A few weeks ago, I got asked if I could be a professional chauffer for this really cute old man. My first stop was at my sister's house so one of her kids could use my phone to take a picture....
After that was done, I grabbed that old man and headed out on a red eye so we could see my childhood home in NC....he didn't remember it at all....
The old man attempted to get a little shut eye, but who can sleep when you have me around....
Or a Chuck that is need of either a good spanking or a thumbs up....
Probably depends on the day! After a small rest and giving as many thumbs as possible, we headed up to mom's childhood home....he remembered that one!
Somehow I forgot to give Jean the thumbs up she deserved....next time, I guess!
After thumbs ups all around, we headed to dad's childhood home in Price, KY to see his childhood area (all his homes are long gone), but we started off strong with his cousin Judy...
I hadn't met her before, but she deserves all the thumbs up....my guess is she was a mischief maker in her day, and I loved it! We headed out to go discover more of my dad's old stomping grounds, we visited his parents (after a long bramble through the bushes to find them), and then we stomped around a forbidden shortcut from school he used to take....through a train tunnel....
It's all blocked off now, but I'm pretty certain the old man was tempted to climb through that hole and relive some memories...
I mean, look at that hole, it's just begging for someone to go in it! Next stop, to hang out with Buford and Eva...
and then to Caney...
Dad took me up the sketchy side of a hill to see where his dorm used to be....
and to the Founders Shack ...
Where dad was reunited with mom....
via picture....although if she had appeared as an apparition that would have been cool! I have a few people on my list I could ask for a good haunting! The Alumni director was amazing and dad was treated like gold at his old stomping grounds....although the grounds are the same, but the buildings weren't! That's okay, I saw my mommy and that is good enough for me! Next up we went to go see one of dad's brother's....
and I got to hug my cousin that I haven't hugged since I was 19....which was just last year, so why am I even posting that?
We stayed the night in a cabin that had a bonus cat! 10/10 stars for the cat experience! He climbed up on my back and took a nap...my cats could take a few lessons in cuddliness!!!
Then we headed off to go see my aunt Sue, who I also hadn't seen since I was 19.....I'll be honest, I probably should have introduced myself, I think I might look a bit different since then.
Our last stop was picking up dad's "Irish twin" and breaking her out of her nursing home for a fancy meal (think Sizzler quality). The hearing loss or dementia is strong with this family....at one point every single person was having a conversation....with themselves because they had no idea what the other person was saying!
In the morning we started heading to Cincinnati for our flight home, thankfully we had a few hours to kill so I could attempt to relive my childhood dream of my dad buying me a bunch of balloons and a ridiculously large lollipop. Sadly, I could find neither, so a ride on the carousel,
and petting a tortoise,
had to do!
We hopped on our flight and I was relieved of my chauffeuring duties...I figured the pilot was probably a better pick to get us back safely! So now I'm at home, Buddy was kind enough to share the cooties he picked up in Seattle so I've been down and out for a few days....but the sharer that I am, I think I spread the cootie love to Shane.....time will tell!
So all in all, a super fantastic, I'm a good driver, day!
