May 1
Flew to NC. Met and chatted with Kelly on our MPS-CLT flight. She showed me pictures of her handsome boys among other topics. She told me she was terrified of flying, so we tried to keep her focused on anything but the air turbulence and the pilot’s veteran status, or lack thereof {who knows? could we please see his resume?} :-)
Met up with my folks at Charlotte and loaded our baggage into a spiffy-looking black suburban while wishing for a pair of Ray-Bans to complete the look. 8-) Found some lunch at Wendy’s and decided that Andrea {Tim’s android} was right when she said we were going the wrong direction. Found our way to Shelby after all – and even a driveway to enter our hotel parking lot {eyes roll} – it was a bit of a challenge the entire stay {not a real complaint, just a source for laughter and applause for our beloved driver}. And at last headed over to the campus in Lattimore to find Daniel. Joined him for supper in the dining hall before his choir’s concert. Enjoyed a great appetizer for the ears by arriving early enough to hear several talented musicians provide a wonderful prelude.
You can actually watch the concert on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J7hzxw5UrU
May 2
Attended the Baccalaureate Chapel Service, where we enjoyed preaching by Daniel’s favorite {or one of} evangelist, Dwight Smith.
Also available online! You can listen here: https://www.ambassadors.edu/Resources/Sermons/Event/
Waited in the book store/commons while Daniel had commencement practice and photos. Found our way to a restaurant called Fatz for a great dinner with a sweet waitress who wasn’t afraid to sit down in our booth and chat a while. Gotta love the friendly South – and their fried rolls.
Tim had found a carrousel listed in the area attractions that he thought my folks would enjoy seeing… It has been well-restored in lovely building in a large city park. Mom & I took lots of pics to share with my aunt who is very involved with our carousel here at home.
The little train looked like fun too!
Decided we wouldn’t need to worry about much supper until after the evening service. Dr. Comfort’s {founder of Ambassador Baptist College} message preached at Commencement is also available at the above link. My mom suggested we arrive early in hopes of another lengthy prelude – and she was {we were} not disappointed.
I need to ask Daniel again to explain the different graduate gown colors. Yellow, blue, red, black…
Daniel had told us about another place to eat in Shelby – a tiny drive-thru-only called Cookout. His favorite item is a peanut butter fudge shake. Mom & Dad agreed that a shake would be a sufficient supper for them too. Sooo while Daniel talked to his friends at school and delivered a few items for them to store over the summer, we ventured to the looong dual-line of customers who also thought it was a good night to place an order at Cookout. Which allowed us enough time for Tim to jump out and take a photo of the menu listing about 40-some shake flavors. Delicious. And worth the wait.
May 3
Saturday morning we were up and ready to head for home. {Tim went over and helped Daniel finish packing his multiple suitcases, loaded him up, then picked us up…} Off to Charlotte we went! This time with the additional help of Bertha, Mom & Dad’s TomTom GPS. Must say that even the TSA workers are friendly in Charlotte – maybe we were amongst a steady stream of friendly passengers too? It was a good start to our day anyway {except maybe for Daniel who forgot to pull his laptop out of his bag. He received a friendly scolding.}
Met another friendly passenger on the flight to Chicago – a younger career {Wells-Fargo} woman who was headed home for a visit with her family. We swapped some entertaining travel and family stories before she took a nap and I returned to my book. I was thankful Kelly from MN was not on that flight as it was much rougher air. Bit of a roller coaster at some points. o.O
Arrived home to Daniel’s happy siblings… with a supper of homemade pizzas, Caesar salad, and of course, the strawberry cake!
