Buenos dias y feliz Lunes! (Good morning and happy Monday!)

So, I saw a picture this morning on Facebook of my uncle’s happy family all gathered around him on the grounds of the hospital. I’m not trying to provoke a riot here, but I just gotta say, “What the heck?” While we were there visiting, it was strictly forbidden to have any visitors except his wife in the hospital with him, so we never got to see him while he was lucid and talking, yet it’s ok to have the entire family gathered together on the grounds of the hospital for a family picnic??? I’m confused. Even though a huge part of me would have loved to have been there as well, I don’t understand the logic in all this. Don’t get me wrong. God is good, He saved my uncle’s life and for that I am extremely grateful.  It’s just that when I saw this picture my immediate thought was “Really??” How is this possible? It’s like the rules were tossed out the window. Oh well, at least his immediate family got to visit with him and that is good. 

Ok, on to other things. Y’all were waiting for family pics of our trip so I asked my cousin if it was ok to share and she said yes, as long as it’s not all over social media. I was so happy to see all of my cousins that I just want to share the wonderful fellowship we had eating meals or playing Scrabble together. Just visiting a little while at each other’s houses was a blessing!

I did not get everyone’s picture that we visited unfortunately, but here’s a few that I did in no particular order:

The day we did get to visit uncle Tony, he was unconscious and in and out of sleep, so he never knew we were even there. This pic is out back on their patio after we had a bite to eat.

While waiting to see if Uncle Tony was going to get to come home, we went over to his house to hang out with my cousins Andrea and Loria and their kids. Seated at the table is my dad, my brother,  Loria and Andrea. It was my first time to meet Loria because she lives in Virginia with her husband Andy (Uncle Tony’s son). 

On another evening, again waiting for word or knowing we could not do anything but wait, we got together and played some Scrabble. 

My dad, Gus, me, Buddy, Mary, and my brother Kevin

Dad, me, Mary, Kevin, and Edie

On another day, we got to go into town and meet up with my Alabama cousin, Rosa. I had not seen her in years so this was very special to me!

As you can see by most of us wearing shorts, it was unseasonably warm in Lucedale! 

To wrap this up, again I will say that the whole purpose of the trip was to see my uncle because he was so sick, but since a lot of the time we were there was spent waiting for him to come home from the hospital, we took advantage of the opportunity to see family that my dad and brother have not seen in years. I hope you all have enjoyed seeing my wonderful Lucedale family! PS: When we were young, everyone still lived in Lucedale. We would have the family reunions at my grandparents house which is now gone. They built a highway right through the area that their house stood, the pecan orchard is also gone. Progress is sometimes heartbreaking.