Memory-ial Day at the Cabin

Twas a quiet Memorial Day. Despite the "vintage" jetski at my cousin's on the point, despite the sounds of various layers of Hodges/Fullam/Seifert/Ingvalson children, despite the sounds of amour between Tilley and her cousin dog Max, there was an odd kind of quiet.

My girls were missing!

When I stopped to think about it, it occurred to me that there have been few years (if any) that I didn't bring at least a handful of chicks along for the ride. Oftentimes this was at great logistical and petrol expense, with sometimes multiple vehicles caravanning down from DC.

There was the year we all toured the Litespeed bike factory (complete with riding around on a $1000 titanium tricycle). There was the year that Cathy and I taught Sheila and Mark from Ireland how to fish. There was the year that Cameron was -um -invented. There was the year Jessica discovered strawberry salsa. There was the year I bought my tri bike. There were the many years that inbetween getting sun we swam, biked, ran, or talked about triathlon. There was the year Dad busted JoMarie and her date. There was the year Dad busted me and MY date, flown into DC from CA and then driven all night to TN. There were the years that Amelia got back to her Southern roots. There were even the years when Sarah and Tina and Gina came from Campus Green Vote, and Pam from the NMP days.

Nostalgia aside, this year was about family. We hadn't seen Warren and Susan and Sam and AnnMarie and Max since Thanksgiving, so we were excited to get some serious hang time in despite John needing to do some studying as well.

We ended up scooting out of town early from Atlanta which put us headed to Chattanooga around lunchtime. I called ahead to my friend and high school love Connor who we picked up and headed to Sticky Fingers rib shack. Connor, meeting my high school dating requirement of being a McCallie boy, said as we pulled in the parking lot that the place was pretty good even if it is owned by a bunch of Baylor boys. School rivals in Chattanooga are lifelong, I tell ya. After we hung out with Connor and dropped him back to work, we stopped by to see his mom and did a little shopping. It was great to catch up with both of them and now Connor no longer has the excuse of not having my Atlanta address for letter writing. True to form, a letter arrived not three days later.

We arrived at the cabin with the girls late afternoon and hung out with Mom and Dad and did some visiting. Let me explain the Cabin for a second. Located on Watts Bar Lake, my grandfather purchased a lot and my great uncles did the same. Now "the hill" is still all family two generations, with the addition of the Hicks at the turnoff who are now as close as family. It pleases me to no end when Tilley waddles off our dock and heads over to the other dock "for just a little visit with my cousins" just as I did as a little kid, just as our grandparents did, just as our parents do, and now as my cousins' kids do.

Late that nite, the Little Hodges arrived, I heard Tilley bark at Max then I got up to greet tha gang briefly. Tilley lamented Max (a Golden) was "no longer my size, wtf!". The weekend was peppered with Tilley chasing Max, Max chasing Tilley, sometimes involving one or more of my brothers' kids Sam and AnnMarie, and sometimes a cousin from across the way. We spent some good time doing water training with Max - and now of course Tilley wants to go duck hunting with Uncle Warren :) John also got in some adjustments on my cousin Wayne and his pals when they came over to assist with hooking up the wireless router. We also got some quality time in with my cousin Alex and a brief hi with his sister Christina. Must get back for another visit soon!!