"Starin' At the Road, Prayin' to God I See Headlights..."

Life has been bustling on the Mountain these days! Hopefully Faith and Anna will keep our blog alive when I depart these shores (hills, whatever) but for now I will attempt to catch everybody up on Life out here in the sticks. (Because I know we have just such a huge following on here) :) 

#1: RACHEL IS ENGAGED!!! (To be precise, engaged to be married, even unto Graeme Wilson). April 8th was the happy day of giving and accepting proposals out there in Idaho, and the extended fam heard of it the following morning in a jubilant phone conversation in an overpacked 15-passenger, bound for Charlotte. WHICH LEADS ME to my next Current Event...

#2: Kate is successfully (prayerfully, lovingly) shipped off to Impfondo, Africa on the 9th, happily arriving two or three days later, and is now joyfully buckling down to work at the hospital with servant's love and God's good grace. Not to mention the fact that she blogs up a storm. We are SO PROUD of your communication skills! 

(Pictured below is the Transport Committee en route to Charlotte Airport, chillin' outside some gas station, lovin' us some rocking chairs and discussing certain members' lack of shoes and the mysterious light-reflectant building locked off from the proletariat by a spike strip... Turns out, after Andrew interviewed some local yokels, it was some Apple Computers headquarters.) 

#3: I'm sure there's probably stuff in between... Margaret's birthday, usually warm weather sending all and sundry into transports of glee, etc., HOWEVER... the news is that Anna, Faith, Aunt Molly and I ran the Spring Thaw 5k on April 20th! It was quite the sporting event, and incandescently cold! It was so cold that I, even I opted for waiting in the van until the race could begin (happily joined by my two fellow running buddies. Aunt Molly stuck it out with her friend Debbie Brown). The race was actually delayed due to ice on one of the bridges... this is real stuff, y'all. Anyway, we weathered the storm! Faith and I were the 2-Headed Running Monster, going for the gold. Our deal was that we would run together and keep each other pumped up until the very last stretch, and then it was every man for himself. As it happened, we clipped along nicely until we had practically reached the big silver/metal contraption the second half around (where all hearts melt with despair, knowing there's still so much more to go) and then Faith turns to me and asks, quite nicely, "Do you mind if I beat you at the end?" My response was a short: "You can try!" There was a moment of tenseness, then we both made eye contact again and busted up laughing. General camaraderie and competition was re-ignited when my next words were, "Let's get this chick up ahead." and we sprinted forward in twain to leave said babe in the dust. The last stretch was the best. Two chicks and a dude were ahead of us as we rounded the last corner into the last bridge, and Faith was starting to kick into higher realms of gears. I was keeping back a touch, holding in for the last bit, and getting pretty annoyed with this dude who kept cutting off my corners and physically blocking all progress. We passed one girl with not much trouble, and then turned into the last stretch (the dull sound of cheering in our ringing ears). This dude was totally blocking my corners and I was getting really angry, so I finally used all my energy against him and shot past in exceeding roth. Now there was just one babe ahead of us, and she was doing pretty good. I was furious at the idea of some random girl beating both Faith and I, and Faith was a trifle ahead, so I blurted out: "Get her, Faith! Get her!" Bad idea. The chick must've heard me because she shot forward. I heard Faith make some kind of moan/choking/growling noise and she shot forward right along with the girl. Suddenly I realized if I didn't kick into gear NOW, I wasn't gonna place at all. So then I shot forward, and we were all neck-n-neck all the way down the rest of the way. The crowds went wild. (Not really, but I like to imagine they did... I think I heard Anna yell once or twice.) Faith and I came in one-second betwinxt us, and I think the girl was either half-second ahead of me or half-second behind. Anyway, Faith got the silver and I got the bronze, and Anne Barbee got gold for our age-group, running a whopping 22 or something close (Anna ran a 24 and said that Anne was at least a minute or so ahead of her). So, it was a worthy competition, and afterwards we ate much Panera and shopped for shoes. :) 

#4: Grandfather Mtn!!! In celebration of the end of Tax Season (and the mere fact that entrance is 2 bob in the month of April) the John Barry family and a contingency of the MBs' "did" the Ladder Hike! We were expecting great winds but it was pretty easy-going. Three cheers for first-timers Esther, Silas and Lucy! (Esther would have so totally done it last year but she had a busted wrist at the time). Afterwards Uncle John treated everybody to ice cream and it was a great showing. Lori Bryan also joined us! She is super cool and fast becoming an adopted Barry (not unlike Julie Bostick and Kristen Pinkerton).

P.S. There were some brave souls among us who did "No Ladders" and even fewer brave souls who did "No Ladders & No Shoes". The "scaling the rock face" pictures are taken of those who opted for the No Ladders version on the last flight to the top. 

P.P.S. Those who opted for Ladders would like it clarified that we were not afraid of going No Ladders... we were looking out for the less-weathered types amongst us. 

P.P.P.S. The icicles and general glacier-like views in some pictures were taken on the Long Way back down the mountain, and may I say navigating around these parts was both exciting and hard on the nerves, and caused some of the more stable-minded amongst us to lose their marbles later on down the trail. (Ahem, Faith and Sarah... to be precise, mostly Faith.) 

Keep on rockin' in the free world! Longest post ever is officially at an end.