Sweet Home Alabama

Next stop was Birmingham, Alabama. My sister, Lynn, was my first best friend. Three years younger than I, Lynn was the first person to listen to my storytelling. Family lore has it that Lynn was a terror at night. She stood in her crib in red pajamas yelling “No” at the top of her lungs until my parents decided to put her in my room. I like to think it was my stories that calmed her to sleep, although I wouldn’t put it past my using other big sister tools. Lynn is kind, smart, loyal, forgiving, and the best bedside nurse in the world. I can always count on her to be there for me when I'm down. Her husband, Tom, is at first glance, the picture of a curmudgeon. You know, the “you kids get off my lawn” kind of guy. That crusty exterior is carefully arranged to hide the huge heart behind it. There is nothing Tom wouldn’t do for the people he loves, and he extends that care to almost everyone who crosses his path. Lynn and Tom always restore my faith in humanity, and I know how lucky I am to have Lynn for a sister.

Upon arrival, we had a chance to spend time with their granddaughter Maddy. She is a few months older than our grandson Truman, and has grown into a beautiful teenager. Like most kids these days, she is going to high school virtually and working a few nights a week at a local Mexican restaurant. Maddy’s mom, Andrea joined us after she finished work. Andrea is a kindergarten teacher, and I was struck by how difficult this pandemic is through her eyes. She teaches at a school that serves lower income kids, and she truly cares about their education. She arrived in tears over the frustration of trying to teach such young children through technology that doesn’t work, parents who are unable to provide the necessary support, and a system that wasn’t prepared for this. We don’t compensate people like Andrea nearly enough for their dedication, creativity, and compassion, and her efforts to do her job well under such monumental challenges is truly heartbreaking. We had a great dinner at La Paz, under Maddy's watchful care, and got to spend some time with Rodney, whose birthday is just a few days before Bob's.

While in Birmingham, we visited Tara, Richard and their kids. Tara is Lynn and Tom’s youngest. Tara is one of the smartest, most focused and most internally determined people I have ever met. Currently that focus is on raising Noelle and Hannah, 6-year-old twins, and Molly, 19 months. Tara is part of an educational co-op designed to provide excellent small group and home schooling and the twins literally crackle with intelligence and creativity. They are reading The Chronicles of Narnia, way above their expected reading level. But we also played a rollicking game of ‘this little pig went to market’ and my stomach hurt from laughing so hard. Molly was a little shy, I think because I look somewhat like her Gobby (which is what they all call grandma Lynn), but she was impressed by my blue hair. She is the kind of cute that makes you want to hug her, and she watches everyone and everything with delight. Richard runs a successful pediatric dental practice as well as the Alabama Tongue-Tie Center. Tara and Richard truly believe in making the world a better place and put their beliefs into practice every day.

After all our adventures so far, our Alabama trip was relatively quiet, but just what we needed and it was great to spend time with family. One of the things I looked forward to in retirement was being able to spend more time with the people I love, and this part of the trip filled that bill. I think it is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day things we all do but it is our families and friends that make life worthwhile and I left Alabama with a lighter soul.