My Trip Home - Day 3

This post is part of an ongoing tale of my trip back home to Mississippi to visit my family. To start the story at the beginning, begin reading from October 30, 2007.

Trips to Tupelo are inevitable since that's where the big shopping gets done. If it can't be found at Walmart, you're destined to drive south on Highway 45.

By mid-morning Sister, our brother and I were in the car on the way to Tupelo for a visit to Sam's Club so we could get the food for the Homecoming dinner being hosted at my sister's house that evening. On the final night of Homecoming Week is the traditional football game and then starting at 10:30 the Homecoming dance begins. Since there's no really nice place that would suit for a dinner for the Sam, his date and their friends, Sister decided to make a steak dinner at home for them. "I figured you'd be there to help me!" she said. And she was right. I like doing stuff like this.

We got to Tupelo around 11:30am and Sister suggested we get some lunch first. "Let's get sushi!" she said. Brother and I said "Cracker Barrel!" Sister said "Sushi!". I replied that I'd never actually gotten up the guts to eat sushi before and I'd rather just go to Cracker Barrel and get some fish that would be cooked, no seaweed would be involved and where they believe wasabi is a new model Toyota's bringing out.". "Plus," I repled, "I still have jet lag. I can't handle sushi in my state. I need fried okra.". Sister called me a weenie and I promised that when we returned to Tupelo the following week I'd have sushi for lunch.

Going to Sam's Club put me into one of those lost culture shocks. In Germany it's not all that common to see people with grocery carts filled to the brim. In America in places like Sam's Club one practically needs his own forklift. After purchasing what appeared to be half a cow, makings for salad and enough frozen mini eclairs to give one to every man, woman and child in the county we went back home and began decorating for the dinner and I snapped green beans while I watched the daily dysfunction on the Dr. Phil show.

I had planned on going to the football game but as the afternoon I simply couldn't. It seems my in-panic trot through Schiphol airport, sitting for 10 hours in a cramped airplane, standing at a parade for a couple hours and hiking through giant-packages-of-food heaven had rendered my legs useless to endure the rigors of football stadium bleachers. No time for football games anyway - we would soon be invaded by seven hungry teenagers and two more sets of parents.

Steaks were grilled, green beans steamed, salad made, ice tea prepared, table set and by 8:30 the crowd trooped in ready to eat. And you know I was proud of my sister for offering to host this dinner. It's something my own parents likely wouldn't have done and even more likely we wouldn't have wanted them to do - I liked to keep my friends separated from my parents as much as possible - but my sister is the cool mom. She knows Sam's friends, they know her and like her and she also knows most of Sam's friends' parents. I don't know if Sam gets the importance of that now but I know in the future he'll be grateful that his parents are as cool as they are.

After dinner the kids got ready for the dance and after a bit of squealing and giggling and requests for help with tying ties, the couples were ready to go to the dance.



That's Sam and his date. And here's the whole crowd. Sam's nephew, Bobby, is the redhead with the blue shirt. I adore Bobby. I love that my nephews are such terrific kids.


Tomorrow, Day 4: More Sonic, a visit with Daddy and a trip the a roadhouse.