Weekend in Alabama

I don't know if we should be honored or offended but I went out to eat twice this weekend with these people and when we got there the restaurant was full but soon after we sat down the other people around us left. Did they not want to be around us? or did they just realize that it was such a "special" moment that they wanted to give us our privacy? You decide.

My mom (Reba) heard that Gloyd was speaking in church and that Floyd,Doris and Glen were going. My kids and I had been wanting to make a trip to Alabama and my dad heard that Floyd and Gloyd had pecan's on the ground so he was ready to go also. We hopped in the car Saturday morning and drove over to Alabama for the weekend. We called Chris about 30 minutes outside of Cullman and immediately a plan was formed to visit Chris, Nancy and Andy (Laura was in New York with Alex and her Mom)at their house and then meet for dinner at the local Ryan's. Gloyd and Robert drove down from Addison and met us for dinner. Too bad Carl didn't know I'm sure he would have driven the 13 hours to have dinner with his brother's and sister. He doesn't miss very many get together's - thanks for making family so important Carl. Yes! Next time I will try to be a little more organized so that maybe everyone can come and we can clear out the entire restaurant. We had a great time talking and even got to celebrate Jessica's birthday. Okay so it wasn't really her birthday but it was fun to see her face turn 5 shades of red while they sang to her.
Sunday morning we all went to church. There were about 40 Robinson's in the church that day to listen to Gloyd's talk. How fun it was to see Nat and Genny (missed you Linda) and even Scott and Kris who had also driven over from Georgia. Gloyd gave a wonderful talk. I have never seen anyone who can repeat all the scriptures from memory like Gloyd does. I later asked Gloyd for his talk so I could post it here and he looked at me, smiled and said D.K. I don't have it written down it's in my head. After Sacrament meeting several people went to have breakfast at Floyd's favorite restaurant - Jack's. Again we cleared out the restaurant. After sitting around the table talking about some of the fun things we remembered my favorites were the stories of how Carolyn made us laugh and learn to love life, they headed home and we headed back to Addison. Kevin we didn't see any swashbuckling so we knew you were out of town but now that I have seen a small glimpse of Cullman I can't wait for the real tour.

It was time to pick those pecans. It was fun to listen to everyone talking as they were picking up the pecans. Thanks to everyone my dad had a jeep full of pecan's and hopefully will be busy for the next few weeks cracking pecan's and then my mom can make some of those pecan pies everyone likes so well. Nicholas, Mackenzie and I spent the night with Michael and Debra. We had a great dinner of fish which Mitchell had caught and Michael cooked for us.

This morning I made my trek down to the bunk house and the creek. A trip to Addison just isn't complete until I walk down to the bunk house, sit on a rock and listen to the water rushing down the stream. Luckily the drought is over so there is water in the stream again.It was very cold so I didn't stay long but as I sat there this time I thought about the first things I had ever seen in this creek. My first memory of the creek is of my older nephew's swimming in the creek right below where the bunk house is now. It was the coldest water they had ever been in but they had a great time. I then remembered the first memory I have of Danny was at the bunk house when he had come come down to spend a week there and his son was swimming in that same creek. I thought about my own children and the first times they went into the water and how fun it was to hear them laughing and splashing water every where. I remembered the cookout that we had at the bunkhouse and my mom and Carl teaching me how to play some log game that I still have no idea how to play or what the purpose was. How fun it was to sit and listen to them talk about planting cotton and my mom throwing all her seeds out just so she would be finished first and that she would always get mad at Glen because she wanted to sing while they were working but he wouldn't sing with her. As I was walking back up I came upon Robert who had two milk jugs collecting water from the spring. My camera was put away and he saw me before I could get it out and take a picture but in my mind it was another great memory that I will cherish. As I reflect on the past year I am grateful for the family that I have been blessed with. I know that life is full of trials and tribulations and all it takes is a weekend like this to help you realize that life is good.