Her Old Kentucky Home...

As most of you know, this past week was a sad time here in the Keil household as my brother Jeremy's girlfriend Libby passed away due to what was determined to be a clot in her pulmonary artery. It was also a "double whammy" as they found out the day before that she was also with child.  Her parents made the call for her to be buried in her home area so Jeremy and I went to Kentucky as we laid her body in her final resting place.  We arrived there Sunday evening and got back very early this morning about 12:40am.

Other than for the main purpose of the trip, Jeremy and I had a great time exploring the Bluegrass State.  First day we were there, we got to visit some sights that she liked to visit in Elizabethtown (or E-Town for short).  Tuesday, we went up to Louisville and looked at some old houses dating back as far as the 1890s (very well kept, I might add) and visited the Science Museum there.  Basically, while the family was getting arrangements made and waiting for Libby to be transported back to Kentucky (who knew death would have to be so bureaucratic!), we virtually stayed out of the way.  But they were very gracious to us, let us stay at their place and make ourselves at home, even the DirecTV.

A couple of little funny instances while we were there...

1.  First morning we were there, her dad Skeeter took Jeremy and I around, showed us their home church (more on that later) and took us to the lake where the family liked to fish and everything.  On the way to the lake there were deer on the side of the road.  They were just right there minding their own business, grazing along the shoulder, looking at us like "hey, what's up?"  

2.  This one I found kinda funny, being interested in radio and TV broadcasting...same morning, we were watching the CBS affiliate out of Louisville and I thought I heard and saw some familiar production elements that one might see on Channel 5 in Oklahoma City.  Come to find out, WLKY is owned by the same company as KOCO so not only are they sister stations but in a sense, they are a sister station to News 9 (CBS).

Anyway, the church that Libby and her family go to and grew up in is one of those old fashioned country churches...complete with cemetery next door, similar to Peace-Bessie only there's no fence around the cemetery.  The church was small, but there was no sound system and there were no musical instruments either.  The church may be a Baptist church, but they are Baptist in name only.  It leans more toward old-fashioned Pentecostal (similar to how we were raised, but not really).


 All-in-all, with the exception of the main purpose it was a very enjoyable experience in Kentucky.  I would have loved to do more sightseeing...and visit the Louisville Slugger factory and museum, but it was fun and one experience I would love to do again...only without having to bury someone. 

10 years later...

I don't mean to sound like I'm "Robbie Downer" (after all, my mom's name is Debbie)...but I haven't been getting into all the spirit of reflection on what happened 10 years ago tomorrow.  Much like right now, I had other thoughts going through my mind...the least of which was reacting to planes crashing into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and crashing in a field in Pennsylvania and the magnitude of it all.  It was later in the afternoon seeing of all people the late Peter Jennings on ESPN did I realize that it was big.

I was struggling with some issues of my own at that time...some may say I'm still struggling with them today but oh well.  Like I said, I don't mean to sound crass but Sept. 11, 2001 was just another day for me.  True, it affected me as an American, but I was dealing with other things in my life.  And I'll leave it at that...