Wow! We were out of town for the 4th of July weekend. I was really looking forward to a break from the daily routine and got that and more. We had an incredibly early wake-up on Thursday (3:30am) to get a 5:30 flight to Houston followed by a run to the 7am flight to Austin. I'd been feeling poorly all week (achy, nauseous, etc.) and Thursday was no different, so it was a rather painful trip. BUT, thankfully we were able to check into our hotel room at about 9am and I (the girl who never naps) actually lay down for 2 hours. After that we headed to visit with a friend of mine. Amy and her husband lived in the Lakeview area of New Orleans until Katrina resulted in 12 feet of water in their house. After a short stint in Houston they decided to move to Austin and start over. Ironically, Jim is again working for Shell from his home (driving to Houston 2 days a week), this time as a contract employee. It was so nice to visit with them. Amy and I had a good connection here and you all know how rare it is to find people that "get" you. The girls and I spent the afternoon with them swimming/wading at a creek near their house and then swimming in the pool. Tom, meanwhile, lunched with two of his distant cousins that he's met through his genealogy research. He met us at the house for a bit more swimming and then we headed back to the hotel where he and Abby took a rest (Maggie, like me, isn't a big napper). We met up again with my friends for dinner and called it a fairly early night at about 9:30.
Friday we SLEPT IN. I woke up to find the time to be 10:04am. I had permission to wake Maggie at 11 which I did and then we headed to Fuddrucker's where my family had brunch. We then headed to Innerspace Caverns to explore. The girls had never been to a cavern before. I'd only been to one before. We all had a good time -- for me one of the most interesting parts was where the ceiling was fomed by coral rock from the time when there was an underground sea. WOW! Dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse and back to the hotel.
Saturday we got up relatively early, breakfasted at the hotel, and set out for Ingram, TX, the site of the main purpose for our trip. One of Tom's passions is genealogy and he organized a reunion in Ingram of many (about 50, I suppose) of his cousins and their families. He hadn't met most of the people we met. Now, those of you who know me know that I'm not particularly fond of crowds of people I don't know well, making small talk. But I had a good time. Tom's two brothers, their daughters, and his dad all came, so there WERE people I know in attnedance, but everyone was friendly and interesting. No boredom from me, that's for certain. People had pictures, documents, and stories to share and it was fun to hear their stories. Tom especially appreciated the day -- seeing the joy in his eyes at meeting all these people, feeling a common bond with them, made any minor discomfort I felt meaningless. When you love someone, seeing such joy in their eyes and being able to participate in it in some small way is certainly a blessing to not take for granted!
This morning we had (thankfully!) later flights. The only complication was a QUICK transfer in Houston (30 minutes to change concourses in a HUGE airport). Tom and Abby took the lead (he as the leader, she as the pace-setter with the shortest stride), Maggie followed, and I trailed at the end to make sure everyone got there. We got to the gate for the second flight in plenty of time, but were still the last ones on the plane (there was still about 15 minutes until departure). They greeted us by name (knowing we were the only people missing!). So we got on the plane and waited -- it took until we arrived in New Orleans for me to realize that we were waiting for our luggage to be transferred to the flight. Took off on time, arrived home on time, luggage took a while, drive home was painless. 3 loads of laundry and down for the count!
Tomorrow we go back to normal activity, but this break was definitely a blessing for me! Hope you all had wonderful 4th's, wherever you were!
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