A great Independence Day!

Had our chapter cookout which went very well. I picked up Johnny about halfway through the day. He seems to get bigger each time I see him. His little sister has finally started coming around to me. She used to hide every time I came into their house. Part of it may have been her being an overly timid child. Another part of it may have been crap about me she had been some not too favorable things she had overheard. She seems to have gotten over it either way. She seems to go out of her way to greet and talk with me whenever I'm around. I like the change. John's younger brother, Jeffrey, is another story. He has always been happy to see me and has taken to hugging me. I thought he'd choke me today he was holding on so tight.

We went back to the cookout for a while to eat and swim. Later in the evening John and I went to watch fireworks. We had some great moments in the time before they started when we just talked. It was all innocuous but we just talked. It's been a while since we've just shot the bull like that and it felt good. When he was a pre-schooler we would walk and talk. Sometimes we would invent superheroes. We would bounce ideas back and forth. It was free form and easy. So was our talking tonight.

I was afraid that we had gotten so caught up in being together that we didn't take time to enjoy it. There was the travel time to and from. Then we'd have meals and errands. Then there's be the "activity" for the weekend. We weren't just there together. Hopefully the next 10 days together will give us plenty of time for more moments together like that one.

One moment we already had he has no idea about was my watching watch girls. He could use a few lessons in subtlety. Like an epileptic watching a tennis match his head will snap around to tack a girl walking by. I'll at least have to buy him some dark sunglasses!