MY Trip to Houston

Tuesday, I told y'all about Tipper Sharpton's trip to Houston. Today I'll tell y'all what I did.

Absolutely nuthin'. My Big Brother did everything for me. He cooked a WONDERFUL Birthday Lunch for his older daughter, Katy, on Sunday and we all gathered around and ate ourselves silly. Monday, Doug's off work, so we just hung out and visited some more. He cooked pork chops on the grill, baked some taters, and we had the last of the baked beans from the day before for lunch, so I was full as a bed tick, again.

He made the ultimate sacrifice Monday night. He gave up Monday Night Football to let me watch "The Closer" and "Saving Grace". It wasn't quite as terrible as you might think. He had been watchin' "The Closer" anyway and that night's episode was the season finale. But, he had watched half of one Grace episode, didn't watch it and never went back for a second helpin'. I think he's hooked after watchin' it with me. I explained the back story on all the characters, and explaining how they were all interconnected. Of course he was switchin' over to keep an eye on MNF during the commercials, but that was cool, he always came back to the GOOD stuff in time.

He hadn't told my nieces I was comin' down for a visit, so they were surprised to see me. Katy, the b'day girl, got there first, with her boyfriend, Eric. As she clears the entry hall, she still can't see me, and asks, "Who's drivin' that Sebring in the driveway?" I stand up, answering her question with a snarky, "That would be ME!" She squeals out my name and by that time we were in each other's arms, huggin' for all we're worth. She introduces me to Eric. We sit down and start a gabfest. Turns out, she was gonna call me this week and come up to see me and my kiddos this weekend so I could meet Eric. I saved her a trip.

About 20 minutes later, little Sis, Kelly, comes in demanding, "Who's that parked in my space behind Dad?" Again I stood up and went to hug my niece with my mouth moving, "I guess you're referring to my Silver Bullet." SHE squealed and hugged me. We all had a wonderful visit. Kelly is doin' so good in her Dental Hygienist classes. Her lowest grade has been a 97!
Of course being from the same family, we all have the same speech habits, so it's jump right in or forget about gettin' a word in edgewise. Poor Eric. I'd wait until Katy was occupied with her Daddy or Sister, and I'd try to bring him out some. He's a nice fella, once you give him a chance to talk. He graduated from TCU, which a niece from the other side of my fam calls Technically Christian University. He and Katy almost share a b'day. They both have younger sibs of the same gender.
Katy is a teacher at a Title I elementary school. Dahm! The girl is made of Strong Stuff. This is her fifth year at a Title I. She's thinking of going to a more affluent school next year. I certainly hope she does. This year's school is a brand new one and they don't even have BOOKS...in a Language Arts class! Last year, she was the only teacher in her school who had every student pass the TAKS test. Don't you think you'd want a teacher that sharp and dedicated teachin' YOUR Child?

Monday, I met GBro for lunch. He indulged me by meeting me at a Sonic so that Tipper could see me from the car. I always hate to go off and leave my dog in the car, even if it's parked in the shade, if they can't see me. When I come back to the car, they act like I've abandoned them. We hadn't seen each other since my wedding, so it was nice to lay eyes on him. It's always reassuring when old [not old, but friends of long standing] friends haven't changed. I gave him warm greetings from home, and snarky greeting from Doug.
Back when we were in High School, Doug had been working on a crossword puzzle all morning and into the afternoon one Sunday. George came over and as we were walking through the room, Doug said the clue out loud. G, without stopping, without slowing down, just blurted out the answer.
Doug got so angry. He had worked so hard on that puzzle. Then G solves, what to Doug had been an extremely difficult clue, off the top of his head. I was used to it. That was just something G did. He was and is one of the smartest, best educated, best read people I have known. Now, as adults, we all laugh about it. But at the time...

All in all, I haven't been that relaxed since I visited Flo back at the beginning of July. It was just what I needed.