Reunion 2018 ... And More!

Dear Cubby,

Wow, was this year's family reunion trip the best ever or what?  It's so much more fun when Daddy is along, isn't it?

We started out by flying into Charlotte and renting a van, then driving up through Mt. Airy, something Daddy and I had been talking about for forty years.  I don't think you were all that impressed by the Andy Griffith museums and all the Mayberry sites we visited, but you sure did love the lush green grass out in back of the hotel.  It was like an absolute paradise for dogs ... which is odd because they're a no-pets hotel ... which means you got that whole great big field all to yourself!  I was so glad I packed your Chuck-It® toy and your tennis ball.  You just ran your little legs off.

From there we went up to Kingsport, Tennessee where, again, you had a great big expanse to play ball in!  We met up with Jim and Nancy for lunch and then on Friday proceeded on to Middlesboro, Kentucky where we stayed in the same hotel with three other cousins and, once more, you had a huge play yard to chase your ball in.  So much fun!

The reunion on Saturday was amazing!  Having Lisa there brought back sweet memories of when we were children.  And having Daddy along ... well, how special was that?!!  Again, you flatly ignored the tent shelter I put up for you and chose to hang out on the hard concrete instead.  You're so goofy sometimes, honestly!  It grew awfully hot in the afternoon and I started fading, but you were there when I needed you, and no one was any the wiser.  It's true what I tell people ... much of what you do for me is invisible to those who aren't specifically looking for it.

I'm sure glad you learned the up and down slope assists, Cubby, and you do it very very well.  The cemetery where Grandma is buried is one steep, dangerous hill and you handled me just like an expert!

I'm sure you thought Sunday a little unnerving.  You've never been on roads that narrow, rough, rocky, and bumpy before.  Journeying back into the old Kentucky hills, we sought out the coal mine where my Granddad worked, and the region where my daddy was born a hundred years ago.  It was hot and muggy and buggy, so I let you rest in the van with Daddy while I prowled around cemeteries and back woods in search of artifacts of my heritage.  It meant the world and everything in it to be given that opportunity!  Thanks for being such a good boy.  It didn't even bother you when a massive wind- and thunderstorm moved through, knocking trees out of the ground and creating all kinds of havoc.  You just took it all in and it didn't stress you out at all. 

Monday we spent at the Knoxville Zoo, one of the nicer zoos we've been to.  And again, we were totally baffled when you took no interest in any of the animals.  At least you gave the Bengal tiger a second look but, alas, not a third look.  You were all business, exercising your up-and-down slopes skills and upholding me in some more of that muggy heat.  We made the rounds of the zoo and you got a nice compliment at the end.  The ranger who had kept tabs on you all day said you were beautifully behaved every time she saw you, and she hoped we'd come back sometime.  Well, you might not have been interested in the animals, but they were sure interested in you, especially the gibbon and the langurs.

Finally on Tuesday we said goodbye to the East coast by heading back to the airport.  It was then when we made an astonishing discovery ... to get from Knoxville to Charlotte, you have to spend a few miles in South Carolina!  That was a new one to all three of us; neither Daddy nor I had ever been there either.

It was such a long travel day but, even with the 115 degree heat we returned to, we were so happy to be home.  Of course the first thing you wanted to do was go outside and play ball.  Some things never change.

Photo Descriptions: Wendy and Cubby with the Andy and Opie bronze statue, Wendy and Cubby at the original courthouse doors from The Andy Griffith Show, Cubby playing ball in a huge grassy field, Cubby being silly, Cubby at the reunion, the ancient back roads into the Kentucky hills, the Bell County Coal Mine, Cubby looks at the peccaries at the zoo, a white gibbon watches Cubby.