From the corner of my eye I see my daughter Kristen racing pass in the opposite direction with her window down.
Rolling to a stop in front of the Liquor Store I hurriedly jump out ... and then jump out of the way as Kristen screeches to a halt beside me.
Father and Daughter embrace in the parking lot.
She is beautiful, on the way home, looking stunning in her Nurses uniform with her blond hair flying in wisps after a long day delivering babies and enduring Doctors.
"What are you doing here?" she asks and ... she's still my baby in some strange way and always will be though she's one tough woman.
"Getting the wine for dinner," I reply.
"Oooh," she exclaims already calculating a change of plans, "what's for dinner?"
"I've dropped Sarah and the girls at McDonalds. You want to join us?"
"McDonalds!" she snarls in disgust.
"I know," I shrug, "you have to bring your own wine."
"You eat that Sh!T?"
"Only with wine," I explain. "Care to join us?"
"Yeah," she grins, "let me get a bottle."
Making the mad dash across Highway 80 we artfully dodge Walmart people and join the girls.
Kristen kisses them as they delight their older sister is here.
Our family delightfully blends.
We talk about the newest member Ethan, his Mom Terenca and Jeremy ... Chelsea's making her way from Atlanta to Huntsville on a daily basis ... Sarah's folks arrive this week for a visit ... Johnny and Judy O ... my Mom ... and our endless number of cousins.
It would be near impossible to graph our family on a flow chart.
Branches fall off broken family trees only to take root and spout new trees, richer and more diverse, mixing new traditions and experiences into an exquisite gumbo of flavors of life.
It's like wine and McDonald's.
Things you never thought would go together can match perfectly in life so long as you're open and accepting of new things.
