60 years of beans and cornbread

Sorry I've been away for soooo long. Nancy and Noah came to Fort Worth and so its pretty hard to blog when there is a toddler trying his best to rip the keys off your keyboard.

Saturday night, Nancy, Noah, and myself went to my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. It was a surprise party for them. We rented a room at the DeSoto Civic Center. My parents picked them up and when they came in the room, my grandmother nearly fainted as we shouted "Surprise." Later, she would say, "I was totally flabbergasted."

But for a while, I was pulling my phone out about to call 9-1-1. I thought she was having a heart attack. My grandfather was just beaming as he wore his tennis shoes and a Nike running suit. Everybody else had on slacks and shirts or dresses.

"We're you surprised," I asked my grandfather.

"Well, yeah," he said, "that's why I'm wearing what I'm wearing. I thought we were just gonna go to Luby's or something."

60 years: They have lived in the same house since I've been alive. Had the same phone number. The same pictures on the wall. The same Curtis Mathes TV set. The same rug in the bathroom.

When my parents would break up for a year or two, we'd always move in with my grandparents. (These are my mothers folks. My fathers folks are still alive as well!) We teased my grandmother a little bit Saturday about what she cooked for dinner. Roast Sunday. Leftovers Monday. Beans and hot-water cornbread Tuesday. Like clockwork. Every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. (Sorry, "Big Momma" mixed things up the rest of the week so I can't remember what the meals were after Tuesday.)

60 years: I have not had one relationship in my life that lasted much more than 60 months. I'm sure they got on each others nerves but I never heard them argue.

60 years: It makes me tired just thinking about how long that is.

RUNNING UPDATE: I ran 15.5 miles Saturday morning in about a 9-minute mile. The total time included the times I stopped for water or to stretch, and it also included 6 1-minute hill repeats at about mile 10. Still, I had enough left in me to do the last two miles in about 8:00 mile pace, so I'm getting used to this long-run thing.

Before the run, I did the P.O.M. prayer of atonement before the run, knowing that just because I had a good run one week didn't guarantee a good run the next week. I got through the run and wanted to lay down for about an hour, but when there is a 1-year-old who wants you to play, it doesn't matter how far you ran. So Noah and I got all sweaty on the floor (as his mother grimaced and wondered aloud how dirty I was making our child) and then when he took a nap, I took one.