The Visit of D. McGuirk

Chapter 1:  The Making of Plans and the Arrival at Our Home

We were delighted to learn the Albuquerque McGuirks would be making the 400-mile journey from their city of residence to the fair town of Denver, Colorado the Friday before the start of the Labor Day weekend.  Our nephew, Sean, whom I'm sure you remember from previous posts, is quite the football (soccer) player, and his team, Rio, was scheduled to play in a tournament this weekend with games commencing on Saturday and concluding late Sunday.  Devin, our blond-haired niece who is but six months older than Bode--but close to a head taller--would be joining them.  Dear sister-in-law Dana and eldest niece Brenna had prior commitments and would be absent from the journey.  Devin, while a blood-relative of the Albuquerque children, perhaps does not share as quite as enthusiastic affection for the game of football (soccer) as her siblings.  And like many a seven-year old, she does not fancy a day of watching her brother's soccer games; she'd rather be either playing in a game herself or focusing her energy on some other type of pursuit.  Events being as they are, she had to accompany brother Pat and nephew Sean to Denver as the aforementioned commitments of Dana and Brenna, combined with the rather strict laws of child neglect and abandonment, would have resulted in times during which Devin would have been unsupervised, thus requiring her to make the trip.

Bode is quite fond of Devin, but certainly not in an Arrested Development sort of way.  There's something about children under the age of 10.  Put two little people in the same room, and they will immediately start playing and laughing and sharing merriment and fellowship that adults only feel when in the company of friends whose relationships have been forged over many years and perhaps through some sort of trial and tribulation, much like men who've gone off to war.  Such is the beauty of children.  That being said, Bode and Devin share a particularly lovely relationship, whether it be because Bode is an only child and loves having a companion in the house other than one of the four-legged variety and Devin is the youngest of three children and might suffer from smallest child syndrome or it could be they simply get along well and find each other's company pleasing.  Whatever the reason, the two are cousins,  sharing the same blood that coursed through the veins of McGuirk ancestors that roamed the continent across the smaller of the seas, yet they are also friends.  This friendship was made even stronger during the first of the summer months when Bode spent a fortnight in Albuquerque, swimming and laughing and playing those accursed video games and spending late nights watching movies and an abundance of activities near and dear to the hearts of today's youth.  Like all things, the two-week visit ended and Bode was heart-broken, weeping rivers of tears and heaving horrific sobs during the drive home.

The two cousins relationship having now been established, it seems but a foregone conclusion that we would offer our home as a temporary lodging for Devin for the duration of the weekend, thus saving her the dull (in her eyes--we in no way mean to suggest Sean's football games are tedious) experience of watching four football contests of her elder brother and in the evenings being in the company of 11-year old boys, something to which no girl should ever be subjected.  Pat and Dana broached the idea with Devin of staying with Bode for two nights, she was thrilled, as was Bode, and the plans were then laid for the drop off of our littlest niece.  We arranged to meet at Grammy's house, located very near the interstate upon which Pat et al. would be traveling and saving them from having to divert too far from their end objective and also within an easy carriage ride from our home.  We were more than skeptical Pat et al. would arrive at their estimated time of 6:30 in the pm.  It is not that we doubt his word, as brother Pat is a man of the highest integrity having graduated from one of the nation's premier character building institutions.  Rather, we knew he would leaving no earlier than 1:00 in the pm.  We have numerous empirical data which show a McGuirk trip from Albuquerque typically lasts at least seven hours due to numerous stops to relieve and satisfy the calls of nature.  Brother Pat assured us measures were being taken to ensure the trip would be conducted in as an expeditious a manner as possible.  These measures were in no way Draconian; rather, they packed sandwiches, limited the intake of liquid, and provided young Devin with some anti-nauseau medicine, which seemed to help some, but there was also the somniferous impact of two Benedryls.

