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For the first time in a very long while my vacation was timed around the
fourth of July in Alderson. We arrived in town about 10:45 Saturday
morning of the 1st so I would have plenty of time to get some rest and get
ready for the homecoming banquet. This was to be a special vacation,
since all of my kids from Arizona, Indiana, and Ohio, and all seven grandkids
would be there for several days. About mid-afternoon, Linda Loudermilk
called and asked me to say something about the Aldersonian web site and I
agreed. Now somewhere in between, I had planned to get some rest, but it
never happened. We got up at 4:00 AM for our trip (that time of the
morning doesn't really exist, does it?), and by the time of the banquet,
I was already half dead, and I'm usually a quarter dead most of the time
anyway so that left only one quarter of life. (ha ha! ) During the meal,
I think we had steak and things, and there were announcements over the PA,
but I couldn't understand a word anyone was saying. So I wasn't sure anyone
would be able to understand me. I kept it as short as possible, and after
thinking about it later, I gave the wrong web site address. But that was
no problem, since no one could understand me anyway, right? I said
thank you and in one exhausted motion, walked back to my seat, grabbed my
daughter's hand and left. Incidentally, that was the lady I was with.
The second and third were a blur. I was enjoying the time with my family
so I didn't attend many events. I was sure to catch some of the gospel sing
on Sunday night since I spent 5 years traveling on weekends in a southern
gospel quartet myself.
The weather had been great, with 80's during the day, and cool nights for
great sleeping. However, on the fourth, it rained on our parade. But
the people still came and parked any place they could find. My grand kids
enjoyed the parade and got lots of candy. It rained most of the day
but let up for the fire works that night. We sat on my folk's back
porch and watched only the sky works. They were quite spectacular, and the
finale was followed by barking dogs and car alarms which went off from the
concussion of the big boomers.. There was one incident where a child was
slightly burned when one of the small rockets fell over and flew into the
crowd. It was reported that she was OK.
On the fifth, it pored at times and the only evidence of there being
a celebration was the banners hanging at the entrance of the town, and the
green trash bags stacked waiting for pickup. Seemingly, it was over quicker
than it began and everyone had left.
Many thanks to you, who came up at the banquet and re-introduced yourselves.
It was very good to see all of you and chat, if only for a few moments. I
have only one question. How did we get so old?
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