Memorial Day Junkin Gathering

A quick trip up to Cullman to visit with grandparents on this Memorial Day.   Glad we got to visit with everyone.   Nanny had some rain wash out much of her road the week before, but fortunately we made it to here.   It was good to visit and share all the happenings around our house with her.   I can't remember what Nanny was telling Magan, but I laughed when Magan was in zombie mode staring at the TV, and Judy had to hollar "Mag"..."Mag" to break her out of the coma.   We also all stared and drooled at the oil lamp in her room that seemed to be a fixture in many homes of the early 80s...I remember being mesmerized by the one at Maw's house when I was younger.   

Granddad cooked some Pork Loin, and Pork Chops and Chicken, that were all delicious.   Granny made most of the fixins, and we had a perfect lunch with everyone except for the JohnNShays that were visiting Disney.   The only other thing I had in my notes from this day was a game that Katie wanted to play...maybe Scattegories...Not my favorite, but we had some laughs. Then we transitioned to the more consistent "Papers" game.   I am positive Magan had some more funny ones, but the best was Ben trying to describe "Theater" with one word.   And I can't remember what his word was, but it did not work, and we could not guess it...so someone suggested "Sing your one word", and he sang out "Theater".   Still makes me laugh now, altho I was in tears then.   Magan pulled Rod Cude into the list to make it tough, and someone added "Katie's Playhouse" as a place, that was difficult to describe.   I went all disney, so we had Piglet, Pooh, Hundred Acre woods, and the Frozen movies.   If anyone was wondering.   

These are the Days of Sweet Charlotte!

This sweet little girl gets all the attention at our church, and probably extra special attention from our girls...and Magan...and me.   And when Magan was asked if we could keep her for a couple of days, since the normal grandparents were out of town, we jumped at the opportunity.   Ruby even decided to miss school on one day (big deal for her) to spend more time with Charlotte.   At church, we have just a limited time, and Ruby got a picture of them in matching dresses one day.   I think she is still afraid of Mr. Scott, so I have had to slowly make my way closer to her, finally breaking through with a little popper.   I also captured a pic of her sweet bible class, where two awesome dads just sat and became part of class on that day.   

But on the morning Jason brought her over, it was a lot of tears to have to leave Daddy, and go to these strangers house.   Magan told me they finally had her not paying attention to Jason, and he had to give her one more hug, and that brought more tears, so Magan rushed him out, and finally got her calmed down with a chance to see and pet the "kitty".   She reminded them of little "Boo" on Monsters Inc, as she kept calling for the kitty.   Then Magan treated her to some Nutella chocolate, which was a big hit and quickly got all over her face.   From what I heard, Belle was the primary watcher, but Ruby and Magan jumped in whenever they could.   Charlotte loved the strawberry balloon (strawberry drawn on it, not a taste).   And when it was nap time, she just leaned on Magan and got very quiet and still.   

On the next day, I was working from home, so I got to be a part of the Charlotte fun.   And while I did have a lot to do, it was very distracting hearing her sweet laughter in the living room.   So of course, I looked for any opportunity I could to take a "break" and play with the cutie little girl with curlies.   Belle brought up the Thomas the train set, and she loved opening the bridge to let the train go under.   Then playing tea on the back porch with the girls, I felt all sorts of nostalgia remembering my little girls at that age playing back there.   Belle and Ruby had to go find much of our play cups and food, as sadly all of that has moved from the porch as the girls have gotten older.   They even got out the old radio playing "Annie Annie Ooo Ooo", and we shook our bottoms to the music.   

But our time was cut short with our sweet little girl as Kendall showed up early on the second day to pick her up, and even tho we tried to hide her to keep her a bit longer, Kendall found her and scolded us all for trying to kidnap her.   It often feels strange as Kendall was one of the first ones I remember teaching in a Junior High class at Chelsea, then she left for college, and came back as a spark to our congregation into mission work in Honduras.   Then watching both her and Jason beginning a life together with this sweet little girl, they encourage me in their hard work for our congregation.   I am often the old man complaining about this new generation of young people, but when I see Jason and Kendall, I know things are going right.   And I can't wait to see what this little cutie in curls can do when she gets older...but for now, I am just hoping for a little hug at church from those little arms.   

