He was a hard working farmboy: Tales from Our Thanksgiving Trip to WV

Fresh back from our trip to WV: tired, a bit haggard, and happy to be home. The trip was great. Yesterday while waiting at DFW for our flight to New Orleans #1 and I walked to a food court to grab some lunch, as we passed the Rosetta Stone kiosk #1 immediately began quoting an advertisement: He was a hardworking farmboy, she was an Italian supermodel, he had only one chance to impress her...

The highlights included: getting together with my best friends, the Professor & Old Philsy, seeing family, eating (yes a Tudor's biscuit was eaten), taking flowers to dad's grave, and watching my two nephews play basketball. Both of them play ball on the junior varsity squad. One evening they scrimmaged the girls varsity squad. Memory serves me that girls basketball in junior high was just getting its feet under it when I was in junior high. I could not believe the strides girls athletic programs have advanced in the ensuing years! I have always held that women are better pure shooters than men. But good heavens those girls at the scrimmage were great athletes too, even a bit mean. When the ball was on the floor they dove, dipped their shoulders and even threw a couple of punches. I could tell my nephews were a bit hesitant they were victims of an age old dilemma: if they play too aggressive their friends will say you were playing too hard against a girl, if they back off and the girl schools them then they will be made fun of for getting taken to town by a girl. Nevertheless they did a good job, and those girls were good!

Another surprising highlight was the conversation I had while in transit from New Orleans to Chicago. Apparently American Airlines changed planes from when I made my reservations to when we flew. Therefore, all of our tickets were jumbled and the ticket person scattered the First Family amongst the cabin. Thanks to some friendly folk (By the way the American Airline employees were amazing and fantastic people) we were able to reassemble close to one another. The man who moved over so I could sit on the aisle in front of my kids ended up being the dean of the Univ. of Chicago Div. School (in town for the SBL too). I have never had a nicer conversation on a plane than that. The last time I had an in-depth conversation with a person sitting next to me on a plane he told me about a crazy raccoon virus that scared the bejesus out of me!

One other story about WV. One day my mother and I went to Sams Club, I have never seen so many moustaches before in my life!