Weekend in Sachse

Starting last Thursday night, Aunt Sis and I embarked a weekend for the ages. Grandmother and Granddaddy (her parents) were planning to come over for a visit to see her new place. This would be their first time in town since Aunt Sis moved back from Oregon, and their first time to Sachse. At first, we thought it would be okay to send them a map and wait for their arrival on Friday morning, but as I started drawing the map I realized the obvious dilemma: there are a lot of turns involved.

On the one hand, I could send them into Dallas, keep them on freeway most of the way here, and probably get a call sometime Friday afternoon from Mineral Wells (the other side of Fort Worth) asking us to help them find the 635 exit. Or, on the other hand, I could send them up the shorter route down a couple of state highways and farm roads and still get a call Friday afternoon from somewhere near the Oklahoma border asking whether they've missed the Hwy. 78 turn off. Neither scenario seemed very pleasant, so Aunt Sis and I decided that we would just meet them in Longview on Friday morning. Aunt Sis would drive their car, I would drive my truck, and we would all arrive safely.

Since Caci is moving, she had already offered to let Aunt Sis have her couch, and my truck would be needed to move it anyway, so we could just pick that up as a part of our trip and kill two birds with one stone. It was a brilliant plan, and after my softball game Thursday night we set off to put everything in motion. We left Dallas about 9pm, and we made good time to Kilgore. We decided to go ahead and pick up the couch on the way in because we also needed to stop by Mom's to get a bed for Reagan.

I just knew that I would have something way more interesting to write here when I pictured us moving a couch out of Caci's house in the middle of the night with her out of town. I figured this story would involve spotlights, police officers, and handcuffs, but apparently Caci's neighborhood watch is not all that active. We moved out a couch and a loveseat in the middle of the night, made a terrible racket, and no one even looked twice at us. The couch wasn't all that bad, thankfully, because I told Aunt Sis that if it was a sleeper sofa, then it was going to have to stay there. The real pain came when we tried to move the loveseat. I figured it couldn't be that bad. It's just a loveseat…..that reclines…..and apparently has the frame and suspension of a small Volkswagon hidden under the upholstery. My back is still sore, and Aunt Sis is going to have to hire movers to get that thing out of her duplex. I'm not touching it again.

We made it to Mom's a little before 1am, and I planned to park under the awning at Uncle Danny's trailer because the sky had been threatening to rain. Honestly, we had driven in rain all the way from Dallas to Kilgore and were blessed to not be rained on between Kilgore and Mom's. Anyway, knowing that Aunt Sis is afraid of dogs, I warned her that there has been a dog hanging around the property the last several months and that if she sees him, she should not freak out. I was just trying to be helpful. She didn't really see it that way.

When we pulled around the drive, I saw that Uncle Danny had a bunch of tools and things out under the awning, so I was going to need some guidance to get the truck backed in safely. Of course, I asked Aunt Sis to hop out and guide me back. She's thinking, "Yeah, right. You just want me to test the waters and make sure the hell hound isn't on the loose." And she probably threw in a memory or two of Mom telling her that the snakes come out at night. Aunt Sis didn't want to have anything to do with helping me back up under that awning, but she hopped out and we got things done.

The next morning, we got up early, loaded the bed in the truck, and set off for Longview to meet Grandmother and Granddaddy. Grandmother said that they would leave their house at "8am, SHARP!" So I planned to also leave Mother's at 8am figuring that would put us in Longview a few minutes ahead of them. We were going to meet at the McDonald's at Estes Parkway. I told them to look for the Estes Parkway exit. I told them that if they didn't see that, they should just know that it would be the third exit in Longview. I told them that if both of those ideas failed, just get off at exit 595. You can't even mess that up. Write it backward. It's still 595. How could this plan possibly go wrong?

As we got in the truck, Aunt Sis realized that she had missed a call while in the shower. She listened to her voicemail. Grandmother and Granddaddy had left Shreveport at 7:30am. They should be in Longview about half an hour ahead of us. Quickly, we called Grandmother on her cell. I don't think she uses it much, so we did have fun picturing her in the car when it starting ringing:

"Merwin, what's that noise?"