Our Silver (25) Anniversary at the Comedy Club

I think this is that first wedding anniversary where people have large parties to celebrate.   This is that wedding anniversary that as kids you look at your parents and can't believe they put up with each other for this long, and you can't believe how old they are now.   Yet, when you are a part of that couple, you realize that you are old, and you are thankful that the pretty lady beside you has put up with you for 25 years.   

And NO, the comedy club stardome was not my first idea to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary.   It began last year with a grand plan to take Magan to Niagara Falls, a place I know she has always wanted to go, but she did not want to go with just us, but with the whole family, even with the sweet girl Noel that Sam was starting to be serious with.   Well, that plan fell through when the serious part became a wedding this year.   

So, next came a plan to go to Nashville, which is old faithful for me and Magan, but that plan fell through as we choose to save for a potential trip in 2027.   So what did that leave us with...well actually nothing...but then I saw Dustin Nickerson tickets for only $13/each on a flash sale.   You did have to order food there, but that was a given anyway on a dinner date, so I texted Magan to see if she was free, and since she is still going out with me, she said yes.   

I had seen some reels of Dustin Nickerson, and he seemed like our line of comedian.   Clean, middle aged, and drives a mini-van...sounds like my type of guy.   So we arrived early, as it is really the only way that makes me comfortable anymore.   At that point, we waited at the bar area, and Magan placed use over by a door to get out of everyone's way.   Which ended up being a perfect place, because we they opened the doors, we were the first ones to be seated.   And even with $13 tickets, we sat front row at the stage.   Fortunately Dustin is not the type to pick on the fans, so we were able to just look up at him during the show cracking up all all the jokes.   

His opener was a guy named Nathan Owens, who was a home school kid, and had some pretty good jokes that went with that theme.   Some of you guys like going home to visit your family, but when I do, I am also visiting my junior high school and all my teachers.   Also had a bit about using his grandma's bench seat in the shower, which ended with him stealing it and riding it like a horse at his house. Nathan Owens (https://www.nathanowenscomedy.com/) is a stand up comedian from Atlanta and has traveled throughout the United States, Ireland, and the UK spreading his own brand of awkward funny. Proud to be born in West Virginia and raised in Georgia Nathan brings his own stories and unique observations to the stage. You can checkout his debut album Name Brand Human and watch the special on youtube now plus his latest drop Possum Daddy on youtube and wherever you listen to comedy!  Nathan has opened for Dustin Nickerson, Brian Bates, Aaron Weber, Matt Braunger, Katherine Blandford, and many more! 

Dustin Nickerson came out to a relatively small crowd of about 100 people, and quickly noted that and shared that we were going to be more like a large group.   He shared his viral hit about Looney Tunes characters and all of their "issues", a funny bit about his daughter having friends over (like a band of demons), fights with his wife, and warnings for all of us to be careful letting the "Boomer Tumer" loose on these young kids and their electric bikes.  I liked one joke he said about his generation working for gender equality in the workplace, only for this current generation to state that there was no gender and no workplace.   

Dustin (https://www.dustinnickerson.com/) is a Seattle native now suffering in Southern California, Dustin Nickerson is an in demand comic on the rise. In 2020, he released his debut comedy special Overwhelmed which is currently one of the highest rated specials on Amazon Prime Video.  In addition, he’s been featured on Comedy Central and Netflix by Kevin Hart, the Late Late Show with James Corden, is a regular on After Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson, Fox, Hulu and can regularly be heard on Sirius Radio XM. Online, his stand-up clips and jokes have received tens of millions of views and his podcast, Don’t Make Me Come Back There, has over 3 million downloads.  He’s also the author of How to be Married to Melissa, an Amazon #1 New Release published by Harper Collins in June 2022.  Dustin describes himself as “the world’s most average person” but is far from it when on stage. He brings you into his life through his jokes about the struggles of parenting, marriage, and being generally annoyed by most people.  At 40 years old, Dustin has been married for 20 years and has three kids. This helps makes Dustin truly one of the most unique voices in the comedy scene.

