What Happened To The Weekend?

Sometime between Friday night and this morning I blinked my eyes and the entire long weekend disappeared!

My nest is once again empty except for Momma and Poppa. Most of the weekend it was full. My son came home for his first visit since going away to school and Princess Chloe stayed overnight on Saturday. Nick showed up for dinner on Friday and left after breakfast on Sunday. I thought he came home because he missed me. I think the real reason was so I could do his laundry. Of course, doing his laundry is now a way of serving the church. (smile) Princess Chloe arrived at dinner time on Saturday. She was thrilled when my wife presented her with a pair of red "magic" shoes that resembled Dorothy's ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz story. She would not take them off even when we went to bed. Earlier that night, while Fleetwood Mac's song entitled "Tusk" played on the television, we danced around the living room, Chloe skipping around in her "magic" shoes and me trying not to have a heart attack. Later, after we were in bed, and Chloe was asleep, I gently slipped off her shoes and put them on my night stand. As soon as her eyes opened the next morning, at 6:57 AM, she immediately said "Where's my shoes! Where's my shoes!" I put them back on her as she asked for chocolate milk. I said, "I'll go get your milk. Wait here for Pa Paw". She said, "No, I want to go with you and make your coffee, Pa Paw"! During all of this exchange, my wife was doing her imitation of a possum. The next thing I knew we were both downstairs. Chloe helped me scoop out the coffee and I poured her some fresh chocolate milk. Before 9:00 I had already watched "Over the Hedge" twice. It was the beginning of a long day that ended with a family cookout at my parents. My parent's nest was extremely full with siblings, various spouses, children of all sizes and ages, and a few boyfriends and girlfriends whose names I can never remember. Most of Labor Day was restful with me taking cat naps throughout the day. Summer ended on a high note and now I am ready to enter into my favorite time of the year. At one point over the weekend I drove past a local fruit market and there were hundreds of pumpkins and other reminders that autumn is near.