Gulf Coast Getaway, Day 6

Lazy Day

Friday May 28, 2010

Copyright(c) 2010, Jim Beachy

"Wake up, Papa!" My four-year-old granddaughter Danica pads into our room in giant pink slippers accompanied by Monkey, her stuffed animal of the day. She climbs into bed and we snuggle for a minute, then she's off to meet her day. Through the electronic baby monitor I can hear wake-up noises in 22-month-old Carter's room as Kristal gets him ready for the day.

It's a lazy, lazy day and we're just happy to see our family again. It's been hard to watch them move from northern Virginia to Mississippi, where they've lived for eight months now, and we've taken every opportunity to visit and maintain the relationships we forged with Kevin, Kristal, and our grandkids while they lived near us.

After breakfast, Kevin and I move some stuff in the garage to see if we can make room for the bike and trailer. We are successful, and as I pull the rig in beside their minivan, I'm reminded once again that the Wing with the Escapade trailer is longer by about 3 inches than their Dodge Caravan minivan.

Later, sitting on the shaded patio, I'm watching a furious water battle raging between the adults and the kids. Kevin has a water pistol. The others have these giant tube things that suck up a large quantity of water and shoot it 20 feet with deadly accuracy. "You never bring a knife to a gunfight!" I tell Kevin. "You have a pistol, they have machine guns!"

We plan to be here only for a few days before hitting the road again, but a feeling of indescribable contentment washes over me in the warm Mississippi sunshine as I watch my little family frolic by the little pool. It's a moment to treasure.

The laziest of lazy days passes with a kid's movie on DVD, even a little nap for Papa, ribs and corn-on-the-cob on the grill, and then Kevin and I decide on the spur of the moment to see a late movie. We opt to see Iron Man II. Sequels are rarely as good as the original, and this I think is no exception, but it's pretty good and the special effects are fantastic. The character Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) was eccentric in the first movie, but he's over the top in this one. There's a reason for that, though, and it creates its own dramatic subplot, a tension that runs through the entire script.

This has been a wonderful day. Perfect. Lazy. Day.