With the girls gone, the bride and I had a couple of date nights. McCreery's Pub for fish and chips one night, 5 and Diner the next where we had completely different meals - a ruben for the bride, and blueberry pancakes for me. Following dinner both nights we did what all couples who have been married for more than 15 years do when they have the house to themselves and their kids are out of town - we went shopping.
I took a half-day off Friday to drive to Johnson City for the weekend. Mark and Jennifer were bringing the girls there for us to pick up on Saturday. The trip up took almost 5 hours thanks to TDOT. And of course for those of you in the state of Tennessee, you know that TDOT stands for Tennessee Department of Terrible roads. It must be a state law that there be constant construction on I-40 365 days a year. They're doing resurfacing on a tiny bridge just before you get to exit 360 on I-40 east. Eastbound traffic was bumper-to-bumper for just over 3 miles; westbound traffic was backed up for almost 7 miles. Ridiculous. We bypassed it yesterday on the way back by getting off at 364 and ending up back on the interstate at 356. A little out of the way, but well worth it.
Saturday Dad and I did our semi-annual tour of Kingsport and the old neighborhood. I don't know what it is about it, but I love going back there and just driving around. We drove down to the lake that was about 2 miles from our old house. Years ago, when I actually liked to fish, a bunch of us neighborhood boys would ride our bikes down to the lake with our fishing gear stapped onto our bikes and we'd fish for hours. There was Kelly Bailey, Richie, Stevie and Jimbo Keesling, Steve Cooper and others. Thinking back, it wasn't so much the fishing we enjoyed as it was just hanging out. Just down from the
spot that we fished, there are several new houses on the lake. I saw one that I'd move into tomorrow if it was for sale. It looked like something you'd see on a lake in the New England area. I wish I'd gotten a picture of it, but it was raining pretty hard at the time. We went by the 2 houses we lived in and they look so different now. The whole neighborhood does. We went to Traders Village, an indoor flea market there in Kingsport. We went downtown and saw the old places we used to shop almost 40 years ago. Most of those places are out of business, having been replaced by other stores. Driving past the building that used to house Dobyns Taylor, I remembered buying my first 10-speed bike there. An orange Huffy.
Our tour of Kingsport wouldn't be complete without the obligatory trip to Pal's for lunch. Chili cheeseburger, frenchy fries and a Diet Coke. I once e-mailed the owner, Pal Barger, and asked if he'd consider opening a few Pal's here in the Nashville area. He responded by saying that their strategy was to stay in the upper East Tennessee area. Probably just as well, because if they were in the area I'd weigh 250.Not long after I got to the office this morning, I got an e-mail from Chris who told me that a friend of ours from school died last week. Danny Brown was one of the people who hung out with us at our table in the commons area every morning before school. The thing I always remembered about Danny was that Chris and I used to tell him he looked constipated, and it always aggravated him. Sometimes I'd lean over and act like I was saying something to Chris and Danny would yell, "I AIN'T CONSTIPATED!!!!!" Chris reminded me of a story about Danny when we were at the beach a few weeks ago. Danny and I both tried out for basketball at Central our sophmore year, and neither of us made it. Danny went and asked the JV coach why he didn't make it. Coach Maddux said, "Brown, you couldn't guard a Christmas tree!"
My first thought when I read Chris's e-mail this morning was that guys my age aren't supposed to die, especially guys who are friends of mine. Then I had to remind myself that I'm not 17 any more.....
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