Also, while in Montgomery I taught Gaggy how to right-click on their computer, to which he deemed me "a magician."
After a slow and easy Saturday morning complete with ample breakfast foods and reading in Gommy's sunroom/studio, Sarah and I returned to Auburn where we ate lunch with Anna and another friend of ours. And what better to do after lunch than gather a few more friends and sprawl out on Samford lawn in the warm and long-anticipated sunshine? If the day sounds dreamy now, just you wait. While sprawling, we devised a dinner plan and after some time, took the steps necessary to make said plan a reality. We purchased food, went back to the apartment and started cooking. Sweet potato fries? Check. Corn on the cob? Check. Burgers? No check... until after dark when propane was acquired and grilling was made possible. But hey, good things come to those who wait, and good it was.
Unfortunately, while boys were grilling, I ran into an unidentifiable piece of furniture that cut my leg. This wouldn't have been anything worth thinking twice about had an adequate bandaid been readily available. But, I ended up patching together four small circle-bandaids and securing them with masking tape to meet my bandage needs. Here's to innovation. Yeah?
Dinner was followed by inevitable pillow talk and a deep night's sleep, from which we awoke on Sunday to a bright and inviting morning. After breakfast and coffee, we went to church - the church my sisters attended during their time at Auburn, and where Anna is currently a member. Though I had been to a couple services here years before, I was not in a place to appreciate the sweet simplicity of it all like I do today. Accompanied by a piano, mandolin, a couple guitars, and a violin, we sang songs whose words are older than any of the voices singing them, and yet still ring true in the hearts of many. Scott taught from 1 Samuel and I learned more than I have in a sunday morning service in quite a while. And after church, sunshine greeted us once more.
Following lunch at Big Blue Bagel, we set out on the voyage back to Milledgeville. Picking up an hour along the way, we made it back to our little home here by mid-afternoon. Though all the details of the weekend are too many to explore entirely in one blog post, the fact that I got to spend a whole 48 hours in beloved places is enough to fill me with joy! Little adventures can do a soul good.
Sarah, me, and Princess Di. Why not.
Gommy's amazing studio
Gommy & Gaggy reading a map
Just a couple o' cousins
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