Visiting takes priority over doing chores

It was a nice weekend. It began with a deliciously rainy Friday. I was so glad I could stay inside where it was dry. Gracie, the calico cat, spent much of the time hiding under a chair. She does not share my love of rain.

Saturday was clear and sunny. I met a very nice man while I was getting groceries. He was helping his elderly neighbor lady with her shopping. We chatted a bit but I can’t remember his name. It reminded me of all the times I went shopping with my mom and she would find someone she knew. He will never know how much it meant to me when he expressed his condolences on her death. I love living in a place where it is a normal occurrence for people to help their neighbors.

I checked e-mail after I got back home. My brother, David, had left a note saying they were in St. Marys and asking if we wanted to stop by. I called him and instead of telling me where he was, he said he and his wife were coming to visit us.

I decided I should get the dishes done and tidy up the house a bit so they wouldn’t know how much of a slob I am. I was still drying silverware when they pulled into the driveway. Yes, I do dishes by hand. It gets them cleaner.

We had a good visit. David’s wife, Apryl, hadn’t heard that our youngest grandson had turned his teacher into a frog for a week. He had made a necklace for her that turned out to be magic. Apparently she had said, “Ribbit” quite often that week. The magic had worn off by the end of the school year. I’m not sure the teacher ever realized she had been a frog.

We found out that David and Apryl’s 21-year-old son had finally left the house. He is a good guy but perfectly content to live at home forever. A bit of tough love has him sleeping on his grandparent’s couch. I’m not sure how long this will last as his grandmother notifies him daily about local apartment openings.

David had left home at 16. I was gone within days of graduating at 18. Neither of us can understand how or why anyone would want to live with their parents any longer than necessary. David wonders if he was too nice to his son.

We stopped at a fast food place for lunch and continued catching up. As we were preparing to part, they asked if we wanted to stop at the campground on Sunday to check out their new camper.

We went over there Sunday morning and after turning down the wrong aisle, we found them on the corner. All I can say about their new purchase is, “Wow! My baby brother must be doing well.”

The new camper is at least twice as big as I was expecting. The outside is still shiny and the inside is nicer than either their house or ours. They proudly showed off all the features and copious storage. He confesses that he is trying to figure out how to relocate the back up camera from the camper to his truck.

We took a tour of the campground and started down a trail. We didn’t go far before the trail became muck and we turned around. We found a giant checkerboard and David trounced me at the game. Then he tried to get me to walk through the fountains on the splash pad. As always happens when we are together, we acted like young kids instead of like the old fogeys we are. Our spouses are used to this although they don’t seem to walk very close to us when we are being silly.

Any time I can spend time with family is good. The older I get, the more I am aware that our time on this is earth is short. It is far better to make memories than anything else I can think of. Chores can wait. Visiting always takes priority.