I figure I should post.

Texas leaves me a little unmotivated lately. As does the nasty summertime cold that has me drowing in my own snot. Two of my New York friends have both commented that I was never sick in New York but somehow, in the month that I have been home I have contracted both a nasty tummy virus and now a nasty cold. I am certain the universe is trying to tell me something.

The week long family vacation in Las Vegas was mostly fabulous. The wedding went beautifully and I now have a new sister-in-law, not just a brother's baby momma, to hang out with. My brother cried through the whole ceremony. Big , man sized tears of emotion--that's one of the many reasons I love that guy, he's the emotional one. We saw tigers and lions and dolphins and played carnival games and ate until I thought my stomach would explode. I did not, however, have one of those moments that you hear people talk about when they come home from Vegas vacations. Ones that include too much liquor and an obscene amount of skin and canoodling. There is only so much partying a single twenty-something can do when anchored by her mother, a three year old niece and two brothers. Next time I do Vegas it will be with party girls who will encourage me to drink too much and make the kind of memories most girls cover in college. I'm a late bloomer, what can I say.

That's all for now I suppose. I'm going to take another shot of Nyquil, you know, to make up for all of the shots I didn't take in Vegas.

Flashback, circa 1999
The summer after my freshman year of college was one of the best summers of my life. Taking into account that my life, more specifically my social life, had not been such an exciting one until I went to college anyway, this shouldn't be too much of a surprise. The thing about me is that I went through high school as one of the "popular kids." I was a cheerleader you see, and in Texas that's about as close to celebrity as a small town girl can get. Everyone knew my name and I made good grades and played sports and spoke my mind in a constructive way and made everyone feel comfortable. I had friends who were jocks, theater kids and even alternateens. I was an equal opportunity friend, but I was boring. I didn't drink or smoke pot which meant that even though everyone knew me, no one hung out with me. I spent weekend nights at home alone and only heard about the parties on Monday morning.

When I went away to college I fell victim to the freedom and free beer like most freshman, a trait I held onto through the summer of 1999. Which was about the same time I rekindled a friendship with a group of girls whom I had known since we were roughly six years old. We had always been friends but that summer we all re-connected and spent every minute together. We had parties at people's houses while their parents were away, drinking White Russians by the pool and laying out on the trampoline looking at the stars talking about our dreams. We danced all night and took long walks in the dark. We made out with gay boys, for practice, and sat baking by the water certain things woud never be better.

This past Saturday night I met up with those old friends again. Being back in Texas is like slipping into your favorite hoodie, all warm and soft and full of memories, and meeting up again with these amazing women comes with that same kind of ease that is always comforting. Anytime we get together it's like nothing has changed, we haven't skipped a beat. And even though one of the women is married now, another one of them is almost there, and the last is much like myself and still searching, things fall into place with ease. We ended up in Walburg, Texas, about a fifteen minute drive through some winding country roads, at place that sold two dollar beers. We sat outside and listened to the country cover band and inevitabley ran into old friends, locals who have remained in and around the town in which we grew up. After the party ended we headed to the swimming pool in the back yard of one of the friends boyfriend's house since his parents were out of town. We went for a midnight swim and sipped on Honey Brown Ale. It was like time slowed down for a bit and we were all nineteen again and we laughed and reminisced and it all felt so familiar. Some summer memories are just as good the second time around.


The summer of '99 girls, all grown up

How it all comes flying back
I went away this weekend with my mom and my aunt and uncle to the grand opening of some crazy country casino in Louisiana. My mom considered it a warm up for our Las Vegas wedding/vacation in a couple of weeks, I considered it another reason to nap in the car and laugh at the people willing to spend runs of money for a single chance at riches. The weekend went well and I had managed to stay awake for the first leg of the return car trip. We made a pit stop at a gas station somewhere on the outskirts of Houston to refill and stock up on sugar for the rest of the way. Inside, my uncle pointed out some fancy cigarette lighters and made the joke that my mom buy one since it was child proof and now that I was back home it was warranted. We all laughed a little giggle and everyone else walked out while I paid for my snowballs and milk. Now you see, I have never been the most gracefully of people but aside from the occasional trip over my own feet, I have managed to gather a few shreds of gracefulness over the last few years. I never caused a huge scene in New York, just an occasional stare and that, you see, is progress. But apparently, I am hopeless on Texas soil. Just as I was returning the impossible to light lighter back to it's stand, I accidentally knocked over the entire display and stood there with my mouth open as they flew all over the floor. The two cashiers just looked at me as if to say, "That grown ass woman just knocked over an entire display of lighters in the middle of God and everybody, she should be shot!" And though their eyes said that what they managed to say instead was "Well, you're kinda like a bull in a china shop aren't you?" Yup, I kind of am. But at least this bull is kind enough to pick up all of the lighters and put them back in their color coded stand before walking out of the convenience store with her head hung down in shame.

Well, I made it. All in one piece and only slightly drowsy from the trip. I have been sleeping off New York for the past few days trying to adjust my body back to the slower pace of life in Texas. After spending a lifetime packing up boxes to ship here I am now unpacking those boxes trying to justify whether or not I really need all of this stuff. So far I have managed to eat really good mama food and go shopping at the Wal-Mart twice picking up such gems as Paula Abdul's Greatest Hits video collection on DVD. It was ony $5.50 and the video for Rush, Rush was worth the cost alone.

Thank goodness for all of the rest I am getting because I feel like I just hit the ground running. I have a weekend of commitments already mapped out and my spare time is being dedicated to organizing a wedding that shall take place in only three weeks. It's all still a little unreal but the funny thing is, I don't miss New York yet. I know it's only been a few days but I thought that it might feel like a huge chunk of me was missing the minute I stepped off of the plane and the move became real, but so far it just feels really good to be home. Of course we will re-evaluate that feeling in a few weeks when I am sitting at home bored to bits and thinking, I could so be at the theater right now!