ode to granddad

granddad...

since i was very young....

you've always been there for me...

you see....

i didn't really like horses, for real, only in books...

but you helped me to see that they are really lovely animals....

as well as all the other animals that are in the zoo...

like snakes...

which...

as we all know...

my mom doesn't like at all...

 you let me wear you out...

you let me make silly faces in pictures... 

 

we always have so much fun together...

thank you for taking me to museums and parks and to get ice cream and donuts... 

even though i don't like it when you park your car backwards i still love you because you know a lot about cars...

thank you for being silly with me...

thank you for visiting me...

thank you for loving me granddad.  i love you too!

speaking of...

when we were in nc cashel really loved the life guards at the westridge forest pool (a.k.a. branchwood pool).  he really enjoyed both mary vef (mary beth) and etta - both young girls (high school and sophomore in college).

cashel: mommy.  is mary vef still on vacation? (mary beth was on vacation for 1 week of our trip and was therefore not at the pool.

cashel:  mommy, i would really like etta to play wif me. 

etta - proceeded to play with cashel at the pool.

cashel:  mommy, do you think mary vef (now back from vaca) would swim wif me?

me:  mary beth?  cashel would like to swim with you.

mary beth:  of course!

cashel was in heaven.....

we're on to you

we went to palm springs this weekend.  we're (cashel and i) just back from a two week trip from nc where we were in the pool for all but two days of the trip.  cashel is a fish.

yesterday jason and i witnessed the following:

cashel had on his swim goggles and was happily swimming around.  then suddenly, a beautiful, exotic, dark skinned, dark haired woman entered the pool.  cashel stood up on the step that he could stand on with no trouble.  he took off his goggles.  he watched the woman as she slowly made her way into the pool and dipped her hair into the pool.

jason:  (i'm also witness to this) cashel?  what are you doing bud?

cashel:  (looking at his dad with a surprised-you-caught-me-look) nofing

city boy

the first night we arrived in nc cashel was so excited to catch lightening bugs.  we had talked about them and mimi had bought him a little cage to put them in.  at dusk we all went outside and mimi and papa proceeded to catch lightening bugs and put them into the cage.  cashel is such a city boy.  he was apprehensive about touching the lightening bugs so let mimi and papa run around the back yard collecting them for him.  he kept saying, "there's one over dere.  go catch it!" 

on the first friday of our trip we went to visit my good, high school friend, lloyd and his son, john.  it was great for cashel to have a little playmate.  cashel did what cashel does and about 5 minutes in said, "i want to go outside."  so we went outside.  john immediately got on his bike and starting riding it.  cashel had no interest in riding a bike (he's not really tried too hard yet to even learn) or to ride a scooter.  he saw the swing set in the back yard (field really, it's 12 acres!) and wanted to go to it but didn't want to go alone.  it was about 50 yards from me and i didn't want to go so i told him he had to go with john.  he finally gave in and went to play on the swing set while lloyd and i attempted to start to catch up on the back porch.  cashel came up and wanted water.  wish granted.  then would not go back to the swing set to play with john.  he kept saying he didn't want to. he didn't like getting sweaty.  he was afraid of the spiders.  well...we have spiders and spider webs all around our house in california and he's never feared sweat before.  john finally came up to the porch and wanted to go watch his cousin clear land with a tractor for a house he's going to build.  lloyd told john to show cashel where to go.  they would be going behind the barn and then some ways down a trail - far out of my sight.  it's the country.  cashel's not used to it so he just watched john race down.  lloyd stood up and told me to relax and said he would walk cashel down.  he did.  about 3 minutes later cashel came back (with lloyd). 

five minutes later three older kids came around the back of the house on a golf cart.  john got on but cashel didn't want to go.  lloyd put cashel on (he surprisingly didn't fight it) and lloyd told the young girl driving, "you've got a city boy here.  he's not used to this so go easy."  cashel sat there and i think he actually had a good time riding around. 

after this we went inside where cashel felt more comfortable.  he and john ended up wrestling a while later.  lloyd was impressed with cashel's skills.  some time later we went outside again where john got back on his bike and instead of cashel riding anything, he decided to show off how fast he could run.  we had about ten races and i think cashel won every one of them. 

it was good boy time for him.  something my city boy really, really needed.

home

where is home?  it's always, for me, been kernersville.  it's what i think of when i say the words "going home."

my parents live in the house where i was born and raised and i love to come to kernersville and just be in the house.  i love to do what i did today, which is drive around and see things.  i went to my high school and just drove around neighborhoods i would drive to as a kid and teenager.  i have adult eyes now and things definitely look different.  this is not just because they actually have changed, been remodeled, roads have been repaved and in some cases moved, fields are now new (to me) neighborhoods and businesses, but also because i see them differently as an adult.  buildings look smaller than they did when i was a kid, or, not as majestic.
i also just love being at home, in the house where i grew up.  i walk out into the backyard and see the bare grass where my little playhouse was and think about playing "cowboys and indians" with my brothers' and their friends.  i walk down to the pool and take the short cut through the neighbors house.  i pick apples off of the tree down the street knowing the people who live there and who i don't know, don't care one bit.

it's peaceful.

it's fun being around my parents.  they love to have the tv on a news channel all day long and i love the background noise that it provides.  i love having dinner with them in the same kitchen where i had every meal growing up.  i love that they always just let me be me while i'm here.  i love the house although it's recently been remodeled.  it's home.

but los angeles is home too.  it's where jason is.  it's where me, cashel and jason are a family together.

i guess i'm lucky.  i feel like i have two homes.  i have two places where i know i can always go and be wrapped up in the warmth of the people who love me and who i love.