The afternoon as we walked and came back and played songs on our guitars, Poppa told me about refurbishing his Dad's two guitars. I learned the old house isn't set up for practicing any Pete Townshend-style leaps, though since I stopped after one, I merely listened in on Poppa's strategy to get the house leveled again. He's come up with a lot of things that work, and I've seen him fix a lot of things in day-to-day life. He loves problem solving and be friendly in general. Just classic.
Making things up as they went along, a call to Andy was something I took too seriously. I was sure we'd end up talking a long time, and sure enough we finally did as I watched the nephews and niece play at the park next to their house in Goodyear Village.
I wanted to give him a time and place and really practice and prepared to be prepared. Andy is so easy going, he puts me to shame. He took time to come over; he found CiCi and I in the park as I stayed on the phone with him towards finding us. We got out the instruments but had about an hour to go through messing around on instruments. It became quite fun for everyone: Christina sang a song she's practiced for Angela, the kids all tried out the instruments, and Andy and Poppa hit it off famously.
Boy would that flower of an hour pass away on the stream like a floating petal. Andy liked my songs; we'd even been working on a similar progression and rhythm for one each. Too bad I couldn't catch up with him earlier in the week, but I was sensitive to people not feelin left out. But I'd geared up for a coffeehouse type show over at the Gypsy Cave, and I figured we'd keep taking turns playing stuff and see if, since I was the one wishing to showcase our Integr8d Soul Songs.
I think with three or four practices we would've had a pretty good show together. I liked swapping out playing songs, and of course Sabrina had lots of iTunes on hand, as it is a Cave staple.
In the effort to make it nice for everyone, I got Mom to come down from Rome; she said she'd even take the kids back to Rockmart, so I got an additional wish: the Clark Kids would get to come. We'd get to spend the night! And maybe we could get some other friends to come over.
Well, it turned out we had plenty of people. Mom stayed a little while but had already decided, while driving Angela and CiCi over behind Andy, Me, David and Austin, she would just drive home by herself soon. Poor Angela, she felt pretty sad, and i was up in the car ahead. I actually had to be neutral to fit in, because Andy and the Clark Brothers were on the level together cracking up and making twenty miles of jokes all the way to Cave Spring.
Still, I was so glad the Clark Kids got to visit Gypsy Cave. First, we all had pound cake together and it was a real party atmosphere in a sweet sort of way. You cannot help but find the Cave stimulating! Andy and I talked about how much John Lennon would love to be there.
Well, soon we got Mom backed out and headed to Rome around dark. The children were playing with Finn; they found the house on Kudzu Mountain a wonderful place to run and play games and there was so much energy, riding down the driveway. CiCi visited Darby a little while, and they played dolls. Five minutes later, CiCi told her, "you don't play them right!" Sabrina, upon hearing of this, said Darby used to say the same thing to her sometimes at that age.
I made sure we played Angela's "Double Jeoparme" and "Luck", also the first song I played when invited Monday. "Somethin Not Quite There" evolved when we blew the dust off it for a few days before travelling; it's close to a nice recording.
I got a chance to play as many songs as possible up to about 11:30pm; Anna was glad the Clark young'uns were having a good time and it sounded like we'd make it back at a reasonable time. There was a bit of kicked back, exhausted confession, too, as my bond with Eric just continued to reveal itself. I was actually ready for a day of study and work! Yet how could I begrudge my family and friends this time to bond together, establishing bonds that could echo in meaning and love in times to come?
Before I got to "Times Like These" time and time again, David was on the verge of tears with regret at leaving. That was a really honest reaction. Poor Eric probably feels that way a bit at some point every day, having found all the heaven on Earth necessary for him to continue on. David didn't want this great time to close, for this was uncommonly good. Angela consoled him, and let him know we will make more times together. He felt better. Resiliant David.
Andy drove cool as he could, to avoid us being pulled over without a seat for every child, which we almost had, really, by an half-ass. Three kids and an adult was just a bit more than Andy had come prepared to drive with, but in his good natured way he hung in there and we cut up about half as intently on the way back from a place he dearly loved.
Ron and I ended up in a conversation about our original way of becoming aware of sex in our non-communicative upbringings, and how he'd sat all the kids down of age at once to do an Afterschool Special. Did I mention the Clark kids got to spend the night? They all out lasted me. While Angela and her mom got a rare chance to sit up and talk a couple of hours, I read the very first X-O Manowar story in a trade I'd brought with me and conked out hard, preparing for the big picnic.
