My Friend Charles

Dickens -- "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." -- this past weekend.




We spent this past weekend at our lake house. All of the kids came down and little Noah made his first sojourn to Richland Chambers. For the first time Marty and I got to spend some extended time with him and just as one would expect, it was the best of times. He was the perfect baby and we both had enormously good times with the child.



It was my daughter Erin's pre-birthday celebration. Erin, Lyle, Matt, Sarah and Noah all came down. Erin, Lyle and I went to Lake Fairfield to try wrestling some redfish into a boat. We did manage to catch a few, but only one keeper. Maybe the best memory was our guide's boat (with us in it) essentially being swamped by waves and sinking. The waves kept coming through the aft (back to you land lubbers) part of the boat and before any of us knew it there was just too much water in the boat. It's never a good thing when the fishing guide and captain of your ship says, "That's kind of scary". We were very shallow and were soon on the bottom, the best of times, it didn't sink far. After considerable baling, pumping and maneuvering we managed to get the boat stuck on a small sand bar. Glad we didn't have to jump overboard our fishing or faithful bwana jostled the boat to and fro and finally floated it. Fishing then recommenced. Memories -- Remember Dickens, the best and the worst.



The worst -- to quote my son, "Noah's never seen the Cowboys lose." He also got to see my Raiders bite the big one too. So, it was a bad football weekend. Okay -- maybe it doesn't qualify for the worst of times but it wasn't as much fun.



The best -- being with my kids. I love them all. They are good people. How better to say it. They are good people. And, I love watching Matt and Sarah be parents. It is incredibly gratifying to see your children with children. It is encouraging to see how good and competent they are. Noah is a very lucky child to have two smart, energetic, caring, loving parents. I am so very proud of Matt and Sarah and love to watch them take care of their child. I also love the part where when the kid cries you can immediately unload them.



Marty is doing great. She loved sitting with Noah, Erin and Sarah in her bed each morning. One evening she sat with Noah in her lap for about an hour. Marty tends to hum anymore, a gift of the strokes. I think it is a G note, but I'm kind of tone deaf. The tone or the volume never changes much, Marty just quietly hums. For the uninitiated it can be a bit disconcerting but for most of us it is kind of background noise. For Noah, I think it was quite soothing, the constant and rhythmic voice. For the longest they sat with Marty humming and gently holding Noah and occasionally giving him back his pacifier. She really liked that, Marty adds that Noah really liked that.



We like being with our family. As I said, our kids are good people and they have managed to pair up with good people. We like that too. We like being at the lake house. We like watching football at the lake house. I would a lot rather see my guys win, but I would rather watch them lose with my family at the lake house than just about anything else.