In Eckleburg's Eyes - 12/1/2008, Part 3

I had a splendid Saturday as I spent it with my family. Sorry, I had not used the word splendid in some time. Maybe ever...

We braved the rain to eat at Bravo Cucina Italiana with my maternal family. We had not seen them during Thanksgiving as they were in Pigeon Forge. I ate the Pasta Bravo!. This was the first meal I have ever eaten at the place that I liked. In th restaurant's defense, it was also the first Italian dish I had tried there too.

Despite not seeing me, my cousins had a good holiday at a cabin in Pigeon Forge. They were, however, tired as a miscreant squirrel had kept them up all night and awoken them early. In fact, I do not believe I have ever seen my oldest cousin, HANW, so annoyed.

The obligatory family updates on my beautiful and talented cousins are as follows:

HANW arrived without her husband as he was forced to work. This is understandable as it was the busiest shopping weekend of the year. HANW has still not fully recovered from a stomach virus. In fact, she has lost fifteen pounds while battling the malady. This is especially not good as she is pregnant. (Note: I promise that if the baby is affected by this, I will still love it despite personal history suggesting the contrary.) HANW will learn the baby’s sex on December 10th.

HANJ called from the road. (Her sister was talking to her when the previous photo was snapped.) HANJ had spent Thanksgiving with her husband’s family in Kansas and was returning home to Abilene, Texas. She was in Oklahoma when she called. Yes, this means that she was not in Kansas any more.

She did obtain the job as a diabetes counselor that she had applied for the last time I spoke with her. She will hold this position until her next move, to an Air Force base in South Dakota. She will be in town for Christmas on December 24th (aka Christmas Eve) as she has opted not to travel to Korea to spend the holiday with her in-laws. She really gets around. I meant that in a strictly platonic way.

ACN was in town from UMass where she is majoring in kinesiology. She hopes to pursue a career in physical therapy. I have advised her to go into sports as there is more money in that realm of the field and far more importantly, she can get me good seats to sporting events. She continues to excel in ballroom dance though she and her partner will move up a level next semester. I have no idea exactly what that means, but I am confident she will do well.

ACN will be home in January and March. For the second year in a row, her spring break coincides with that of Knox County Schools. Her roommate Alex is coming to town in January and wants to do what Southern people do. We have already thought about seeing “Smoke On The Mountain”. Any other suggestions? I thought about providing her with some Skoal.

My youngest cousin HLN is also well. Her college choices have not reduced since they were last listed here. Unfortunately, she did not get into the UMass dance program she auditioned for. This simply means that the UMass employs idiots.

Her Christmas break starts on December 22nd. This means that Knox County Schools also employs idiots. She continues to dance with the Tennessee Children’s Dance Ensemble with her annual extravaganza set for either March 13th or 14th. If anyone wants to go with us, let us know.

Most importantly, HLN looked cute in her blue raincoat. I fully expect to get beaten for that comment.

My cousins were off to see another movie when we left them. They had recently seen Twilight. They liked it, though HLN conceded she liked it only for the pretty male lead. She does not go in for such poppy fare. After some debate, it was decided that ACN is closest to said male lead's age and as such has dibs should he wish to date one of the sisters. This is fortunate as HANW might have considered leaving her husband for the guy and I love MLW.

My day with the family continued as Dad and I watched Phil Fulmer’s last game as Tennessee football coach. Thankfully, the Vols defeated Kentucky, 28-10. In addition to sending Coach out with a victory, it means that Tennessee is still one of only two major college football programs that has never endured an eight-loss season (the other is Ohio State). I seriously wonder if the administration fired the coach when they did because they anticipated that the Vols would defeat Vanderbilt and Kentucky as they do every year. It is far easier to fire a coach after losses than victories.