Towards the end of Lisa’s birthday bash, Faith came up to me and asked if she could go home to Greensboro with Anna and Caroline. I asked her if Kendra, their mom and my cousin, invited her and she said, “No, but Caroline did.” Caroline is four years old. Tom and I discussed it for a minute and decided that if she wanted to go to Greensboro for the night we would let her and we would drive the two hours the next day to go and get her. I spoke to Kendra about it and she said that it was fine. Tom even suggested that I go with Faith so that I could relax a bit at Alan’s as well. (He knows that I love going to my Uncle Alan’s house as it is a bit of an oasis for me.) Alan agreed to let me tag along as well and off we went for the night.
We didn’t arrive at Alan’s house until late that night. I went to bed and sent Faith across the “compound” to Kendra’s house for her sleep over with the girls. I slept through the night without anyone crawling into my bed and waking me up. It was divine! Eventually the girls did come into my room around 8:30am and told me that they wanted to play barbies, which were in my room. Kendra followed them up and hung out with me in bed for a long time. Sabrina, Stephen’s girlfriend, came up to hang out as well. We finally meandered downstairs for coffee and pancakes, a Saturday morning ritual.
So many things happen on “the compound” that don’t happen in the ordinary life of others. “The compound”, which I have written about before, is over 100 acres of pasture, two small lakes, a swimming pool, and five houses – two of which Alan and Kendra live in. Because some of the houses are over 100 yards apart, Kendra has a golf cart that she uses to get from one house to the next. Anna, her 7 year old, is very proficient at driving the golf car and has been for years. It should seem strange that I let a seven-year-old drive my daughter back and forth from house to house, but it didn’t. Anna drove the girls back and forth all morning. I even took a picture of her driving me to the pool. My chauffeur …..
We spent the afternoon swimming in the pool, eating and lounging around. Tom drove over with Wilson and Miller after church so that they could play too.
The cousins and others….
Uncle Alan and Aunt Betty: the hosts with the mosts!!