Holiday Weekend in the 'Ville

We just completed one of those weekends around the house that makes me realize something that is very easy to forget most of the time.

Work is a blessing.

Memorial Day weekend has always been a favorite of mine. It's the first real weekend that feels like summer break. On cue around the 'Ville, the temperature rose to furnace-levels this past weekend with the East Texas heat and humidity -- which was hovering around 180 percent or so I think. The sweat just sticks to you like a jellyfish; I went through three shirts on Saturday alone.

You think gasoline prices are outrageous? Try laundry detergent, according to my lovely wife. Sometimes I get the feeling she'd be okay if I went with just three shirts a week.

Anyway, it was a great weekend but yes I am glad to be back at work this morning. A return to normalcy is very welcome right now.

Jeannie's sister Melissa, her husband Michael and their little cutie daughter Katherine drove in from Alabama on Friday night to spend the weekend. Melissa and Michael are very popular around our kids -- well, not just our kids. Most kids, actually. They own two toy stores in Alabama, and that is quite the drawing card for aunts and uncles, you know.

They make it in about 2 or 3 times a year, I guess, and seeing as we pretty much have the only house for hosting right now with Donnis and Anthony still in nomads land waiting to sell their house -- fingers are crossed, guys -- the McCollums bunked in Coby's room for the weekend. That meant Coby got to sleep on the trundle bed on the floor in Melody's and Abby's room. He's such a good sport.

Saturday also marked Melody's first All-Star tournament. Yes, that's right -- my little daughter, as it turns out, is a softball prodigy. Her older brother has gotten much pub here on the blog this spring but Mel-Mel is quite the little ballplayer in her own right. She'd never played one inning of organized softball until this spring, and she was nominated and voted to the 'Ville's own 10-under All-Star team. One of the few 9-year-olds on the team, in fact.

But I mentioned that humidity? It was in full force at the ballpark Saturday. We took three losses on the chin, and it felt like 30 because of the brutal heat.

And Melody took some on the chin, literally, too. She overran third base in one game and got clocked in the head by the little girl desperately trying to tag her on the return trip back to the bag. Once I determined she was okay, I made sure to mention that we would be working on the slide into third soon enough.

Then in the final game of the day, she was hitting against a little girl who was throwing straight gas (that's a pitcher who throws the ball very hard, for all you non-sports fans out there). Melody fouled the first pitch off to the right but was right on the gas. The second pitch was inside and she took a hack and fouled it back to the screen -- then slumped to the ground in tears. The ball had clipped a knuckle on her right hand, and by the time she got up and was helped to the dugout it had already swollen pretty good with a cut on the inside. Bad part was she had to go back up to the plate and hold the bat basically with one hand because she couldn't just come out of the game.

Now, Coby has gotten bumps and bruises all the time in the game. No big deal. We rub it and move on. The little aches and pains he endures don't really bother me.

But when it's my little girl, well, that was different. Dads don't handle that very well. Abby is our baby and is such a big part of our lives, too, but Mel-Mel was our first little girl, you know? I pray I don't ever forget that. When she was on the ground crying because it hurt Saturday, well, it's very easy to remember.

Anyway, she's fine and nothing was broken. We finished playing ball and got back to the house for a big feast of barbecue from Bodacious. The big back yard came into play nicely, and I whipped all the boys in some one-on-three or four basketball. Had to stop, though, because there were the inevitable arguments between the boys. It's frustrating when you can't guard the big man, and I was the big man that day for sure.

Sunday we got up and went to church for the Memorial Day service. It's always one of my favorite of the year, because we are reminded of the sacrifice of others for our rights and freedom to gather together and worship. Don't ever forget that. The service and sermon were patriotic and feel-good. But we can never forget.

A little afternoon swimming out at the Meissners' beautiful new pool set the stage for a big blowout cookout Sunday night at our place. We had 20 or so folks at the house, which is built for no more than 7 or 8. That was fun.

The McCollums had to leave Monday morning to get back to Alabama and their toys, so we had Memorial Day Sunday night. We had volleyball, badminton, horse shoes, and mosquitos. Everything you love about summer.

Things quieted down a bit Monday, but we did have Stu and Lauren over for some hamburgers and fellowship. Abby was a bit cranky because she's cutting a tooth, but she eventually went to sleep and I was preparing to when we discovered a big problem.

Our floor was buckling in the hallway just outside the air conditioning unit. Upon further inspection we saw a flood underneath the unit in the closet. That's a big problem that shouldn't be taking place at the end of a long holiday weekend. Jeannie and I worked for over an hour trying to get the mess up, and our floor is buckling slightly now in a large area from the moisture. I think I found the culprit -- a very gunked up drain pipe, which I tried my best to clean without losing my holiday meals -- and as of this morning there was no new moisture dripping from the unit onto the floor. We are praying we have dodged a bullet and won't have to replace much if anything in the floor, at least not anytime soon. But we know how big a problem moisture can be in the house from our last home, and we won't play around much with it this time.

Just the way you want to finish a nice, relaxing holiday weekend. Once again, work is a blessing and I'm glad to be back. The good thing is, in another week, I'll get a full slate of vacation time to use for the next year.

Time to start planning now I guess.