Victory is mine

Yesterday the Grand Finale and I went to visit The Beautiful Redhead.  It was one of the few days where I dared risk the trip, as the weather was warm and it was just supposed to rain.  We drove through a lot of fog to get there.  Our view looked like this:

It was easy to forget where you were during a long trip. This picture is a good analogy of the picture of my life, incidentally, much of the time.  I mean, I always know I'm on the way to somewhere, but I often cannot fathom where because I cannot seem to see too far ahead.  Probably just God's plan so I don't give up too soon.  But I digress.  I do it beautifully, don't I?  So, we made it and picked up The Beautiful Redhead and spent the afternoon shopping.  Not anything exciting, rather Sam's Club for tp and trash bags, but we got to eat out.

This is quite a thing for us these days.

I want you to know that for the first time in my memory, my children asked me where I wanted to eat.  Which is maybe not so shocking to you, but then they ate where I wanted to eat without one word of complaint.

Yep.

It was so shocking, to me, that I reflected all the way through the meal that we actually had a good time the whole day.  Not one drink was spilt.  Not one rude word was exchanged.  The Grand Finale even sat next to each other, in a restaurant with actually glass glasses and real silverware and bread plates and EVERYTHING, man, and never even threw elbows into each other's ribs.  They passed things, used their napkins, and I'm pretty sure the waiter was half hitting on The Beautiful Redhead, but she took it in stride without seeming interested.  I don't think she was interested, you understand, but if she was I am pretty sure she would not want me to know it.  Hopefully this stage will end soon. 

In other words, it is my great pleasure to announce that we have made it.  Where we have made it is hard to define, but any parent who has spent the last 15 years in "restaurants" that feature ball pits or mouse mascots paying you attention will know instinctively what I mean.  We are in a good place, where we are able to simulate a normal family without arousing suspicion.

I almost had some wine to celebrate, but then I remembered it just makes me go to sleep now and I couldn't afford to supply the under aged Beautiful Redhead with a liquor source.  Let her explore her luck with the friendly waiter.  He didn't look 21 to me either, but these days nobody does until they are about 30.

So on our way home it looked like this:

And this, very cool.  It made me want to hear The Year of The Cat terribly, and I don't have that recorded on a CD.  Can you believe that??  A classic song like that?  Note to self made.

When we left Columbia, it was 64 degrees and misty.  The Cyclist called me a little upset about some storm warnings and possible tornadoes.  I started home immediately.  By the time we got to Moberly it was 36 degrees, raining, and very very foggy.  Every once in a while you could tell it was lightening because it looked like a flash had gone off, but I was beginning to worry about tornadoes.  By the time we got to New Cambria, a tornado warning for Randolph Co. came on the radio.  We had missed it by about 30 minutes.  It continued to rain hard almost all the way home, but we made it safe and sound.

You never know what a day will bring.  Especially in Missouri.  That makes us have to trust God a lot, not to mention, be aware and prepared.

Take time to enjoy your victories, no matter how small they might seem.  No victory is small.  They add up and before you know it, you are living your dream.  At least, parts of it.  Nobody has everything ALL the time.