A Week-end of Firsts

Wow, this past week-end was a week-end that will forever be etched in my memory. First, we celebrated the first birthday of my second grandson Wes. Of course, he was the cutest thing diving into his birthday cake and coming out the biggest mess with icing all over his face and hands. His dad opened gifts for him, but he seemed to be more interested in the remote control for the TV than playing with his gifts. Just wait until next year.

Going for a stroll around the neighborhood. Wes and William are riding in Wes' birthday present from Poppa and Kakki. Also along for the walk are Taylor and Mamoo, the boys' great grandparents.

What is so special about this thing? All Mama and Daddy say is "NO!' everytime I touch it. I guess birthdays are so special I can play with it today.

What is this? Can I touch it?

Wow! This is the best! Mama, I like cake.

Also, I was in my first earthquake! Yes, you read correctly, an earthquake. Saturday afternoon in Tupelo there was an earthquake that registered 3.2 on the Ricther Scale. What does a 3.2 earthquake feel like? Ya got me! I missed it. Now, when I say I missed it it, I mean that I heard it, but I wasn't in the best place to experience it. Where was I you ask? I was in the bathroom taking care of bathroom business. As I was taking care of business, I hear this loud noise. My first reaction was that a plane had crashed into a house. I had this reaction because Laura lives near the Tupelo airport. When I came out of the bathroom, I asked, "What was that noise?" Responses were as varied as the number of people in the house: "It sounded like a sonic boom." "It was a big truck." "Maybe it was thunder." As we looked out the windows, we noticed people in the neighborhood were looking out their windows too, while some were standing out in their yards. We went back to enjoying birthday cake, thinking nothing more about the noise.

Later that evening after we had returned to Delta Land, Laura called to say that the noise we heard was an earthquake. "An earthquake?!!" "Yeah, mama, that's right." I remember back several years ago around 1985, give or take a few years, there was a big scare that we here in Mississippi were in for a big earthquake because we are sitting on some fault line. We were warned to get our earthquake kits together and be like the Boy Scouts. We squirreled away water, canned goods, first aids supplies, can opener, flashlights, batteries, extra clothes, and no telling what else. The appointed day was in December, if my memory does not fail me. The day came and went and there was no earthquake. The week came and went and there was no earthquake. The month came and went and there was no earthquake. Soon we all forgot about the earthquake. When we moved to Inverness in 1999, I was cleaning out our old house in Moorhead and came across part of our earthquake kit. I thought about saving it since we were then in the the throws of all the Y2K and the End of Time warnings, which by the way like the earthquake, never came to fruition.

Even though my earthquake experience was sort of second hand, unlike one of the liquor stores in Tupelo whose owner said some of the bottles were shaken off the shelves, I can now say I was in an earthquake, even if I didn't know it.

Several of you faithful readers have asked about my travel journal. I have been so busy with brides and their invitations these last two weeks I haven't been able to find the time to finish my posts on Italy. I have one more day in Rome and the trip home. I will get back to the travel journal hopefully the first of next week for all you who are waiting anxiously to read about the goings on in Rome (I hope you fellow readers know that I am writing this tongue-in- cheek). The travel journal has been more for me to put the experience into words and print out for a keepsake than to bore you with our trip to Italy.

Take care fellow readers, and to my teacher friends, I know you can hardly wait until school is out. I wish you a wonderful summer of relaxation. DK