43 Years...!!!

No, I am not talking about my age. It is the number of years since I graduated high school and, over the weekend, six classes of Littleton High had a combined reunion at the old school building. Two big surprises for me: the parts of the building we used looked really good for being closed so long and the people..... well, I'll leave that one alone.
Lakeland Arts uses the much refurbished auditorium as a performing arts theater and we used it and the old cafeteria wing (one enlarged room is now a dance studio) for the social, dinner and meeting. It was nice seeing classmates I haven't seen in years, but the nicest part was spending time with family.
Manchie and I stopped by Frank's on Sunday and took him out for a belated birthday dinner. At 91, he still amazes me.
Marissa and Jonathan say they enjoyed their trip to NY..... "...and a fun time was had by all." Haven't talked with Holly, but think she enjoyed keeping Griffin for the extended weekend and was also glad to see Marissa come home.

Much to do about much

The second part of Jonathan's surprise birthday was sprung today. Marissa went to his place of work, picked up him up and drove to the Charlotte airport. He didn't know anything about it beforehand.
They are headed to NYC until Sunday. Marissa got Friday night tickets to Conan's show.
Jonathan really did not know about this one.
Manchie and Holly both think the taping at the store went well today. They started around 12 noon and finished a little after 1 p.m. It will probably be on in the next couple of weeks.
Saturday is the day Manchie and I go to Littleton for the big reunion then off to NY for me on Monday.

Weekend & Then Some

Surprise, surprise..... Marissa had a surprise birthday party for Jonathan for his Big 3-0. She arranged it at the Wallace's lake house and invited not only family, but several of their friends. Jonathan knew something was coming because he had 3 people wish him a happy birthday that day. People that would not normally pay that much attention to his birthday, especially a week early. Marissa's grandmother from Highlands also came down. Holly, David and Macon made it too. We ate & ate & ate low country boil.
Marissa's great grandmother on her mom's side fell and broke her hip, so Marsha and Gay (Mom & grandmother) couldn't make the party.
We all chipped in and gave Jonathan an outdoor grill. When Griffin and his parents came in from the lake on Sunday they stopped by our house to see Frank/Grandaddy before he went home. Think Jonathan got most of the grill put together Sunday afternoon. Holly had come over earlier to spend time with Frank, so we got to see our kids again.
I took Frank home yesterday (Sunday) and then came on to Charlotte. Manchie is staying in Greer until Thursday because she and Holly have a television crew taping (digitaling???) a segment at the store space on Thursday and they have to get ready. It will take hours to get ready to tape what will end up being 2 1/2 minutes on tv.
I'm heading back to Greer tomorrow so I can go to Hannah's concert at the Peace Center. For Hannah and me it will be a big deal. Then back to work on Wednesday in Charlotte.
Manchie and I are going to Littleton on Saturday for my 43 year high school class reunion. I know... 43 year reunion? It is for five classes that includes Joyce's, Charles' and mine. Starts with Joyce's and goes through the class behind mine. I'll try to remember to tell ALL about it next week. Joyce says there are 161 folks signed up to attend on Saturday. Must be a good turnout with spouses because all the classes combined didn't have that many people...!!

New Stuff

Seems we have a busy weekend ahead of us. Manchie is headed over to Mooresville today to pick up Frank and then head home for the weekend. I was surprised that he said he wanted to go, but pleased. He told Manchie that he needed to get out of the house. We set him up in the spare bedroom downstairs and he has his own bathroom, so it is fairly easy on him. Main issue are the stairs to get into the house.
We haven't decided if we will go back to Mooresville/Charlotte on Sunday or not. Been thinking about going up to Biltmore to look at the flowers. I want to go through the house again since it has been so long and they have opened up so much. We would take Frank back Sunday, go to Asheville on Monday and I would go to work on Tuesday..... or not.
Hannah has her choral performance at the main performing arts center in Greenville this coming Tuesday night and I WILL BE THERE.
We'll probably end up doing something for Jonathan's birthday since Manchie and I will be out of town the weekend of the 25th. I'll let you know what we end up doing. The present has been purchased.

TGIS

Busy, busy week. Manchie and Holly did get to go to market (no "wee wee wee" jokes) for a day and ended up ordering some new things. Holly came to Charlotte Wednesday evening, they went to High Point on Thursday and spent that night with Frank in Mooresville. Holly made it back to Greer in time for the annual PTA plant sale. I stopped by yesterday when I got in town and we LOADED up the truck with plants Holly bought. Manchie ran up there this morning so I may have some yard work too.
We are all going out to eat tonight to celebrate Holly's birthday. Think we are headed to one of the local Japanese restaurants. When we go, we occupy a whole table..... 13 of us now.

OK.... here's the dinner list... going around the table ... Manchie, Bob(by), Holly, Katy, Macon, Knox, Hannah, Jonathan, Griffin, Marissa, Darrell, Flo and David.

Tuesday

My legs don't hurt nearly as much as I thought they would. Manchie and I went to the High Point Furniture Market yesterday and walked. Think Manchie may have done some other stuff like looking over new product and buying things for the stores, but I just walked and ate. Free food everywhere...... met you on the sidewalk when you got off the shuttle bus and there was food in almost every vendor spot. One vendor had a hot lunch, some had sandwiches and/or snacks. Liked the eating, hated the walking.
Manchie stayed over in Mooresville with her dad last night and I came back yesterday to go to work this morning. If Holly can get her crowd healthy long enough, she may come up for her and Manchie to go back to market another day.
We have three important birthdays coming up this month.... Holly is first, then Frank on the 23rd and then Jonathan. My favorite father-in-law and my two favorite kids.
P.S. Was told I had to also reference my sister's birthday on the 13th and ONE OF my nieces' birthday on the 15th. Not sure which niece........

School Night

Had a wonderful evening tonight. Came in town from Charlotte and decided to stop by the kids school for the bingo/dinner/silent auction night for PTA. It was Holly's last major event as the head fund raising honcho. It was a blast to see Hannah, Katy, Knox (saw him once) and Macon in their element. Manchie was there. She came in from Mooresville today.
Ate a Chic-Fil-A sandwich, cole slaw, sweet ice tea and a brownie, played bingo without winning and gave money to one of the kids to add to her silent auction bid.

Nothing much

Well, Frank proved he was right one more time. Months ago he complained about his back and some tried to convince him it was nothing serious. He went to the doctor and ended up with a fairly major back operation, especially for someone his age. Well, as I said, he has done it again.
This time he kept saying his "drain" was not working, even went to the emergency room one night for the ER doctor to say it was working. Today, he had it surgically repaired because he was correct. It wasn't working.
At least he is back in business. Manchie has been over in Mooresville since Sunday except for one day/night she came to Charlotte to work the store and see her wonderful, loving, exceptional hubby.
Holly, Manchie and I are all going to the High Point market next week. We'll go to Mooresville Sunday and then over to the market on Monday. I've got to go to work Tuesday, but not sure the girls' plans.
Hard to believe my kids are getting so old. Next month Holly will reach the ripe OLD age of 34 and Jonathan will hit the 30 mark. The following month Manchie turns...... (I am not going there..!!!)