Errands and Fireworks in Gainesville

We all slept late and then made a big egg and bacon breakfast. After a leisurely morning, we split up. Jarue, Cristina, and Sofia went thrift store shopping and I took the two younger kids on some errands. We picked up something from Walgreen’s, then hit Wal-Mart for a few items. At Save-a-lot, we bought a watermelon, a cantaloupe, and some zucchini. Then we went to Publix. It seems I always see someone I know at Publix, usually a former student either working or shopping there. Sure enough, as soon as we walked in a guy in line waved to me. I recognized him as a former student, but couldn’t remember his name. I had had him in TV 1 either my last year or second to last year at GHS, which was 5 or 6 years ago. Let’s see, I’ve had roughly 500 students since then. So I think it’s excusable that I didn’t remember his name. After the kids and I checked our weight on the Publix scale, we circled around and I approached the student. “I’m getting to be an old man and I’ve forgotten your name” I said apologetically. “I’m Derrick Ross,” he said proudly. I could tell he was happy that I remembered him to some degree. He definitely remembered me and was very polite and humble. We exchanged a few pleasantries and then we got to our shopping.

While we shopped, I found someone else I knew: my grad school teacher/advisor Dr. Wright. He retired from UF a few years ago, and recently (about 4 months ago) I tracked down his email address and reconnected with him via email for the first time in about 10 years. So it was an amazing coincidence that I would run into him at Publix. We chatted for a while. He had never seen the two kids I was with. We were pregnant with Sofia when I started grad school and she was born 3 months before I finished. Dr. Wright’s wife was dying of cancer at the time, and we went to a dinner party at his house towards the tail-end of the program. We took a picture of Dr. Wright holding the infant Sofia with Mrs. Wright looking admiringly on. We gave him a copy of the picture and he said he cherished it because it was one of the last pictures of his wife and she looked so happy. So he’ll always remember Sofia from that picture. He asked me if Alex had been the one in the picture and I mentioned that he wasn’t born until 4 years later. Time does fly. Dr. Wright has recently remarried and he seems happy and healthy. I’m glad. He’s a very nice man and I enjoyed my time with him at UF.

We headed home and unloaded our booty. At Wal-Mart I bought Alex a Gator basketball and Bella a little Gator cheerleader doll. While the kids played I cut Jarue’s grass (she just got her lawnmower out of the shop). Then we got back in the van and headed to Westside Park. Alex said he wanted something like pizza for dinner, and I kind of had a hankering for chicken wings. While the kids played at the park I called in an order to Gumby’s pizza. We picked it up and headed home.

After dinner, we all loaded up and went to Flavet Field for the annual Fanfare and Fireworks show. Flavet Field is the field at the UF bandshell, right near the dorm that Burt and I lived in during our first year at UF. There was live music while everyone waited for the sun to go down. While we waited, the kids played and we even ran into an own friend, Leiba Gowan, and her family. Leiba took some great photos of us when we were pregnant with Alex, and then later when Alex was about 2. In fact, 2 of her pictures are framed and mounted over our bed.

A Gainesville Sun photographer took a picture of me playing Alex like a guitar. It appeared on their online edition a couple of days later. You can click the screen image to go to the webpage:

The fireworks started at 9:40. Bella was tired and grumpy but she calmed down during the fireworks. It was a bit of a walk back to our parked van, but we made it home, had some ice cream, got showered, and went to bed.