We made a trip back home this weekend. Nothing special, but we were probably overdue for a visit with my mom. We try to go every four to six weeks, but it may have been a little longer this time. Fortunately there was a little excitement in the old hometown Saturday morning!
At the end of the alley from my parent's house stood this two-story structure that has been vacant for almost as long as I can remember. The local fire department burned it down for practice. It was quite spectacular. Friends and neighbors from all over town came and watched. There were firemen and women scattered about. They even set up a tent for beer drinking afterward!
So, from about 8-10 am we hung around the burning house and watched and listened to town folk. Not a single one with a mask on, mind you. And some having no awareness or respect for social distancing either. One of my mom's neighbors even shook my hand.
Of course my mom didn't tell us until after we arrived that their county is currently a 'hot spot' for the coronavirus. I think their positivity rate is something like 14%. You'd never know it from talking to people though. We got carry-out at a restaurant/bar Saturday night and not a single employee in the little joint wore a face covering of any kind.
Anyway... after the fire Saturday I did some cleaning in my mom's garage, took some old tools before she gave them to the neighbors, and Jane tried to help my mom get a grip on her finances. We went to the nursing home to see my dad in the afternoon. He didn't actually seem too bad. I think he's better mentally than he had been at home for the past ten years or so. He is now completely confined to a wheelchair, but he did at least know who I was.
Other than that we didn't do much. We visited with one of Jane's brothers for a bit Saturday night, got to watch some NBA playoff action on mom's cable TV, and ate a lot of bread products. It was rather relaxing and uneventful.
The trip both there and back took longer than usual though. On the way there we went through the Gary-Joliet section right during rush hour, so it was slow going for a while. On the way home it was even worse. There was road construction plus a couple accidents. What should have taken us 4 1/4 hours took 5 1/2. Ugh. Then we had to stop at the store to get groceries and get things ready for the work week once we got home. I'm feeling pretty wiped out this morning.
It was nice to get away though. However I've had about all the busy-body small-town gossip I can handle for awhile. Some things never change.
**These were my two favorite pics from the fire. The top one pretty descriptive of the neighborhood; the bottom one a good glimpse of the architecture of the old house.
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2 Corinthians 5:1
"For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands."
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