Your humble correspondent has taken to bouncing back and forth between the Carolinas like a ping-pong ball.
That's right! I've returned to the Tar Heel State where I'm once again keeping company with Captain Adorable and the Tootsies.
My visit was more impromptu than planned, since wasn't I just here for a whole week?
But I'm not without a valid reason. Our son-in-law's grandfather passed away last Thursday.
Joel has been asked to preach the funeral, which will be held today, Tuesday, in Pennsylvania.
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Stephanie thought she'd be more comfortable in her husband's brief absence if I were here with her to help out.
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Which made sense to me, so here I be.
On Monday while Melanie was in school and Stephanie was at home with baby Andrew, Allissa and I did a bit of mad graving.
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We bundled up (high of forty-six degrees and blustery) and drove to Belleview Cemetery in Lenoir.
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It's large and equipped with well-paved roads that are so hilly, it was like walking the contours of a roller coaster.
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But Lissy was game and she alternately rode in the stroller and walked beside me as we chatted about life and death and I took pictures.
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Have you ever discussed life and death and funerals and the need for cemeteries with a child not yet four?
It's duly enchanting if a trifle unsettling.
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At one point Allissa walked straight up to a large tombstone, put her hands on it, and repeated several times: "Grandpa Weber died on a Saturday."
Which he did.
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Then Allissa reminded me that her daddy -- she was missing him dearly -- had gone to Pennsylvania "for Pappy's fural ... furnal ... fearnal ... *big sigh* ... the die thing."
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Then she observed: "And here we are, where we die."
I corrected: "No; we're where they bring people after they die."
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Then we spotted buzzards circling overhead and they became the topic of conversation until it was time to go home.
Which was shortly thereafter, because buzzards circling overhead is always my cue to go home.
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Happy Super Tuesday! America is not dead!
If you live in one of those states, be sure to VOTE!