Still Best Friends After All These Years

We had been meaning to get down to visit my parents, and things finally aligned such that we managed to do it. What a busy and event-filled day we had! And best of all, we got to see these two sweet people whom I love beyond measure.

Our day started with cookies. For I often (though not always) try to bring along freshly baked cookies when I come to visit. I looked in the fridge and all we had left was one stick of butter, so a half-batch of chocolate chip cookies it would have to be.

I used some new cookie sheets I bought in July and they were amazing! Each tray fit a full dozen cookies, the cookies were done to perfection, and the trays cleaned up with just a rinse of water and a wipe with a tea towel. What an improvement (and time saver) over the tiny, crappy Dollar Store cookie sheets I'd been using!

My husband and I threw some things together and grabbed the cookies to go. We headed straight for the McAlisterville Creme Stop, which is a roadside soft-serve ice cream stand that sells ice cream and so much more. Burgers and big shakes (salted caramel for me, orange creamsicle for him) were our lunch, and we ate them at a picnic table overlooking green fields of corn.

We got to my parents' house in early afternoon, and first off, my dad showed me HIS Mexican sunflowers. I've already shown you one of my own glorious orange blooms. But my father has an amazing green thumb. And he took the seeds I sent him and planted them in the garden. Oh my! What a profusion of blooms! And they were visited by every butterfly and bee you could think of! Well done, Dad!

Mostly, though, we spent the afternoon visiting, and we sat in the living room catching up. My parents were on the couch together and T. Tiger wanted to pose with them and have his photo taken. (I think T. Tiger has a crush on my mom.) On the first attempt, T. Tiger lost purchase and went flying through the air! It may have been an accident, or it may have been a little stunt, with T. Tiger showing off - who knows?

And then (take 2), I snapped this photo of my parents, with T. Tiger between them, as they held hands. For this is where they sit when they are together, shoulder to shoulder on the love seat. When times are dire, they hold each other up. They are 91 and 90 (Mom turns 91 in October) and have been happily married for 71 years. They are still best friends after all these years.

My little sister came to visit, which was very nice, and then I swiped a couple of bright red, juicy tomatoes from my father's garden, before we headed back home, the back way, through Belleville.

On the way, we stopped at Greenwood Furnace for a chilly swim (our fifth swim in ten days, which might just be a new record), and then grabbed a couple of American hoagies at Couch's. When we got home, Stryker (the neighbors' Little Gray Kitty) was waiting to visit us, the first time we'd seen him in months! Wow, what a busy day!

The round trip to visit my parents is about 150 miles, and the last two times we went, we encountered terrible weather. First there was the almost-tornado that took down a bunch of trees at Poe Valley, just a few miles from where we traveled.

Then there was the trip to my aunt's funeral, with more storms on the way down. On this day, though dire storm warnings had been issued by the time that we got home, the bad weather stayed north of us and we made it home unscathed. Whew!

As is often the case, though, we did encounter road debris on the drive down. Some trucker blew a tire and strips of it were all over the road near the fishing access point on 322 below Lewistown (aka "the Narrows"). Swerve! Swerve! Thank goodness for the nimbleness and accident avoidance capabilities of my 2017 Chevy Sonic, and my husband's excellent driving skills.

I saw many beautiful things on this day, including monarch butterflies happily chasing each other among my dad's Mexican sunflowers. (Hello, Barb, the Butterfly Girl, we are thinking of you, and we are looking after your butterflies!) But the sweetest thing I saw on this day was these two lovebirds, holding hands on the love seat, holding each other up, helping each other be strong, finishing out each other's stories. . . . still best friends after all these years.

My soundtrack song is this one: Don Williams, with You're My Best Friend. Here is the chorus:

You're my bread when I'm hungry
You're my shelter from troubled winds
You're my anchor in life's ocean
But most of all you're my best friend