Made it Back

Our annual Easter tradition now that the kids are grown and out of the house is to take a three day canoe trip down the Brazos River with friends. We usually get into the river on Saturday noonish and have the river to ourselves for the entire trip. As I mentioned in the previous post, last year it reached 101°F on the third day of the trip. Well, this year it snowed for at least four hours on Saturday and then got down to 29°F in the evening. The ladies decided that they were not too interested in sitting in canoes in the snow, the cold and the potential rain, so we ended up camping under the Possum Kingdom Lake dam. It turned out to be a good weekend. We were the only ones in the campground, and when they were not generating electricity through the dam, the fishing was great. I caught 51 fish Sunday afternoon.

Two things happened on the drive home. First, contrary to popular belief, I learned that having a CHL does not get you out of a speeding ticket. Second, my Dad called to tell us that my Grandmother had passed away.

Grandma was the last of her generation in our family. She lived in a small town in Iowa populated mostly by folks of German decent. Grandma was a good and decent woman who loved her family very much. I remember one Christmas when I was very young. We drove out from California through one heck of a winter storm. We ended up having to spend the night in a school gymnasium here in Arlington because all the roads were closed. When we finally made it to Grandma's house, Mom and Dad has us kids go up and knock on the door (Grandma and Grandpa did not know we were coming). I can still see the look of joy on Grandma's face when she saw us kids, and how the comforters felt on her old bed that night when we finally got warmed up. Grandma lived in a different time. I was born nine months and five days after my Mom and Dad got married, and Grandma was counting the days to make sure that I was conceived after the wedding. Grandma was the last of her generation, the world is worse off without her.