Driving to 75

Wednesday morning we drove to Roswell to see Olivia swim in a meet.  We arrived for lunch, and Tom barbecued hamburgers for us.  We had a good visit with Stacy and family before the meet.  We had to drive home that night, so I took a nap while Stacy and Evelyn went shopping.  We then went to the meet in the sweltering afternoon.  We sat by the pool and saw her swim once.  We talked with a man who made himself sound very famous.  He developed a website called theoryi.  We will try to check it out this week.  Stacy took us to her house to get our car and have some of the Dairy Queen cake she had bought for me. I was very blessed at her efforts to honor me in an almost impossible situation. We were happy to get into some air conditioning.  We stopped for a blizzard and gasoline that was only $3.29 per gallon, cheapest all summer.  We were home by midnight and felt very comfortable in our own bed.

Thursday we left for Gatlinburg and arrived at the Brookside Resort around noon.  We were too early to check in, so we just went on a drive to one of the restaurants for which I had a coupon for lunch.  The drive was laborious uphill and ended at a ski resort.  Our GPS led us there.  We were impressed with the activities available.  There were several outdoor games—a couple centering around water rides and even an ice skating rink.  We rode a chair lift to the top of the mountain where a bluegrass trio was playing.  We returned to the motel for some reading and a nap.  We dressed and went to another restaurant for dinner.  It too was up a hill but smaller.  The restaurant was in an old log house and featured good food.  It was sprinkling when we went in and rained hard during our meal but stopped just as we left.  We struck up a conversation with a couple celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary.  She plays a dulcimer in a bluegrass band called “Poplar Family Reunion”.  I slept well in the motel room (I had a Living Social coupon) but Evelyn could sleep very little.  We went to breakfast and packed to leave.  We found a beautiful drive called Roaring Fork through some abandoned mountain settlements.  It was unique in that was one way, making it easier to stop without worrying about being hit from the front.  The road followed the same brook that was just below our room at the lodge.  We returned home in time to go to Gary and Linda’s for pizza and birthday cake.  Linda wanted to celebrate my diamond birthday.  We had a good time with them.  It is very different in being 75.  It certainly makes one more aware of mortality.  It will not be too much longer until Christ will welcome me into His home in Heaven.  I have certainly been blessed with a great wife, children, job, health, wealth and relationship with Christ and His other children.  I always remember that it is only His Grace that has allowed me to have these things.