Well, we eagerly rolled into the July 4th week....Jay planned us a family outing and we were all very excited. We had planned to visit the Mammoth Caves National Park in route up to Louisville, KY; get a good night's rest then hit KY Kingdom the next morning. Louisville is a not so far and seemed very manageable with little ones. We altered our plans though and hit KY Kingdom day 1 when we saw the weather forecast for Day 2.....What a wonderful time we had...they had plenty of rides for little kids and then Splash Kingdom (water park) was super fun. Most of the activities for small children had no lines. Jay and Willie did wait over 30 minutes for one high thrill ride....which was enough to convince Willie that we could stick with the milder slides until he's a bit older. I was nerve wracked but I was also proud of him for being so brave....he had over 30 minutes to change his mind....Ruby slept almost 2 hours in the rented doublewide stroller.
Sadly, we learned at the end of our fun-filled day, that Jay's Gaggy (93 years old) was called home to be with our Heavenly Father. Gaggy was like my own grandfather (17 years) and his passing was very very sad for us all. Gaggy deeply loved his family and it was so evident. For all the time I knew him....there was nothing that seemed more important to him than family. As my mom told me....he will always be with us as long as we keep our memories of him alive. Gaggy believed in dressing nice for church, eating well (from his own garden), being with and celebrating family. The morning after Gaggy's funeral...Jay asked me if I would let Willie wear flip flops under his choir robe like the youth at BUMC....My response was "not preferably" but if he can have real relationship with Jesus then that's all I really care about. Jay quivered to know what Gaggy would think about me thinking it wouldn't be the end of the world if Willie wore flip flops to church. I think now that Gaggy is with Jesus he will for sure agree. But rest assured, our dear Gaggy, we will do our best to teach him to dress and honor the values you have exemplified with your life.
The day of Gaggy's funeral Ruby looked a family picture and pointed and said "Gaggy." My heart skipped a beat that she knew him herself.
The weekend was a celebration of Gaggy's life and we enjoyed seeing so many family and friends. Jay, Ruby and I headed back to Nashville. Willie was eager to stay the entire week with Gran and Granny to be delivered home on Friday (today)! He had a wonderful week working in the garden and visiting Frances (Gaggy's wife and our grandmom), picnicing, playing cards and dominoes, and hearing Gran's bedtime stories. I think he was ready to get home and it was big hug fest when we reunited. The best part of the reunion was watching Willie and Ruby love all over each other.
I hadn't blogged since our trips to KY and MS as I was trying to "catch up." Tonight I realized that I didn't have the material needed to blog in Willie's absence. It didn't take long for him to give me material though....he was showing me how he learned to cross his toes and snap them??? He has been narrating the Andy Griffith Show which he has now seen for first time including doing the "Barney look." The best quote of the evening was when we passed a lady mowing her yard....he proclaimed "Why is a girl mowing that yard. She is going to get grass in her eye." Evidently, Willie had no idea that girls could mow the yard. I would demonstrate it, but my dear husband insisted on forgoing the self-propelled mower which has worked out fine by me....I guess it's been over 17 years since I last mowed our yard in Pelahatchie....actually, no, that's not true.....I just remembered I mowed Gaggy's yard our freshman year in college. I was helping Jay and wanted to show Gaggythat I was from good hardworking stock (and worthy of his wonderful grandson that I had met not too many months prior.) I think he approved...I do remember him splitting Jay's yard $$ with me that day....Jay didn't even mind for he was in love too.
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