Where's GrandDad?

Lauren drove back here today from her folks' in Austin. They pulled into the drive about 7:30 or 8 pm. The phone rang inside, but it was not a number I recognized, and the scroll read, "unknown". I went outside to greet Lauren and Abby. Abby had been watching Beauty and the Beast. She had not napped, and her little eyes were tired. But, she was glad to get to stretch her legs, and it looked like she had grown in just one week!

We came inside, and Abby looked at the beanie babies I had pulled out of the little house. But, she went back to the toy bins and looked for her old favorites---Buzz, the puppet dinosaur, Mr. Potato Head, and Lauren showed me pictures of their trip. Mel, Lauren's mom, had called at 3 to let me know they were on the way. I am so thankful they did okay. Lauren did say they had to sit in traffic around Waco. Traffic accident.

While playing with the sticky hair removal roller on a handle, I was trying to explain to Abby that we used it to pick up cat hair from GrandDad's chair---and asked if she could roll the device on GrandDad's chair...and her little voice asked quietly, "Where's GrandDad?"

Where indeed. Andy called Lauren's phone as they pulled into the drive, and from the message GrandDad left---they are in Haines Junction without phone connection, and without internet. They are on the edge of civilization as we know it. Hopefully, in TOK, Alaska they will be back to internet or cell phone coverage. Bob left a message with a pay phone--I could hear the operator or recording say to deposit fifty more cents. wow

"Where's GrandDad?" Abby asked.

Lauren says she asks about her own Daddy two or three times a day, too. On Thursday she shall fly up and see him---and GrandDad. Maybe on Thursday, she will ask, where is Grannie? And Mimi and Pops? And all the greats---in Clear Lake and Tomball...

"Where's GrandDad?" Abby wants to know. I tried to explain that GrandDad was riding in her Daddy's jeep through no man's land on the way to Alaska. She can say, "Alaska". and she smiles.

I can't wait to tell Bob about what Abby did while the next bride was trying on her dress. Lauren took pictures. Abby just loved seeing Ashley in her dress, and the long veil and train. But, lying around, were foam, uh, pieces that dressmakers or the ladies that fit the dress to you properly use to uh, make things look, uh, properly proportioned. And Abby stuck the foam forms down her shirt. At the tender age of 2 and 1/2, she has noticed that she lacks enhancement in this area---and she knows where to put the foam forms.

Where is GrandDad? He needs to hear. He needs to know what Miss Abby is doing. Her blankie is in the washer again. She is not constipated anymore. Love you GrandDad. Love you Andy. Please drive carefully, because there is a little girl that is growing up fast that is missing y'all.