There has been too little free time to write here. It has been a really great time thus far. Two of Teri's sisters and their husbands were at the same ball game we attended on Friday night, the O's first complete game shutout (even if they did have a little umpiring help keeping things scoreless), so it was nice to see the bullpen get their first night off all season. It was also nice being in the ballpark for a Chris Davis home run, even if I did have to watch it on a monitor because I'm married to someone who gets lost easily and needed to use the ladies' room. But to share the thing with family was even better.
Yesterday we had a nice plan to ride our bikes to the family party in Glen Burnie that was our excuse for coming to town. Teri's second-oldest sister and her husband hosted an annual friends-and-family party before they moved to Florida, and this year her third-oldest sister and her husband agreed to let them host it at their parents' old house. As soon as I said I was going to ride my bike, Teri wanted to ride hers, too. Fortunately, her oldest sister and brother-in-law were willing to drive our van to the party so we'd have a way home in the dark. We tried to get started a little earlier than we thought we needed to, but actually got going a little late instead. We were expecting to see some old younger friends (if that makes sense) from Dayton at Mass today, with their four children (only one of whom was born when they left); we didn't expect to run into them yesterday at the farmer's market, too. By the time I then got back to our starting point after dropping our van back off, Teri had gone off to get a bite to munch on along the way, which she didn't think about until I was on my way back. Still, the time wasn't a major issue; it wasn't as if we needed to be there promptly at the party start time. Teri needed a lot of encouragement along the way, but when we finally got to where she recognized her surroundings she was a pretty energetic peddler for the last couple miles. Then she had a nice dip in the pool of her childhood while I went out for another fifteen miles or so, after which I also traded the aroma of perspiration sweat for that of chlorine. The we had a fabulous afternoon and night of family time: cheering the O's as they pulled out an extra-inning, come-from-behind victory; hanging out around the pool; eating wonderful food; playing corn hole; sharing stories and celebrating Teri's brother-in-law's birthday. You could say we swam in a pool of memories as well as the swimming pool..
This morning we very much enjoyed Mass at her oldest sister's parish, where we again saw the family we know from Dayton, as expected. We then went to brunch with Al and Lynne and an older couple from their choir; the creamed chipped beef and the side of scrapple were like two bites of my childhood in one meal. Later this after noon we're going to see my aunt and cousin. It has been a wonderful weekend.
The cloud: Teri's oldest sister is starting to have memory issues. She's being pretty good-natured about it, but I can tell it scares her. It scares us, too.
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