Saturday, June 16, 2012

Good morning where ever you are. This is the first Blog entry for today and it is really yesterday entry that just did not get typed for reasons I will explain later. Yesterday was a great day. First a day of deception and surprises and overwhelming joy. It started out as a normal day in Grandpa Bill life with early rising, breakfast and enjoying the coolness of the morning and listening to the birds sing. And Oh by the way looking at his to do list seemingly grow overnight. I think I mentioned I fertilized all my plants so some of that fertilizer must have spilled over onto the "to do " list. It has really grown. Well I spent the early part of the day jumping from job to the next and not sure if I ever finished any of them the way I should have. At some point I came into the house to get some more pink lemonade and cool off a bit. You see it has decided to turn into summer here and the temp is running in the high 80s and low 90s with ever increasing humidity. The phone rings and it is daughter Patricia who say she is taking Granddaughter Lisa to visit a friend here in West Chester and thought they might stop by and perhaps get a bite to eat and was I doing anything and would it be OK to drop by. Also a question of whether I was dirty or not. Now you might think that is a funny question to be asking but it really isn't because my family knows I love to dig in the dirt and that is exactly what  I had been doing -- digging up a sprinkler head and repairing a broken water line. So yes I was a little dirt or rather a little dirt had gotten on me. Grandpa Bill is always eager to have visitors so I indicated I was about to fix myself something to eat and I could get cleaned up quickly. Which I did.

I was sitting at the computer typing an e mail to daughter  Janice thanking her for a beautiful Fathers Day card when the door from the garage to the house opens and in walks Pat followed by Lisa. So that is what I was expecting. Pat announces that she had lied about bring Lisa to visit a friend and in walks daughter Joyce from New York. Well their intent was to surprise Grandpa Bill for Fathers Day and they in fact surely did. I was startled and said something stupid like " what are you doing here ? "  We spent a few minutes chatting and then went to Longhorn Steak House for a wonderful lunch.

I must admit I spent the rest of the day anticipating the door to open and another daughter to walk in but they assured me Joyce was the only one coming. Now you see Grandpa Bill is a guy who lived in a house of 5 women ( wife Jan and 4 daughters ). Men if you have not had that blessing you don't know what real living is all about. Along with the wild  mood swing throughout the months, problems at school and with boy friends they all over the years developed the skill of how to pull off surprises and they have further developed the skill. Now if you pinned the girls down they might tell you they just picked up some of Grandpa Bill's alleged skills from his work in the Air Force and elsewhere but that might be stretching it a bit. It seem they have been communicating between themselves for some time trying to make sure I was going to be home for Joyce's visit. When I was in Tulsa Jamie returning from my trip she kept pumping me about my schedule, doctors appointments, blood draws etc that would have me committed to being home on specific dates. I kind of thought it was a little overboard but what the heck it is nice for the kids to want to know what I am doing and I realize they have kind of banded together to keep taps on me after Jan's going to heaven and that is OK with me. So if anyone asks if I had a good Fathers Day the answer is most assuredly a resounding YES!!!!!

Second today is a great day because it is Jan's birthday and I say second only because it fits into today's story.  I had a lot of things to write about if I can hold it together to get the words on paper. If not it may be a day or two late. In the meantime I love you all and I really love surprises. Grandpa Bill.