Memphis v. 53

Memphis was a short, but memorable visit.  The best part was seeing our old neighbor and friend Brighid Wheeler.  We went to a very late dinner after being stopped on the highway for 3 hours due to an over turned truck that was blocking all lanes just ahead of us.  She graciously waited, and we had a great "catch up" for a couple of hours.  Other excitement included being the mobile bathroom for 4 kids, and Bob helping push a car that stalled in the middle of it all.

Hmmm..what else to visit in Memphis?  Graceland!  Any trip like this has to include it.  Becca's reaction? "Why?  The guy made a lot of money, made bad decisions, and killed himself with drugs".  I wondered what we were going to learn  and if her opinion would change at all after we visited.

Becca in Elvis' game room

His Momma's pink Cadillac

24k gold fixtures on his plane!

Some positives:
He wrote some huge checks to charities.
His benefit concerts included those for the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii, Elvis Presley Youth Center in Tupelo, and for tornado victims in Mississippi.
He purchased Franklin Roosevelt's yacht, and gave it to Danny Thomas to auction it off for St. Jude Hospital in Memphis.
He was vaccinated with the Salk polio vaccine just prior to appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show to publicize and support vaccination and the March of Dimes.
He liked joyriding in golf carts around his property.
He really loved his daughter, and liked to have his family around him.
He seemed to really want a normal family life, whatever that is, (when you have lots of money and lots of people around you who want it...).

Becca left feeling kind of sad for him, but happy that he was able to help others.  This of course, led to the "why" conversation about young "stars" who are exploited, pick up nasty addictions, fall off the moral cliff, etc.

So many lessons to learn on this trip...