[i]
Waking up at 12:18 p.m.
Dad and Patty are watching some Sci-Fi movie about ice monsters on TV. Jennifer's watching the Mulan movies in her bedroom.
Eating Scrambled Eggs with Cheese, Toast, and Orange Juice.
Shooting the basketball around in the driveway. My dad comes out and joins. Even though he's not fit enough to play me 1-on-1 or anything like that he's still got the skills enough to shoot buckets, right and left. I remember playing basketball with him when I was a boy. He was good. He was a challenge. I cherished those moments with him then and I cherish this moment now.
I open up a Christmas card Ana gave me the other night. She instructed me to open it on Christmas. It's a brown paper envelope with a brown paper card stock inside marked with green dots and purple lines. It simply says, "Dear Robert, I love you. Sincerely, Khrizzia" My heart melts a little. I had already been pondering about this statement. I imagined saying it to her sometime and if I would mean it. I realized the words would be true out of my mouth. And then this...
Time to see some other family. I drive my car with Jennifer in the passenger seat. We follow dad and Patty to Greenville. With music in the background Jennifer tells me a little bit about her new boyfriend at school. I tell her to warn any boys that she's got a big brother now with muscles if anything goes wrong.
...
We arrive at Aunt Deloris and John D's house off Mobleys Bridge Road. We were here this day last year. Inside we greet everyone and help ourselves to leftover plates of some of Aunt Deloris's good cooking: Stuffing and Gravy, Collard Greens, Dinner Rolls, etc. She's got a little black skittish shorthaired Pomeranian dog following her around everywhere. Vicky and her boys are sprawled out in the living room playing the game of Life. Sipping on Coffee and mingling with the family.
There's another little girl named Ava here. She gets on the little karaoke machine in the office and entertains us with "Jingle Bells".
We were going to see my great-uncle JW but he's come down with a severe cold and doesn't recommend we visit. It's time to say goodbye to my dad, Jennifer, and Patty. It was a short stay but a lively day and a half. I hit the road in the cold dark night, passing by ramshackle Carolinian houses with smoking chimneys, tattered barns, and those big cylinder grain bins. I stay on 17-N all the way into Chesapeake and make it back to Virginia Beach at a decent hour.
Eating leftover Salmon Pad Thai.
Watching The Company Men (2010).
Orange Juice.
Sleep 3:30 a.m.
[i] Images by me.
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