Twenty-first century technology allowed the sending of updates throughout the journey, hopefully done by nephew Sean and not the driver of the conveyance.  Estimated arrival time at Grammy's began at 6:15 in the pm, was then extended to 6:33 in the pm, with them ultimately arriving at 6:35 in the pm.  Brother Pat did confess they left at 12:50, thereby making the total journey's time five hours and forty-five minutes, shattering their previous record by more than an hour.  Upon arrival, hugs and handshakes were exchanged as were many pleasantries and platitudes, the adults sitting along the bar in the kitchen while the children having removed themselves to the basement, which lacked any type of toy suitable for a young child, but, as the discussion previous noted, children have fun together and can do so with anything, in this case a ping-pong ball, a yoga ball, and the imaginations of the three little minds.  Good-naturedness abounded, as the high-pitched squeals and squawks of laughter and cheer filled the house.  Ashley seemed immune to the laughter and kept pointing to her belly and the clock.  Evidently it was well past her usual feeding time and noises not unlike those emitted by a hungry Gremlin were put forth.  "Good gracious, madam!" I exclaimed.  "Are those noises coming from your abdominal cavity?" "Jeff, shut-up," she answered, breaking character, and probably wind for that matter.  Grammy, an astute observer of human behavior, quickly surmised Ashley's state of ravenous.  With great rapidity, she completed the preparations of the meal and rang the dinner bell.

The young children, who were likely in the same state as Ashley, charged up the stairs, found their chairs and plates and knives and forks, and dove into the repast with the hunger and vengeance shown by those having been without a fine meal in many months.  The adults took their seats at the table and commenced with their meal, offering praise and admiration to the chef, who took the compliments with the ease and aplomb of an experienced practitioner of the culinary arts by saying, "It was just something I whipped up."  We all laughed heartily, knowing this could possibly not have been true, and continued on with the meal.  The food was devoured, the plates cleared, and dessert followed suit.  Ice cream and a trough of cookies were laid before us, and we again dove into the food as if we had not eaten.  Once we could no longer eat another morsel, the dishes were cleared, and Brother Pat stated he needed to be on the road.  Sean's first game kick-offed at 9:00 in the am, and a requisite amount of rest and sleep were needed to ensure he was in prime physical condition.

We proceeded to the parked cars and transferred Devin's bags to our vehicle.  Devin said the compulsory good-byes to her father and brother, and offered thanks to Grammy for the fine meal.  Bode and Devin proceeded into our vehicle.  Brother Pat offered his thanks to us for allowing Devin the opportunity to stay with us, to which we responded thanks were not necessary, that she is a fine young lady whom we all adore and the duty to convey thanks lies with us.  More platitudes and what not followed, etc etc etc, the car was loaded, final good-bye waves were executed, we were off to our house and brother Pat and nephew Sean were on the road to their final destination.

The drive home was rather quiet.  I had expected more cheers and rambunctiousness from the two children, having been filled to the brim with sugar and other fast-energy foods.  Alas, they were busy watching one of their portable electronic devices.  I tried to engage them in conversation only to be shushed by the children.  "I wonder what they are watching," I said to Ashley.  "Sssh," she replied, turning on the radio, her feelings of anger toward me having not subsided due to the rude comments about the noises from her belly.  We thus proceeded in silence, the occasional smirk of laughter coming from the back-seat in addition to the occasional toot, which was always followed by more laughter.  We quickly arrived at our destination, obviously because our olfactory senses required it.  I leapt from the car and with the grandeur of a doorman at a five-star hotel, I helped Devin from the vehicle.

"Welcome to our home."

By the way, I've been reading Dickens.  Can you tell?  For those that don't know, Dickens was...wordy to say the least.  Some say he was paid by the page.  My theory is this.  He published many of his works in serial magazines.  Therefore, he had a deadline every month (or so).  I believe it might have taken longer for him to develop the full story line.  Therefore, he couldn't publish something without having worked through all the details, yet he also had a set number of words which he needed to submit.  Therefore, he would spend a great many words simply describing the most mundane of items, much like I have done above.  Hopefully it did not bore you to tears :-)

First Day of 1st Grade

It's hard to believe summer is already over.  We had 1st-grade orientation on Thursday where we met Bode's teacher, Ms. Sanders.  She is very nice.  We then had a nice relaxing weekend--some yard work and family time.  Here's a nice picture of Bode and me chilling.  Note the prominent Auburn flag in the background.  It's almost football season!

Monday, school started.  Bode was very excited to see his friends.  Before we left, we took some pictures.  First is a shot of Bode with his new backpack.  It's hard to tell, but the backpack has great pictures of the night sky.  Very cool.  

Next, we took some family pictures.

