Larry's Visit

Our friend Larry from college recently came to visit us for the weekend. We hadn't seen him in over a year, and of course so many major life events ago. After we lost the girls, he said that he wanted to come down and see us. It took a while to work out, but in mid-October he left the Big Apple for a relaxing weekend in Dixieland.

We packed a lot of activities into his three day trip. Here we are at the city's iconic landmark, Vulcan, looking out over Southside and Downtown. As you can see, the weather was perfect for mid-October.

Larry snapped the same shot of me and Katie. Somehow, this is the only picture Katie appears in all weekend!

After more touring of the city, we headed out to the Blind Boys of Alabama concert that evening. The BBoA have been playing for more than 60 years (!) and have recently won four Grammy awards. They sing gospel music, but as a special treat, on this tour they are playing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band from New Orleans, so the music was a fusion of the two styles, which really made for a great concert. Have you ever seen a blind man in his 80s running through the aisles of the auditorium dancing to New Orleans style jazz music? Me neither! We had front row seats so we were in on all of the action.

After the show, Larry and Laura bought CDs and had them signed by members of the band.


Sunday was more of a relaxation day. It was also the day that Larry first discovered the joy that is the Original House of Pancakes (an establishment we would visit multiple times on this trip). Sunday night mom treated us to meatballs and baked ziti. In this picture, I think Laura is praying that she'll have all the meatballs to herself. Notice how she has positioned herself right next to them...



We also managed to find time to go through the Sloss Fright Furnaces haunted steel furnace (scary even when it's not turned into a haunted house!) and toured Rickwood Field, the oldest baseball field still in operation in America.

Of course we also showed him photos and items from the girls, and talked a lot about all that has happened. It is always helpful when we can tell our story and talk about Claire and Sarah. It is important to keep remembering them and sharing their story, and we're so glad we got the opportunity to do so with Larry.

Now we're looking forward to returning the favor with a visit to NYC sometime soon. While we have both been there at least a couple of times (Katie more than me), I've never really had the time to "do it right" and have a local show me around the neighborhoods. Hopefully we'll get a chance to do it before too long.