Celebration Time

Family truly is something to be celebrated.

I am extremely fortunate to have a close knit family. As a child, my parents found it important to build frequent "family outings" into our schedule. I have wonderful memories of those Saturday Family Outings when we would take turns getting to decide on the outing. I remember one time we walked the railroad tracks (I think that was my idea) and picked up those big nail things that are sometimes loose on the tracks. Other fun outings were camping, wading in the creek, playing baseball in the street with a stick and pine cones for the balls, building the world's largest see-saw out of fallen trees...

Now that Craig and I are grown and have families of our own, it seems more special when we are all able to squeeze in time together for another "family outing." I'm especially aware that we are not guaranteed another day together in this present life. Each day is a gift from God, and we must treat it as such. Perhaps in my business of burying people and working with grieving families I'm more sensitive to that fact.

Craig recently celebrated a momentous occasion in his life, and our family converged again for another family outing. Yes, folks... my brother is officially over the hill! Goodness, I remember when 40 seemed ancient. You start falling apart at 40, right? Well. Cough. A-hem. I'm 36 now, and all of a sudden, 40 doesn't seem to be that old at all!

Back to the family outing... Rick chauffeured me and the parentals to Dallas last Friday night to celebrate Craig's generational advance. We met at his new apartment in Republic Tower, in downtown Dallas. The grand tour was indeed impressive - their new home is absolutely beautiful! It felt so grown up! Standing in their elegant living room, overlooking the bright & bustling city below, I self-conciously compared it to our little Athens farm house, unsophisticated and country as it is. Yes, I love my little farm house (crickets and all.) But I REALLY LOVE Craig and Carolyn's place. It makes me want to hold my pinkie out as I sip a cup of tea and say, "This is soooo faaaabulous, daaahhling!"

So in the celebratory spirit of the occassion, allow me to post some of my favorite pictures from the evening!

First up.... Craig, next to his obligatory sign announcing the occasion.

This is the rooftop of their apartment building, The Republic Tower. We were fortunate to be the only ones up there for most of the evening. The pool became ground zero for most of our antics.

As I said... antics. C'mon everybody, let's do the limbo!!!

I'm not sure what was happening here. Rick must have gotten too close to CW's territory. But in all truth, if it weren't for Rick, that crazy grill wouldn't have gotten lit. Silly buttons on the wall masquarading as light switches couldn't fool Rick for too long. It did have us wondering for a while if we'd be eating hamburgers "a la sushi" style!

And whatever they're laughing about sure must have been funny. I think Rick is so adorable in this picture! He LOVES to laugh!

This is our favorite picture! Dad's trying to count to 40, Mom and Carolyn are holding up "4-0" and Rick and I are aging Craig up to   "5-0!"

Uh-oh. Mom's had too much to drink. She's going in for a swim!  Lay off that Diet Coke, will you mom?

Goodness gracious.   I'm telling you, we can't take her anywhere!!!

See what I mean? She's trying to knock me backwards into the water. It just might have happened until she realized her phone was still in her pocket. She seemed to straighten up then.

So we started acting a little bit more sane... Carolyn is a good influence on us! We were showing off our white legs.

Meanwhile, back over at the grill station, Craig is having a down moment. It's hard knowing that half your life is already lived....  cheer up, Craig. We're here to support you all the way into the nursing home!

Dad focuses back on the task at hand. He grilled angus burgers and chicken... I think it was the best hamburger I've ever had! We ate overlooking 35 stories of downtown and laughing together about past memories and future dreams. London 2012, right guys?

After dinner, we pulled our chairs up to the west window to see the sun set, big and fat, over the city.

And back inside, we took a nice family portrait of Craig, Carolyn and Regalo next to the birthday banner. When we were kids, mom sewed each of us a banner. I remember getting to pick out the iron-on decals from Discount City in Jacksonville. Craig was aiming for his Eagle Scout award, so that's probably where his Eagle came from. I, on the other hand, chose a decal with a couple of squirrels building a giant ice cream cone. Mom was always faithful to break out the banners during the week of our birthdays. It always made us feel special as kids. And still does as adults! 

And then we had birthday cake. Always the best part of any party!

So now you have it. The Bess Family Capers. I hope there are many more to come.

Trip to St Louis....

Last Friday, I drove mom and dad to St Louis for a surprise birthday party for dad's sister Jean. We  had a great drive up there, stopping for the night in Arkansas, and having fun at a rest stop along the way. Yes, the Bobbsey Twins are back!

The party was at my cousin Cheryl's house.

She has a great backyard that was setup with picnic tables and games. Aunt Jean arrived, thinking it was just going to be 4th of July BBQ with some friends. She had no idea that all of her siblings would be there! The only one missing was Uncle Richard - we missed having him there.

Aunt Jean was very surprised when she stepped into the backyard!

Here is dad with the birthday girl.

Below are my four aunts:

Louise, Carolyn, Doris, and Jean

And here are all of the 8 kids in the Bess family. Left to right:

Ball (Uncle Richard), Carolyn, CW, Louise, Lyndell, Jean, Darrell, Doris

And then the obligatory funny picture!

This is Aunt Jean with my two cousins, Valerie and Cheryl. Because of the modern wonders of Facebook, I've had the chance to get to know my cousins better. It was great to see them!

One final picture of all the siblings.... This is from 1963. Dad said it was taken just before he left for a mission assignment in Hong Kong. Grandma and Grandpa are in the center at the back with the corsages. Grandpa died before I was born, so I never got to know him. But Grandma was the best, especially with chicken & dumplings, homemade bread & frozen ding-dongs.

Front row, Left to Right: Doris, Louise, Jean, Carolyn

Back Row: Dad (CW), Lyndell, Grandma, Grandpa, Darrell, Richard

The drive back was uneventful, with the exception of one fatal flaw. I ran over a huge snake on this little County Road. And what made it so bad was that I had JUST rolled my window down and put my arm outside. Then the snake happened, and I was really wigged out that I had snake-guts on my arm and my car. Turns out, I didn't, but the heebie-jeebies stayed with me for a while.

Rick asked me if I would have rather run over a bunny rabbit. After thinking that over, I decided that I would! At least that way I would just be sad, but probably wouldn't have the residual aftershocks of the creepy-crawly's.  

I'm quite aware that this blog is quite boring for anyone except my family, so I'll sign off now. But for my family that is reading it, especially the Besses in Missouri, know that I love you and am glad we traveled to St. Louis!  Maybe next time, you can come to Athens. We have lots of room available between mom and dad's house, my house, and a fishing cabin down the road. So consider a visit down our way!