We're back from Springfield

We have returned to Sand Springs after a brief trip to Springfield, MO to visit my parents. This is the first time i have blogged since Sunday, I guess. All I did on Sunday was post a quote. So I should have a lot to write about, if only I can remember everything which has happened.

Let me back up to last Sunday. We had a larger than usual crowd at Church of the Restoration, if you can call eleven people a crowd. Vanessa, who was two years old at the time Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, read the famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Being a news junky, I recall hearing the original speech. We also sang "Life Every Voice and Sing," now widely regarded as the Black National Anthem. The words to this song were written by James Weldon Johnson, who also wrote "God's Trombones."

Following the service I sat in on a board meeting. Seven people were at the board meeting. It seems, and this is only a slight exaggeration, that everyone who attends the Sunday morning service is on the board. Next Sunday, there will be a congregational meeting following the sermon, at which time the items discussed at the board meeting will be presented to the congregation and voted upon. The man who was the minister is still a member of the congregation and was present last Sunday.

I found this a little strange, but part of the protocol of the board meeting is that everyone present sings a hymn in unison.

The next morning was Monday, and Gail come over to play duets with me. Gail and I will be playing the special music at church next Sunday. We plan to play "Wade in the Water" and "The Ancient Lantern." We worked on "Spanish Dance," but we decided to wait until next week before making our video for "YouTube."

That afternoon, we got in the car and headed for Springfield. I drove the entire way. We stopped at the visitors' information center just across the state line into Missouri. There we looked for a geocache which we had looked for on our previous trip. We could not find it. We went on in to Springfield and talked with my parents in their apartment.

J assisted my Dad in cleaning up his computer. I played piano for my Mother. I played some hymns and some standards. We went out to eat that evening at the nearby Golden Corral. I ate too much, as I usually do there. We stayed the night in my parents' apartment. The next day for lunch we ate at Red Lobster. The food so so good. I had a broiled fish platter. There was supposed to be a cache cliose by. I looked for it but did not see it.

About 4:30 in the afternoon, we hit the road for Oklahoma. It was getting dark as we approached Joplin, so we pulled off and spent the night at the Super 8 motel. We walked to the nearby Denny's for our evening meal. When we returned to the motel we listened to the results of the senate race in Massachusetts. The race was an upset and may end the hopes of those who have worked for health care reform. Our health care system is broken and may remain broken for some time. I'm just glad I have insurance, but I know that 48 million Americans are without any health care insurance. It may be that those working for the status quo may win in the short run, but the avalanche of the uninsured will continue to build until on day it will break away.

The next day we continued our journey toward home. We stopped in Tulsa and joined a group of friends at the White River Fish Market. From there we went to Border's Bookstore and then to Office Depot and then home.