She Never Meets A Stranger...Really!

Jessie has been talking about needing to exercise ever since she and Haynes moved here a year and a half ago. Mom's determination to remain active has been troublesome at times. 

A few weeks after they moved to Conroe, Jessie decided that she wanted to go for a walk and explore the neighborhood. Unfortunately, she wasn't too familiar with the neighborhood and got turned around within a couple of blocks away from our house. It didn't help that she had taken off about 30 minutes before dark, either. So, there she was, about a half-mile from our house, lost and in the dark. It just so happened that a "nice young couple" drove by and noticed that she looked confused. They stopped and asked her if they could give her a ride. They brought her home just as we were starting to search for her. She's gotten more familiar with the neighborhood since and before it started getting so hot, she would get out and walk nearly every evening.

Since March of this year, my family and I have started going to the local community recreation center to work out. Jessie wanted to see what the "Rec Center" was all about and went with us to take a "test drive" in the workout room. She decided to get her own membership and start going with us to exercise. Tonight was her first night.

It's often been said about Jessie that she's never met a stranger. Well, tonight it was literally proved true. Jessie finished her work out and was waiting for my wife and I to finish up. She struck up a conversation with a lady working out on a machine close by. In the course of conversation, they discovered they shared the same birthday. But, the fascinating part was that as they continued talking, Mom mentioned that she and Haynes had moved to Conroe from Malakoff, Texas. 

"Where?" the lady asked.

"Malakoff, Texas." Jessie replied.

"Well, I grew up in Malakoff, Texas and in Trinidad." She proceeded to tell of her family who lived in the Malakoff, Trinidad and Cross Roads area. She spoke of her grandparents who lived in Trinidad as well as her parents who are buried in the Trinidad Cemetery. She talked about attending the "Old Rock School" as a child, before she and her family moved to the Houston area for her dad's work. She said that she and her family have attended homecoming festivities in both Malakoff and Trinidad for years and only stopped going when less and less of their family were still in the area.

I couldn't believe it. But, then again, what did expect? The woman never meets a stranger!

To Victoria and Back

Haynes & Jessie spent the last 2 weeks in Victoria with my sister, Vicki, and her family. It's probably their longest stay away from home since the two have been married. They got to spend a lot of quality time with my sister and her family (mainly with their 3 great-grand kids). I picked them up in Victoria today. They were ready to come home. I'm not sure if they had too much fun with the kiddos or if they missed us and the dogs. Probably a little of both...

Trying to Keep Up

When I started this blog, I was expecting to write about stuff going on with Haynes & Jessie a lot more regularly than I have. The truth is, between keeping up with their activities and those of my kids, there's always a lot of things going on at any given time. They've gotten past the medical issues they had as a result of their respective falls.With the exception of the removal of a growth removed from Dad's arm in May, there have been no other doctors' office visits except for check-ups. BTW, the growth was benign, but, it was rather freaky looking. It's a good thing he went ahead and had it removed.

We first started talking to Haynes & Jessie about moving to Conroe with us nearly 8 years ago. At that time the kids were small and weren't attending public school. In those days, it seemed the kids were going to Malakoff at least once a month for a least a week at a time. But our kids started public school in 2005 and their visits to Malakoff began to be fewer and fewer. We started talking to them again about moving down in 2009 and one of the bigger selling points was that they could attend our kids' school activities as often as they wanted. Mom had her wreck just a matter of weeks after we had them down to discuss the move and that got everything in motion.

Haynes & Jessie moved a year ago in January and were in Conroe for the kids' spring semester of school, which was just in time for concerts and contests. However, in the last 3 months, there have been enough activities to possibly give them more than they bargained for.

In April, they got to return to Malakoff for LaVerne Perkins' birthday party. While they were in town, they got to visit one of their best friends, Sybil "Sister" Cook, who eventually passed away a few weeks later. They got to return to Malakoff for her funeral, which was more like attending a home coming celebration. They got to see friends they hadn't seen in years.

Danelle graduated from Southwestern Assemblies of God University a few weeks later and Haynes & Jessie got to ride up with Danelle and her sister, Janeen, to prepare for all the festivities. Haynes took a spill while getting in bed, the first night out of town, and hurt his thumb, but nothing more. He found out later that he had separated the thumb, but at least it wasn't broken. He still enjoys giving a firm handshake. It's taken a while, but his grip is improving again. On the way home, Haynes & Jessie stopped by to visit Haynes' sister, Cheno, in Flower Mound so he could experience some tough love from his beloved sister. It's alway nice to visit her - if anything but for the stories she has has on Dad from when they were kids. This time, she told about Dad getting his head stuck in the spokes of an old covered wagon. There was something about a mule and being thrown into that compromised position. It's a wonder that he or his siblings ever lived to see adulthood with some of the things they did as kids!

May is birthday month for Haynes & Jessie. This year was a milestone. Haynes turned 90 years old on May 19th and Jessie turned 82 on the 15th. Their grand daughters, Jessica and Bryleigh, also had birthdays in May , on the 15th and 17th, respectively. We had a special party for Haynes and Jessie in Longview on May 21st and got family together who hadn't seen each other in many years. The itinerary for that weekend was a killer and they endured it like champs.

Yesterday was another milestone. Our son, Christopher, had his high school graduation on the campus of Texas A&M University. Haynes & Jessie were there celebrating the milestone with us. It was a quite a day, but in the end, they were there and were a part of it.

In the next few months, our youngest daughter, Anna, will be preparing to attend high school, Chris will be leaving for college in Denton and Jessica will be attending summer school - among other activities and events we don't know about yet. Haynes & Jessie will be right there in the middle of it. All we have to do is just load them in the car. They'll be ready to go.