After the show, we hung around to get a picture with both Nathan and Dustin.   I am glad he stopped in Birmingham, as he had 4 sold out shows in Atlanta over the weekend.   But always an opportunity to work on new stuff.   My first question to Nathan was if he worked at Hobby Lobby or Chick-Fil-A, and he was of course a CFA home schooler..."They will hire you at 14".   And Magan shared with Dustin about us missing our trip to Nashville to be with him.   And I let him know we were double minivan drivers.   Seemed like a nice guy, but the line was long, so we got the picture and kept moving.   I did get him to sign "Happy 25th" in the book we purchased, so we have a memory.   

We made the required stop at Krispey Kreme on the way home, bringing some donuts to the kids.   Sweet Ruby did the streamers for our 25, and wrote us the most special card.   So maybe we will still be around in another 25, only time will tell.   It feels like it is serious between Magan and me, so we make look to make it another 25 together.   May of 1998 we shared our first kiss after a romantic dinner at Denny's.   And even tho I am older, I am tireder, and I am slowly falling apart, I am glad she is still there by my side.   The goal has never changed...make her smile, and all will be right in the world.   

AHG PiPa Day at Tannehill (Entrepreneur Badge)

The PiPa girls were originally planning to camp out here at Tannehill on this weekend, and Ruby was excited, as it was her first chance to camp with the older girls.   But we could not get enough adults to commit, so Shaley decided to cancel the event.   I was excited about this opportunity for Ruby and Belle, and excited to get to Tannehill for trade days.   So I reached out to Shaley, and we called an audible to repurpose this to a day trip on Saturday working on some badgework.   Shaley said that she did not have any badgework planned, so I immediately jumped into the PiPa workbook and found the Entrepreneur badge that seemed work well with a trip to trade days.   

The game plan included first learning some key words and vocabulary through some word puzzles, then as AHG does so well, we connected this badge to the bible through Proverbs 31:10-31 and Colossians 3:23-24.   Then finally, the girls would divide into teams to develop a "Shark Tank" pitch to our Leaders/Sharks who would decide if they wanted to invest in these companies.   And while I was excited to work with the girls on this badge, my plans changed to attend the funeral of Aunt Mary Helen on this same day.   So I turned all over to Magan to help these girls with this badge.   

Magan said that everything went really well that day.   She divided the girls into two teams, separating Belle and Ruby.   Belle's group developed a product called the "Fantastic Fountain:  Fun, Fresh, Fashionable", which was basically a device that would fit onto any water fountain to change the taste to a variety of flavors.   The pitch was made, but they did not get any bites from any of the sharks.   Belle told me later that since they went first, she thinks the sharks just did not know how to perform their role at this point.   But thats ok, the "Fantastic Fountain" would go on so seek investors elsewhere.

Ruby's group developed a product called "Fabris...mmmm, fresh", which was a premium organic body care line of sprays and lotions for construction workers.   I assume much of this product was put together by the pitch lady Kessa Fabris, and I was told that they had one shark very interested.   Avianna's sister was the guest shark, and she ended up making a deal to invest into their company.   

After the Shark Tank, the girls all had a picnic lunch, then went over to the Trade Days.   One other requirement of their badge was to speak to some of these business owners to learn about how they got their ideas and some of the difficulties in starting a business.   Magan said this went really well, as the girls got an opportunity to speak with many owners and learn about the beginnings of these businesses.   One began a woodworking business as a way to remember his son, quickly putting Magan in tears.   Others had crafts or baking that they enjoyed doing, and wanted to share with others.   

I am glad we called this audible, and glad the girls had a good time.   Lots of smiles in these pictures, but I think the selling point in my pitch for this day, was an ending at the Creamery for some Tannehill ice cream.   I don't know if all made it here before they left, but I know our girls were happy for some ice cream during all the hot weather.   I'll volunteer for a troop meeting to help finish out this merit badge sometime in the fall.   Can't believe my ruby girl is now part of the PiPas.