The Rest of the Trip (probably longer)
Sunday - Parker Family day. I met MH and Jim at Dad's house. On the way I saw that B&N was having a 50% off clearance sale. Made a mental note and went on.
Dad is as well as can be expected for an 87yo man. With his bypass surgery, his heart won't poop out any time soon. His body, otherwise, is showing signs of wear. His ratio of lucid to non-lucid times is shifting the other side. I found out he may have cataract surgery soon.
We went over to Caro's for lunch. Seems Dad sends his attendants there quite frequently, too. I still LOVE the tostados, the puffy everything they serve.
Note to John Day (which I'll post to his FB page): I bought a jar of the Puffy Taco Daddy's Salsa Verde. It had better not suck!
Back to Dad's to drop him off. Jim was pulling in front of my rental car (I get paranoid enough at this point), but Jim was pulling in front of it. He was showing off the fancy rear view camera the van has. He pulled within a hair's breadth to my front bumper. I had to put my head between my knees to recover from that!
Lucy and her girls met us over at B&N for The Sale. The Girl had asked for a souvenir from Texas, so what will I bring her? Fifty Percent off Clearance priced Dragonfly embellishments. The boys will get a new Star Wars books. I also picked up a Tennyson's Story of Arthur. I haven't read Le Morte d'Artur, so why not?
Shirlee had to drag me away from the clearance tables. But there some over there we haven't see. Come on, Aunt Susy. She took a most imperious tone with me.
A note to MH: I really love you. You are able to tell someone to "go to hell" in such a way that they're willing to buy a Longabarger basket to ride in.
The story: I had picked up a knitting kit from one of the tables. It rung up, however, as full price. The cashier explained that it must not be on sale. I reassured her it came from one of the tables. (I am not one to lie to get a deal. I would have put it back.) But MH says ever so sweetly over my shoulder, "Would you like us to bring the others ones up so that you won't have to deal with the issue with someone else?"
I got my discount.
Then we headed over to visit Reba Jo, Dad's girlfriend. Hm, when you get past the three-quarter century mark, does boy/girl really apply? Anyway, RJ is 90+ and she is a rock. Yeah, she says "yeah" a lot, but she is still quite lucid. We had a lovely visit, lemonade and ice cream for the girls and photo opportunities for all.
MH and Jim headed back to Austin. Lucy, the girls and I went to a movie (G-Force) and Starbuck's. (I introduced Shirlee to my infamous crackly wrist bump. She climbed up on my chair arm and went to town.) I was glad I only paid $7 to have a nice chair to fall asleep in. It had nothing to do with the quality of movie, I just crashed. Thankfully, I didn't snore. My cell phone went off and that woke me up.
We met up with Eugene to hear him play with his brother, Rick, at the Italian Inn. It was lovely to see his sister Lillian and her husband.
What stikes me as so important and is probably a big ol' DUH for everyone else is the familiarity and permanent level of intimacy family friends have. I haven't seen these folks (or John Day for that matter) for some years. But their generosity of heart is constant. I was able to ask Lillian about things and she was so open and sharing. To have that sort of a connection that hasn't been severed by time is amazing and I treasure it.
Of course, we had a great time. So much conversation and comeraderie. Tink and her family showed up as did Brian and his friend, MLS and her friend. I even met some of Rick's family. The music was good and full of humor. The food was great, but next time I won't have pasta (at an Italian restaurant, Susy?)
So today I lunched with Donna Shriner Kruse. She is another one with whom I share history, but remain connected. Sure we have a few years to cover in conversation, but the intimacy remains.
I tried to spend money at the yarn shop - closed on Monday. I tried to take in some "culcha" at the Kimball - clossed on Monday. I walked the grounds a little. Saw two guys being all athletic. One of them did the Donald O'Conner run up the wall and flip over bit. I commented, "Very nice, but then it's always nice when you don't crack your head open." As a side note, seeing that move up close - whoa, it is amazing.
Drove home, stopped by the Sunflower Shoppe and bought probably more food than I would want to carry home, but I really don't want to go out to dinner or lunch. And now it seems I will be at the airport for longer than I want because the hotel won't let me check out any later.
I have learned that I am best when I am myself. It's the other guy's choice to grok it or not.
