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.