"What noise, honey?"

"There it goes again. Merwin, is the car okay?"

"I still don't hear anything."

"Merwin, it sounds just like a phone ringing."

"You brought that cell phone, I'll bet that's it."

"Oh my. Silly me. Of course it is……..'lo. Asthma Allergy Clinic. I mean, hello?"

Well, we did get her on the phone, and after about five minutes of Aunt Sis listening to her go on and on about how amazing it is to be able to talk to each other while we were in two different cars – "Why didn't anyone think of this sooner?" she asked; I thought they did and called them CBs – we found out where they were. They were nearing Waskom, so our timing was not too far off.

About ten minutes before we got to Longview, we called them again. I'm sure it was a replay of the first call as Grandmother tried to find the phone again, but we found that they had just, "shot right past that exit." What??? How could you shoot right past the exit with all the instruction that we gave???

At this point, we're really glad that we didn't just send a map. Our worst fears would certainly have been realized. Aunt Sis instructed them to tell her the exact exit number coming up, pull over, and wait for us. They were only one exit past where they were supposed to be, so it wasn't too bad. Granddaddy came to ride with me in the truck while Aunt Sis went to drive Grandmother's car, and then we were back on the road.

We pulled over in Lindale to get drinks and fuel, and Granddaddy hopped out of the truck alongside me so he could, "see how these Texas gas pumps work." Huh? "Don't they have gas pumps in Louisiana, Granddad?" I asked. He said that they sure did, but that he always paid the attendant inside the service station. Okay. I generally do the same, but this time I didn't have cash, so I used my card. I guess they don't have pay-at-the-pump wherever he's shopping because that was about the most amazing thing in the world to him. But nothing beat his reaction when I stopped pumping at $45. That's all I wanted to spend.

He said, "Do you have to use this little keypad for that?"

"For what?" I asked.

"So it'll know to stop at $45."

"No, I don't think you can do that. At least, I don't know how to if you can," I said.

"Well, then how did you get it to stop right at $45?"

"Ummm…..I let go of the handle."

Some things change. Some things remain the same.

As we were getting ready to go, I heard that Grandmother had noticed someone inside the store. I can only imagine how she classifies me, because she figured the fellow in the store was "tall and thin like a lawyer." If that's not motivation to put on a few pounds, then I don't know what is.

Continuing on toward Sachse, Granddad and I had some good conversation and it was soon time to exit I-20 in Terrell. He asked what we were doing because he wanted to keep up with where were going, so I told him. Unbelievably, a few minutes later he looks out the window and says, "I'll declare. Those houses must be new. I don't remember them being there." Odd, I thought. I had no idea Granddaddy had ever been to Terrell before. So I asked him about that. He thought for a second and said, "Well, I can't say that I ever recall going to Terrell. I guess that's probably why I don't remember those houses." Okay. Got me there, Granddad. I can't argue with that logic.

Finally, we made it to Sachse. Leah brought some lunch over to Aunt Sis's house and we all enjoyed some food before unloading those couches. Thankfully, that love seat didn't bump into any kids and kill them. With that thing opening and closing at random, it's about like trying to move wet concrete…..without a bucket.

Getting that done, though, just gave me a chance to take a bit of a break. Granddad and I went fishing. He brought some of his own gear and tackle, but it looked a bit out of shape, so I just let him use mine. After a few tries, he was able to remember how to work a rod and reel and we both had a good time catching some bluegill and perch up in Allen before dinner. We got to go to a friend of mine's pond the next day and spent a little bit of time catching some bass out there.

All in all, I think Granddad really enjoyed himself. I know I did, and Grandmother, I'm sure, just loved spending time with Aunt Sis and the kids. They got to see a couple of after dinner shows that my kids put on (they think up skits, songs, and commercials to perform in the living room) and spend time visiting and playing games with us. It was a really good time.