Lake Junaluska - Father's Day

Ever since I can remember, my mother has been going to Lake Junaluska in North Carolina. When I was younger, we all used to go for two weeks every summer. One week was "music week" and the other week was "free week". As the years went on, we got too old to go any more, but Mooma started spending more time up there.

10 or so years ago, mom decided to purchase some real estate up there. Makes sense. Some place she could use when she goes up there and rent out when she is not using it. Believe it or not, this place is pretty popular. Rental homes up there these days are pretty pricey. She and Dad developed a little core group that would go at the same time every year. The men would hike the AT and the women would do whatever it is they do. Nowadays, Mooma spends most of every April, October and 1/2 of June up there.

This past week, Jennie and I loaded up the kids, along with Pop-I and headed to Lake Junaluska. Momma and I spent one night and then headed to Boston for Aunt Kathy's wedding. While we were gone, Uncle Tom, Aunt Katherine, Emmett, Cooper, Aunt Jeni, Tilson, Mac and Annie were all at Mooma's house. See, it takes that many people to do what Jennie does every day...keep up with our kids. They all had a ball. Mooma had arranged for a photographer to take pictures of all the grandkids. Of course, the day that was to happen, The Rock threw up all morning, missed some of the pictures and was pale as a ghost in the others. He clearly did not feel well. He perked up that afternoon but not enough to make it to the swimming pool in Waynesville.

The next day, Uncle Tom and Aunt Katherine took all the 6 and over kids tubing down Deep Creek. We heard that The Rock was confused at what this was at first, but when he saw it, he was ready to go. Good old Uncle Tom offered for him to ride down in his lap which he gladly agreed to do. However, he rode down one part in Emmett's lap and they all said he had a ball. In fact, when he and UT went down the mini-waterfall and flipped head first into the water, UT said he maintained his composure and got right back on and was ready to go the rest of the way. When I asked him about this later, he said it was cold and he was scared, but it was fun.

They also played kick ball and tee ball down in the very fields where UT, Cousin Graham and I used to do the same thing all those years ago. Actually, UT and CG never let me play anything with them, but the same fields are still there nonetheless.

When Momma and I finally arrived back at the house, the boys were glad to see us. However, there was no time for visiting. Even though Momma and I had been up since 3:30am our time, we loaded up in the car with Pop-I and headed back to Dothan. The word exhausted does not do how we felt justice. When we got home, we couldn't get unloaded and in bed fast enough. A strange way to spend Father's Day, but at least I got to spend it with my dad and my kids got to spend it with theirs.