It was a trip back to Dothan with the family a long time in the making. I tend to come to Plant Farley for work often, but usually for only a few days, or often traveling while the kids are in school. On Wednesdays when able to visit the Honeysuckle Road church, the first question I am always asked is "Where is Magan and the kids?" We left Honeysuckle Road in 2006 when Sam was just a baby, and I think we had just found out that Davis was on his way. So it is probably mainly facebook newsfeeds that have kept us connected with this group, but there has been my work visits, a family visit during VBS many years ago, and John and Shay living here for a few years that also just makes this a second church home.
Magan shared it much better in her post on Facebook..."We got to tag along on Scott’s work trip this week to Dothan! Scott and I lived there for 4 years and during one of the hardest years of my life.
I was finishing up my spring semester in May when my mom had to have a quintuple bypass surgery. The following October my dad found out he had brain surgery on his tumor. I graduated in December from Troy State University Dothan and called my mom as soon as I crossed the stage and she said with tears “I’m so glad your dad was able to walk you down the aisle before all of this happened” (everyone wanted us to wait and get married once I graduated college) and my dad said in the background “Proud of you bud”. He passed away the following April. These memories all came flooding back this week. The very best part of our trip was getting to visit our old church family for worship on Sunday and again on Wednesday. I couldn’t have made it through those terribly hard years being away from my family, while they were hurting, without my church family taking such good care of me and Scott. Hugging their necks made my heart feel so happy. I only got a few pictures on Wednesday, wish I’d gotten more!"
We found out on Sunday that Magan gets the lights flashed on her in Dothan just like in Chelsea. This happens when you flash the lights to let people know that service is about to begin, so you have to stop talking and make your way to your seat. I got to visit a bit with my first boss at the power plant, Barry "Bob" Smith, and introduce him to the next generation of engineer, Davis. Anabelle and Ruby got to play with the children of the Haley girls that were just little toddlers when we were there. We got to visit with Buzz Brewer, who with his wife Marinan, were the first to ever watch Sam for us. Buzz has lost Marinan in the years since we were gone, but when Magan told him that Sam was recently married, he replied "Our little Sam". Magan and I have always lived away from our home in Cullman, but have always loved finding special church grandparents that have loved all of our children. And when we arrived, no one even had to ask...they just pushed me quickly to the ground to run to speak with magan. I got to introduce the kids to Matthew King, who was in my first Junior High class I ever taught at like 22 years old. Now he is a deacon at the church with 2 young kids of his own. And they like my magic tricks, and also loved that I was connected to Ellie Junkin, who was their friend. We also closed down and locked up the church, which is typical of Chelsea as well, and had a great lunch with the Tullis family. Both Luke and Abby were just toddlers as well when we left...and now successful teacher and architect working in the area. Davis and Belle got stuck on the geek out on Star Wars side with Luke and Stuart, while Ruby got stuck learning everything that had happened in 20 years at Honeysuckle from Jessica and Abby.
After lunch, we revisited the old cult neighborhood of Grove Park, and found our old home doing pretty well. I think last time we drove by it looked like it had been evicted by the owners before us. Davis was blown away at how flat the roads were in the neighborhood. I probably could have run many more years without killing my knees if I had no hills like in Dothan. We were also blown away with the growth near the Grove Park area. All was completely different. Back at the hotel, Ruby went to get in the pool with Davis before some thunderstorms were to arrive.
That evening included what should have been a normal trip to Chedders with the family, but with the strangest waitress experience I have had in a long time. This was the same Chedders I shared with the family where Stacy, Melissa, and I once almost left without paying. But on this night, we sat down to our first strange look from the server when she noticed that we did not have a machine on our table to take the order. She was somewhat wide eyed, but then said that she could take our order herself. OK, well, that was good. And our order is usually a little strange as I have to get two checks, one for the family and one for me, but I usually handle that at the end, and have never had a problem. Magan, sensing the wide eyed waitress struggles hinted that maybe we should let her know early, but I did not think that was necessary. So the meal went well, and we ate our fill with those amazing honey butter croissants, then it was time for the check. Well, when I explained that the appetizer could go on my check, she went blank and said "Oh, well I put that onto her [Belle] order". OK, I explained that I needed that on my check...and we had a back and forth where I could not figure out what was the problem, but finally she went to get her manager to help here. Magan gave me a look of "I told you so", then said "I told you so". Finally she returned to our table, with two checks. I put one card with one check and the other card with the other check, and she quickly explained, she could only do one at a time. Davis' face about made me crack up as I looked past him at her, as he looked at her like she was speaking another language. But I handed her my one card, and held to the other. When the receipt was returned, I handed the other card to her, and seriously she said "I can't take that one till I get the first one signed". It was like being in a Twilight Zone episode, or perhaps we were just on Candid Camera, so I played along and signed while she watched. Then after handing her the signed receipt, and her putting it into her apron, only then could she take the second card. And yes, when the second card and receipt was finally brought back, I once again had to sign before she left the table. Perhaps it was her first day, but it least we got a lot of laughs through this whole strange scene. Davis said on the second card, I should have said "Oh, sorry, I messed up, this is the card for the first receipt...just to see if her head will completely explode". Oh well, it made for a fun way to end our first day in Dothan.
The rest of the week went pretty well each morning. I had gotten a rental car from the Dothan airport so that the family could have the van during the days. Ruby was my breakfast buddy each morning, coming down before everyone else woke up to eat with me, and chat with Stacy before we headed off to work. They found many peanuts around the city, as Magan reminisced and told them stories about her teaching days, and apparently showed them some "Jump" in the minivan that was probably not good, but they will remember. At my work, we got to have a little birthday party for Deidra with our cyber security team.
On Tuesday of that week, the kids stayed in the city and visited some shops, forcing Davis into some beauty boutiques and girly lunches "The Basketcase". Strangely enough, Davis was recognized by one young girl in the boutique, she had been in a calculus class with him at Bama. I also heard that they all loved Toy Story 5, and of course mom cried during the movie. I did not get the full story, but apparently Belle had an embarrassing moment tracking toilet paper from her foot at the movie. Tuesday night, Stacy Baskin (my previous manager), and Andrew (new coop) joined us at my favorite steak place "Conestoga"...and it was every bit as amazing as ever. Little more expensive than what I remember, but even a week later, Ruby looked over at me with glazed eyes and said "Hey Dad...you remember that steak?" We both closed our eyes and remembered...and remembered it well. It was good getting to hang out with Stacy, since Magan and the kids have met him, but never got to visit with him that much.
As usual, we had some car issues with the battery almost not cranking while the crew was at the beach one day, so while back in Dothan, they tested and replaced it at Autozone. Davis said he almost just pushed them out of the way so he could do it. Belle told a funny story at the hotel, where Davis had left the room and there was a knock at the door. When she looked through the peephole, she jumped back...seeing only the sunglassed Neo from the Matrix staring back at her, then realizing that was just on Davis shirt. And by then end of this week on Thursday heading home, we had been eating well all week and Belle just started crying "Stop Feeding Us". While Ruby kept asking to stop at Arbys where they had a special that was good each night after 9PM. The kids also went to the beach one day, and over to Waterworld another day...but I saved those blogs for later.
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