This morning, Terry and I drove through the remnants of Hurricane Harvey to attend Grandparents Day at Friendship Christian School in Lebanon. I was so excited to see Levi sing his little heart out. The theme for the lower school production this year was “Groovy” and Levi’s 3rd grade class was all decked in 60’s and 70’s inspired outfits.
Jill had saved us great seats in the auditorium where we joined Josh and Janice. Jill is a seat-saver extrodonaire. Levi and his class filed onto the stage and sang a far-out rendition of “Knock Three Times” by Tony Orlando & Dawn and then gustily sang, “YMCA” by the Village People which required audience participation. How can you resist spelling “YMCA” with your arms?
After watching the 4th and 5th grade classes perform, we headed to Levi’s classroom. He was so excited to show us his desk and all the cool stuff in his room and equally excited to show us his locker. Once you become a 3rd grader, you get to have your very own locker. That’s big kid stuff.
Levi gives Gigi a special gift for Grandparents Day.
Checking out Levi’s locker.
As we were about to head out, Janice asked if we would like to swing by the Farm and we said, but of course. Once we arrived, we got the grand tour of all the improvements that had been made to the cabin; the wood floors had been installed, pretty much anything that was nailed down had been polyurethaned, the bead board in the walk-in closet had been primed and painted, there was a beautiful new vanity mirror with great lighting and hidden plugs for the bathroom and a new potty as well.
While we visited and caught up with Dad, Janice ran out and picked up pulled barbecue from Buffalo P’s (the best barbecue and ribs in the world), cole slaw and green beans while Jill heated up a can of baked beans. We all gathered on the back porch with plates full of bbq and sides and ate ourselves into little piggy paradise. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, Janice surprised us with a huge box of sugary puffs of delectable delights otherwise known as fresh baked doughnuts from Best Donuts. My eyes glazed over as their sweet, sweet siren song lured me into confectionary nirvana. So there we sat on the back porch of the cabin, enjoying our barbecue sandwiches with all the sides and our dessert doughnuts with cups of coffee all while listening to the pitter patter of the rain falling on the tin roof. Aaah…perfection.
Before we headed back down the road back to Franklin, Levi said he had something he really wanted to show me and jetted out of the cabin up to the big house. He giddily returned with a table top, Tomy Atomic Arcade Pinball machine he had found in the basement. This little piece of electronic nostalgia was given to me and Roy many Christmases ago. While Josh cleaned the corroded contacts, Levi proceeded to find a gazillion D batteries which they popped in and voilà, it’s 1979 all over again. He just loves it and it was quite a hoot to hear the beeps, bells and dings again.
To your left is what the Atomic Pinball looked like brand, spanking new. Photo: thesurfingpizza.com
