As I'm a very supportive girlfriend, I didn't complain when Evan tuned in to the Yankees-Red Sox game around 7 tonight. Evan left at 8:30, and I'm still watching. I've never cared for baseball, especially not on TV, but now that Evan's walked me through a few basics... I might be well on my way to fandom. Not to mention, I'm becoming a fair judge of who wears their baseball pants in a satisfactory way and who doesn't. For instance, Yankee Derek Jeter wears his pants long and loose. Unsatisfactory. Brave Kelly Johnson, on the other hand, wears his socks high and his pants snug. For this very reason, I'm looking into getting a Braves t-shirt with JOHNSON across the back, like a true fan (and because Alice won't let me have Francouer).
My Thursday thru Sunday has been, in a word, superb.
Evan got here Thursday evening, and we went to dinner with Blake and then to the best experience I've had at Auburn: we, along with a couple hundred other Auburn students, went into Jordan-Hare stadium-- not the bleachers, mind you: the FIELD-- and laid out our (Blake's) sleeping bag and watched The Dark Knight in HD on the jumbotron. Did I mention the free snacks and beverages? It was incredible, lying in the warm spring night next to some of my favorite people.
Friday afternoon, Evan and I headed home, where we ate with his parents and little brother at Guntersville's premier restaurant, K.C.'s Coyote Cafe. After hours of talking and laughing over blackened salmon, fresh-baked bread, and completely unnecessary but entirely delicious blackberry cobbler, Evan and I headed back to my house to watch The Office that Mom had taped.
Saturday morning, we headed to Blount County for a visit with the Marcums and the Hays clan. I hadn't seen my mom's side of the family since Christmas, so we spent nearly all day there, telling the same stories I've heard since childhood sprinkled with a few new stories that had happened since the last time we were all together (like, the principal of my younger cousin's middle school being strangled by a student after breaking up a fight in the lunchroom). I spent most of the afternoon drinking in the fullness of this wonderful family: Daddy J, the quite patriarch who puts his God and his family above all else; Momma Em, a people-pleaser who wants nothing more than to know that her family is happy and safe; Aunt Debbie, who is as spirited as she is small and loves her family with a passion she otherwise reserves for Alabama football alone; my own mother, who is caring and thoughtful, pouring over each event so that no one's workload is too heavy and everyone can relax and enjoy each other; my younger cousin Anna-Kate, who is beautiful, artistic and athletic at the same time, with a beaming smile and a sweet heart; Uncle Linc, who is reserved and fiercely loyal to his family, especially his four beautiful children; my great aunt Connie, who is independent and loving, determined to stay connected with those she loves most. I could easily go on and on, listing every member of my family and exactly why I love them so, but I won't. I might never stop. Next, we went to my dad's parents' house. Their sprawling farm is picturesque in many ways, with a white picket fence, front porch swings, and a clover-laden pasture complete with a one-eared pony. I have so many memories at this house: making "frog caves" in the sandbox with Papaw, hayrides from the pasture to the pond where we'd fish for hours, sneaking into the kitchen with Megan for a midnight snack then giggling in the back bedroom about our successful mission through the creaking kitchen, and even recently bringing college friends home to enjoy the simple pleasure of life in the country. It's interesting to be this age... I remember how invincible and immortal my granddad seemed when I was young, and now he seems so frail to me, his breath sometimes labored and his hair growing thinner. But this aging man is incredible still in his own right. In April of last year, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and told he wouldn't live to see August. Now, one year later, he still rides his tractor on good days and has recently acquired an electric wheelchair to get him to and from his garden.
Today, we went to church, where Scoggins spoke the Word over us with an understanding and clarity that never ceases to amaze me. Afterward, Evan and I went to Zaxby's for lunch and then straight to the pool. I spent hours reading and slipping in and out of sleep until my stomach started hinting that it was just about dinner time. We went to Johnny Brusco's, the pizza place where we had our first date so many months ago. After dinner, we came back to my place and Evan quickly navigated the television to ESPN, where we started watching the game at Fenway Park. Which catches me up to the present.
On tap for this week: one twenty-minute presentation, three days of class, three hours of undergraduate research, and one final on Friday. I think I can, I think I can...
*I typed this blog twice.
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