Finally, here's a picture of Bode standing in line after the first bell.  He was very excited to see a lot of his friends.

He had a great first day of school.  His teacher seems very nice, and we've heard good things from our neighbors.  Bode brought home a flier for the cross country team and said he wanted to join.  Practice starts next week.  He's never struck me as a runner; we'll see how he does.  I can't believe we have a first grader.  

Pleasant week to all.

Wolfe

No, I didn't misspell in the title.  The Wolfe family was in town for a visit.  Kristine and I go way back to a time when she was Kristi and most people simply called me "Guirk" or "Guirker."  Twenty-some years ago.  The first Iraqi War was still two years away.  So was the internet.  God we're old...:-)

They came in on a Sunday, and we did a little barbecue.  Nothing major because I'm not very great with the grill.  Fortunately, it is not hard to mess up hot-dogs and hamburgers.  Afterwards, we did a little Scrabble on the deck.  Kristine and I started playing in high-school.  I think I even have a picture of two 17-year olds playing (I'll have to check my archives--the paper ones, not the teradrive).  The weather was beautiful--such a lovely evening.  Here is a shot of Kristine, her daughter (one of three), Abbey, and me.

Abbey is quite the softball player.  Although she's only 12, we probably ought to buy our 2020 Olympic tickets, as I'm sure she'll be playing.  Ashley tried to steer Abbey to an SEC school, but Kristine and Patrick are hoping she stays closer to home.  Their youngest daughter, Avery, is Bode's age, and she is just the sweetest little thing.  Here's Avery doing a "Wolfie," which is when a member of the Wolfe family does a selfie.  Obviously it is not a true selfie since someone else took the picture, but it's still a very cute picture.  Unfortunately, she was wearing a Gator shirt, so we had to kill her.  House rules.

The Wolfes took in all the sights of Colorado Springs--Garden of the Gods, the zoo, and the Manitou Incline.  They even made us dinner--talk about your great house guests!

Check out Patrick on the stove.  He made an Alfredo sauce from scratch, which Ashley and Bode loved.  I didn't try it, as I'm more of a red sauce fellow, but I'm sure if Patrick ever wants a second career, he could be chef.

Sadly, I had to work (damn school starts this week) and could not join them as they toured the city.  However, both Ashley and I did get away one afternoon for a trip to the pool.  Here's a group shot of Patrick, Kristine, Ashley, and me in the hot-tub.  Check out Kristine's $40 shorts.  Sadly, she forgot to bring the right attire to the pool and had to buy something from the gym.  Walmart prices they are not.

 Next, we have Bode, Parker (their son), and Avery.  Parker is really into baseball.  Bode and Parker really hit it off and spent a large amount of time playing Lego Star Wars on Xbox.

Finally, here's a great shot of the elders, Paige and Abbey.  Paige is starting high-school and will be driving in another year.  The cool thing (in my eyes, not hers) is she doesn't even have a cell-phone.  Big props to Kristine and Patrick.  We'll try to emulate their example.  They also don't have cable tv...no way in hell we're doing that, what with the SEC network starting in five days.

The pool was wonderful, and afterwards, we had pizza at Dion's, the greatest place to eat because they give military personnel free drinks.  Talk about savings for a party of nine!  Kristine and I also took some time for a together shot.  Below is an interesting progression of bad-to-better-to-best pictures.  In fairness to me, I was trying to look goofy in the first picture.

Now for a quick discussion on the Scrabble games (and yes, there is a reason this will be a quick discussion).  Kristine beat me in our head-to-head matchup.  No excuses; she won fair and square.  I even brought out the timer to try to get an advantage.  The real winner was Patrick who won every game he played despite a lack of sleep the first night here (side note:  he has dog allergies; tried sleeping outside in a tent; got very cold; yada yada yada he was fine the rest of the time thanks to drugs).  I really need to start practicing.  Perhaps a couple hours a day with the two- and three-letter word lists would do the trick.

Bode starts school in a week--a week!  I don't think I'm ready for summer to end.  I can retire from the Air Force in less than a year.  I've been telling people I want to work for at least four or five more years.    I think I'm lying.  I don't want to work anymore; I HAVE to work for four or five more years.  But as soon as its financially feasible, I'm done, packing it in, and firing up the novel machine :-)  Pleasant week to everyone.