What a sad, emotional, wonderful, fun weekend I just had. A man who was very influential in my life, and the lives of so many people, died last week. He had been my Sunday school teacher and church youth leader, and he and his wife were great friends with Momma & Daddy. Mr. Brooks was just such a special man. As Andy said, luckily we never needed a second father, but if we had, Mr. Brooks would’ve been it. He & Mrs. Brooks lived in Virginia now, but the service was back in Murfreesboro, so early Friday morning Meg & I set out to drive over. We got to town in time to have lunch before the memorial service at Trinity, & then headed on over there. It was wonderful to see the family, of course – their kids were our ages, and some we hadn’t seen since 1980, when the youngest married – and other old friends that we see so seldom any more. When we left the cemetery I went with Andy & Amy, where I was staying for the weekend, and Meg went to do her visiting. Our first stop was this killer Mexican restaurant. Everything was so delicious, and of course the company was over the top. We had a real Murfreesboro weekend – saw and did so many great things – and this was just an amazing way to kick things off. I’m not sure when I’ll be back there, but eating at this place will definitely be on my agenda!