Welcome Home, Dad!

This is the greeting I got as I walked in the door late this afternoon. Ben was talking, smiling and laughing from the moment I turned into the driveway until he passed out just a few moments ago. Even though I already knew what was on the agenda he had to tell me about it. I must say it was a pleasure.

One of the things Joan and the kids did was have dinner at one of my aunt's. I asked if he went to Aunt Marsha's and he nodded. Slowly but very distinctly he said "Aunt Ron!" I'm positive he was letting me know that Aunt Rhonda was also there! The Kid continues to amaze me.

As for the weekend trip to Hilton Head I can only describe it as exhausting and full of interesting stories. I'll go into details tomorrow but I promise it'll be worth the return visit. As always I pictures to share as well. But just as a teaser you can look forward to:

1. As I left last Thursday I saw two vehicles roll over multiple times off the Interstate highway just South of my home county. They were separate wrecks that occurred about 15 minutes apart.

2. Hand-feeding deer at the campsite each night.

3. Meeting two new artist friends, one of whom shares eerie ties to my own journey in life going back as far as 1979. Oh yeah, he lives here in Greenville, South Carolina. The three of us now call ourselves The Outlaws of Art. Wait until you see the photo.

4. The main bridge that moves six lanes of traffic off the islands south of Beaufort, SC (pronounced "be-you-fert" which is different than North Carolina's Beaufort which is pronounced " bo-fort") is closed indefinitely over the weekend. All traffic is now diverted through that small shrimping town which is mostly two-lane streets.

5. By the way one of sis-in-laws grew up in Beaufort so I got to hear plenty of stories about her this past weekend. And just for the record, Beaufort was the location for the filming of The Great Santini, The Big Chill, and a good bit of Forrest Gump. I have a past that resides in that gorgeous community and it was nice to revisit it.

Again it's good to be home!