Well, we had a busy 3-day weekend. Every so often, I have to go to a couple of doctors for 6-month follow-up appts., so Tim takes off and accompanies me. He is such a good driver that I prefer for him to drive in Nashville traffic!
Friday, Sarah, Hannah, Tim and me set off for an early appt. with the dermatologist. He looked over my incision from the skin cancer and pronounced his work as imperfect. Meanwhile, he set two of his assistants to taking off two other places, one on my arm and one on my left neck. So while one lady was applying this freezing stuff to my right forearm, he was sticking a needle in my right jawline, and nurse #2 was poking me with deadening needles on the left. I felt like I was in "Attack of the Needle People!" Within the space of 3 minutes, all was done, and another followup appt. was made for a month to do some cosmetic things to the face.
Meanwhile, Tim was off to the nearby Dept. of Motor Vehicles to renew his license which was expiring on his 45th birthday on Saturday! Except for a minor incident with the license getting stuck in the printer, Tim said it was a better than average visit to the DMV! With both of our "missions" accomplished, we set out to find some lunch.
We ended up at the neatest place in a nearby mall that sits on the ground where the themepark "Opryland" used to be. This restaurant is called "The Aquarium" and turned out to be the greatest lunch experience we have had in a long time.
You eat in a very wonderfully-themed atmosphere with aquatic life everywhere! There is a huge tank with every size of fish and sea creatures swimming by during your meal. Our waiter put us right by the tank at a great table, and the girls were so beside themselves with wonder that they did not eat very much! Tim mused that maybe ordering the "catch-of-the-day" might not be such a good idea.
There was a marine biologist in a wet suit in there feeding the fish while we ate. That gives you some idea of the size of the tank! There were sharks, sting rays, manta rays, eels, and beautiful colored fish galore! They said there were over 100 species of fish there alone! Everything from the lighting to the decor was so neat, and we had a great experience. We bought a disposable camera at the gift shop just so we could get a few pictures. I have not developed them yet. I am anxious to see if they turned out.
Afterwards, it was on to the endocrinologist to get my semi-annual lecture about better diet and more exercise. I am insulin-resistant, so I have a high level of insulin in my bloodstream. That may be part of the reason I stay tired. We discussed ways to get that level down, lest my poor little pancreas wear out.
A trip to Books-a-Million and the park rounded out the day, and we came home and died.
Saturday was Tim's birthday, so in the afternoon, we decided to go over to "Historic Franklin," my old stomping grounds. Tim is very interested in civil war history, because we had quite a few relatives in the war. We went to a place called Carnton Plantation, a very historic house that ended up serving as a make-shift field hospital during the historic and deadly Battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864.
Back porch, where the bodies of Generals Adams, Cleburne, Granbury, and Strahl rested the next morning before being carried south for burial.
I had heard about this house all my life, since part of the legend centers around the fact that the place is supposed to be haunted. During the battle of Franklin, hundreds of soldiers were brought there throughout the night. The McGavock family opened their home--every room of it, for surgery and tending to the soldiers. When the house could no longer hold any more bodies, they were piled on the porches and then out in the yards. Eventually, the McGavock's gave nearly two acres of land so that around 1,500 of the Confederate dead could be properly buried there. Mrs. McGavock made it her life's work to try and find out as many names of the dead as she could and comfort the families. She kept a detailed journal of the specific details of the soldiers buried in each plot, and many families were later able to find out what happened to their soldiers.
The tour guide was wonderful. He spoke non-stop for over an hour about the battle and how the McGavock's fit into Tennessee history. It was a good lesson for the four kids, and I am sure they will never forget seeing the place. It was a perfect cool, crisp fall day, just like the day the battle happened. Since the mansion and grounds are out in the "middle of nowhere," it made it very easy to envision the events that happened on that day. I fully recommend the tour for those who are in the area! It is a great homeschool field trip! (And you can snag a dollar-off coupon on their website).
We finished out the day with a trip to "Famous Dave's." We got a wonderfully cozy little room to ourselves with a huge log table and a t.v. playing the U.T. -Georgia game. The ambiance was just lovely there, and I think Tim really enjoyed his "birthday dinner." If I eat this way all the time, my endocrinologist will kill me!
Sunday rounded out the weekend very pleasantly. We did not do anything special--just the same thing we do every week with attending morning and evening worship services and going out with everyone after the evening service. We converge on a local Wendy's, whose staff yells..."CHURCH GROUP!" when they see us coming. :) It's a nice way to end the day most Sundays!
So all-in-all, it was a beautiful and enjoyable fall weekend. I think we made some memories with the kids that we will all have for a long time to come. Tim was a little pensive about being 45, and he was horified to see in the fair pictures that his bald spot is expanding in back. I laughed and told him that he was lucky I have a thing for bald guys (my dear granddad was bald.) Battlefields and birthdays make you reflective. But sometimes, that is a good thing.
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