MIKE McCORMICK Staff column
My wife Pat and I did something this year the day after Christmas that we’d never done before and I’m glad we did it.
Along with our very close friends Gary and Charlotte Barnett, who really are much more like family than just friends, we took off and went down to our place at the lake for most of three days.
Their trailer is right next to ours. I mean you go from our deck to their deck is how close it is.
We’d never ventured away from home much during the holidays. Oh, we’ve gone on an occasional short trip a few times, but never very often.
They picked Pat and me up late on Friday morning the day after Christmas and we didn’t return home until mid-Sunday afternoon.
Normally this time of year is so often cold and windy, rainy and where one just wants to stay inside more than be outdoors. But most of you are aware of what type of weather we’ve had over the last several weeks for the most part.
It’s been anything but cold and rainy, in fact we’ve been in the middle of a drought. It’s forecasted to rain some today and we surely need it.
However, from the day after Christmas until about noon that Sunday one couldn’t ask for any better weather. We knew the weather was supposed to be nice most of that weekend until a cold front was coming in on Sunday afternoon and evening.
The weather couldn’t have been any better for this time of year. Sunny, warm and very little wind.
We didn’t have anything in particular planned for that weekend. We’re more spontaneous than anything. We have have several places we like to go eat and we like to just drive around some looking over Lake Eufaula.
The lake may be as low as we’ve ever seen it. There was plenty of shoreline exposed. We drove up to the dam on Saturday afternoon and that’s always nice.
I can’t say enough about Charlotte and Gary. Not are they only wonderful people, but they were so helpful. My cancer that weekend wasn’t allowing me to be very sturdy on my feet.
So they helped Pat so much throughout the weekend, helping me to get up and down stairs, and just assisting her with some of my overall getting around.
Gary and I like to eat breakfast so we did that on Saturday morning together, being sure to bring Pat and Charlotte something to eat when we got back.
On Sunday Gary and I went to a place not far from the trailers so we were able to order entire breakfast for the wives and keep it hot.
We spent most of the weekend just relaxing, visiting and taking an occasional nap. How wonderful it was and especially to enjoy it with such wonderful people who we really consider part of the family.