My Bountiful Life

We had Thanksgiving at my brother's house this year here in Orlando. My sister drove down from Georgia with her son and his wife on Wednesday and her other son drove down with his wife early Thursday. Unfortunately Cin's husband was sick and decided to stay home and recuperate. Zach stayed in Georgia as well with work obligations and our other son remained in Charlotte with his little fam for Thanksgiving. They were all sorely missed.

But carry on we did!

My brother lives in a true paradise of nature. Unbelieveable views from sun up to sun down.

The icing on the proverbial cake is that my awesome brother also happens to be a most excellent host.

He always says to us, "Mi casa es Su casa."

I got over there shortly after noon on Wednesday to start cooking and pretty much lived there until Saturday night. I made the ten minute drive back to our house twice to check on our pups but pretty much otherwise lived at the lake with my sibs for four days. Massey stayed there too except for leaving for work twice and Tim spent Thanksgiving and the day after with us as well.

                                                      It was awesome...and then some.




My sister and I once again cooked way too much food but once all was cooked for Thursday, we could all eat until Sunday with a  quick reheat from the NuclearWave.

My brother recently rescued two Dobe's and the entire family fell in love with them both. They put up with all of us barging into their previously quiet and peaceful existence amazingly well.

My brother's next door neighbor joined us along with his fiancee' and we threw down like bosses.

We drank like fish, played cards and watched football and videos on demand. We played corn hole into the wee morning...woke up and started it all over again.

And again.

Chris took us for a boat ride this afternoon. It was an absolutely gorgeous day.

Lake levels were up after all the recent rain and hurricanes. We meandered over to the canal which connects Lake Mary Jane to Lake Hart.

We approached the bridge underpass which has always been a pretty snug fit. As we started towards it I thought to myself "We ain't gonna fit."

I kid you not, even Chris had to lean back while driving the boat under with literally three inches to spare above the windshield of his boat.

Yikes!

Chris ain't never scared, which kinda scares me sometimes.



The thing which also scares me most about boats is they don't have brakes. If I'm driving something, it's gotta have brakes.

I watched Gilligan's Island enough to know  how boat trips can turn out.

We all made it back in one piece and once again NuclearWaved leftovers and continued watching football or surfing the net.

I got approved to join the Jefferson Park FB page and was all excited. That is the neighborhood where I grew up. It was a wonderful community which went through some downward spiraling but has revitalized much to the thanks of an influx of conscientious gaybors.

I cracked up when coming across a post from a homeowner. He was ticked about candidates putting fliers on his mail box before local elections. He posted the code, section and number of the violation offense prohibiting candidates for doing this.

Then he added this meme.

Yes!!

I grew up in a great neighborhood...and is still a great neighborhood, fifty plus years later.

I got to laugh with my sister and brother for four days. I got to share with them all the crazy posts I find so humorous on social media ...which actually are. We drank into the night together, playing cards, attempting to solve the world's problems and looking through old family photos together, realizing obviously no one knew how to center a photo in the fifties or sixties.

For all that has happened to me or gone wrong for me in my life, there are and have been... two things which have always been right in my life, and right beside me the entire step of the way.

The sun set on the last day I had with my sibs here in Orlando. It was a beautiful sunset. It reminded me our short visit was also coming to an end.

My sis was heading out early on Sunday for the road back to home, in Georgia.



I couldn't stay there again tonight. If I had to watch them all pack up and pull away tomorrow, I'd be devastated.

When you have a family as close as Chris, Cindy and I have...parting is always hard. We're all that's left of us and when one of those parts leave, is hard to take.


Families who don't choose to remain close to each other, obviously don't realize what they are missing...and it's a lot.

I came home to our tiny rental house feeling kinda blue.

Then as I was writing this very blog post, my sister hit me up on Facetime, with all of them in the background. We shared more laughs and jokes.

It almost makes me feel spoiled that I'm lucky enough to be a Leach, but think we all three feel that way.

When you are brought into this world and raised by wonderful parents...

                                           Odds are you'll be okay if you listened  to them.




               You don't need a miracle in your life if you come from a family like mine, all you need is them.

                                                               



                                                                 

Till next time... COTTON