TIME ON THE DECK WITH SAMUEL

This isn't really a post. It's an explanation of why I didn't post tonight.

With Melissa and Sarah in Gatlinburg, Tennessee for a dance competition this week, Samuel and I have been the only ones around the house. He was fighting a nasty head cold earlier this week and I have been trying to get ahead on some of my work tasks so that I won't have to work over our time in Scotland next week.

So we haven't really spent any time together this week. Heck, we really haven't just hung out since he returned home in May.

I was planning to work some more after dinner tonight, but then I grilled some hamburgers and Samuel suggested that we watch something while we ate. He wanted to introduce me to a show he thought was funny.

One episode turned into two. Then we started talking about music.

I recently switched my phone from a Samsung to iPhone and he's been eager to show me all the new capabilities at my fingertips.

Anyway, I found an old Scottish band called Runrig I was introduced to 35 years ago. We sat out on the back deck and listened to some Runrig on Apple Music and then I remembered another Scottish band I hadn't thought about in decades, The Battlefield Band, and I took Samuel down my memory lane with some of their songs, playing through his Bluetooth speaker.

We talked about how technology has changed so much - for better or worse. How my parents used to watch The Lawrence Welk Show religiously each week. (You can find hundreds of episodes now on YouTube!) How we had CBS, NBC, and ABC and people actually gathered around their TVs to watch their favorite shows. And how, if you missed it, you had to wait months for the reruns to air over the summer. 

During lulls in the conversation, we listened to the music and took turns throwing the dog's rubber bone toward the yard for her to fetch.

It was a truly pleasant evening together and worth every minute of whatever work I might have to make up tomorrow!