Now I gotta down a gallon of water so I don't have to leave it here.
Dad is as well as can be expected for an 87yo man. With his bypass surgery, his heart won't poop out any time soon. His body, otherwise, is showing signs of wear. His ratio of lucid to non-lucid times is shifting the other side. I found out he may have cataract surgery soon.
We went over to Caro's for lunch. Seems Dad sends his attendants there quite frequently, too. I still LOVE the tostados, the puffy everything they serve.
Note to John Day (which I'll post to his FB page): I bought a jar of the Puffy Taco Daddy's Salsa Verde. It had better not suck!
Back to Dad's to drop him off. Jim was pulling in front of my rental car (I get paranoid enough at this point), but Jim was pulling in front of it. He was showing off the fancy rear view camera the van has. He pulled within a hair's breadth to my front bumper. I had to put my head between my knees to recover from that!
Lucy and her girls met us over at B&N for The Sale. The Girl had asked for a souvenir from Texas, so what will I bring her? Fifty Percent off Clearance priced Dragonfly embellishments. The boys will get a new Star Wars books. I also picked up a Tennyson's Story of Arthur. I haven't read Le Morte d'Artur, so why not?
Shirlee had to drag me away from the clearance tables. But there some over there we haven't see. Come on, Aunt Susy. She took a most imperious tone with me.
A note to MH: I really love you. You are able to tell someone to "go to hell" in such a way that they're willing to buy a Longabarger basket to ride in.
The story: I had picked up a knitting kit from one of the tables. It rung up, however, as full price. The cashier explained that it must not be on sale. I reassured her it came from one of the tables. (I am not one to lie to get a deal. I would have put it back.) But MH says ever so sweetly over my shoulder, "Would you like us to bring the others ones up so that you won't have to deal with the issue with someone else?"
I got my discount.
Then we headed over to visit Reba Jo, Dad's girlfriend. Hm, when you get past the three-quarter century mark, does boy/girl really apply? Anyway, RJ is 90+ and she is a rock. Yeah, she says "yeah" a lot, but she is still quite lucid. We had a lovely visit, lemonade and ice cream for the girls and photo opportunities for all.
MH and Jim headed back to Austin. Lucy, the girls and I went to a movie (G-Force) and Starbuck's. (I introduced Shirlee to my infamous crackly wrist bump. She climbed up on my chair arm and went to town.) I was glad I only paid $7 to have a nice chair to fall asleep in. It had nothing to do with the quality of movie, I just crashed. Thankfully, I didn't snore. My cell phone went off and that woke me up.
We met up with Eugene to hear him play with his brother, Rick, at the Italian Inn. It was lovely to see his sister Lillian and her husband.
What stikes me as so important and is probably a big ol' DUH for everyone else is the familiarity and permanent level of intimacy family friends have. I haven't seen these folks (or John Day for that matter) for some years. But their generosity of heart is constant. I was able to ask Lillian about things and she was so open and sharing. To have that sort of a connection that hasn't been severed by time is amazing and I treasure it.
Of course, we had a great time. So much conversation and comeraderie. Tink and her family showed up as did Brian and his friend, MLS and her friend. I even met some of Rick's family. The music was good and full of humor. The food was great, but next time I won't have pasta (at an Italian restaurant, Susy?)
So today I lunched with Donna Shriner Kruse. She is another one with whom I share history, but remain connected. Sure we have a few years to cover in conversation, but the intimacy remains.
I tried to spend money at the yarn shop - closed on Monday. I tried to take in some "culcha" at the Kimball - clossed on Monday. I walked the grounds a little. Saw two guys being all athletic. One of them did the Donald O'Conner run up the wall and flip over bit. I commented, "Very nice, but then it's always nice when you don't crack your head open." As a side note, seeing that move up close - whoa, it is amazing.
Drove home, stopped by the Sunflower Shoppe and bought probably more food than I would want to carry home, but I really don't want to go out to dinner or lunch. And now it seems I will be at the airport for longer than I want because the hotel won't let me check out any later.
I have learned that I am best when I am myself. It's the other guy's choice to grok it or not.
Now I gotta down a gallon of water so I don't have to leave it here.