I feel like I haven’t been home in weeks although I was home briefly between Chicago and Denver. Since I left I feel like I have realized that as much as I love friends and family in the valley I need to get out every now and then for perspectives sake. This morning I woke up at Jessica and Tyler’s house. We had breakfast and I headed downtown with Jessica for a coffee and a few errands before I head to the Austin/San Marcos area. It was over a week ago that I left for Denver.
A week ago I was heading to Denver for Rosary and Mass for my Uncle Nick who passed away a couple of weeks ago. I headed out a few days early so that I could visit with a few friends that live in the Denver area. I enjoyed my time with Tracy and Dottie. Tracy, Raj, Mikiah and I headed to the Botanical Gardens and had a wonderful few hours among all the flowers and trees. After that we headed to a place that served Chicago style pizza, which I thought was funny because I didn’t really even want that when I was in Chicago the previous week. I ordered something different. I did enjoy the micro-brewery beer I had… yum! Then that evening we headed to my aunts house for a little while then off to Dottie’s house for a bottle of wine and conversation. Dottie’s place was awesome, an old lodge that had been cut into amazing apartments. The place had hard wood floors, walnut stained molding and white paddle finished walls. The style was what I love, arches, large rooms and high ceilings. We headed home and had a little more conversation sitting outside Tracy’s place.
The next morning after we woke and took our time getting ourselves together I headed over to my Aunt Sherry’s house. Brianna, my cousin came to pick me up for lunch. She had both her children and my other cousinÂ’s, Katrina, kids. So the 7 of us piled in her truck and headed out to eat. After that I headed back to my Aunt’s house to get ready for the service. My uncle Nick has two children from a previous marriage, Nickey and Paul they are 25 and 29. they lost their mother when they were 5 and 9 and I could not help but feel their loss as well. The boys made a CD to be play at the Rosery, included on that disk were Teach the Children Well, Blackbird by the Beatles as well as Yesterday by the Beatles. Again I felt their loss and the permanence of death. I thought about my Uncles smile and how hard it must be for all his loved ones. After the second day of service we headed back to my aunts and prepared for a final dinner. I visited with my aunt and had a great conversation with her. I tried to offer her words of comfort but was at a loss when she said she missed his smell and how his hair felt. We all went to dinner that night and celebrated his life, we told stories, laughed, cried and appreciated family and togetherness. I made a toast to Uncle Nick, the eternal optimist, to believing in the dream and acknowledging the reality.
On the 10th I left for the airport only to find that the terrorist threat level had been raised and I could not have any liquids/gels in my bags. I had tsomeive up soe of my favorite lip glosses and other make-up products… bummer, I made it back to Harlingen, headed to my house for an hour and hopped in my car and drove to San Antonio. It was there I met up with Monique and Katie had a great evening, laughed at old photos and hit the sack.
The next morning I drove to Dallas, picked up Jenny, my doubles partner, and played 3 days of tennis for USTA sectionals. At night we had dinner at my Aunts and I was able to once again meet Katie's boyfriend Bobby, who I had not seen since he was in High School. We had an awesome time, laughing, drinking, eating and laughing some more.
So here I sit in Dallas, waiting for one last place to open before I hit the road to Austin. I am off to see Josh, plan a trip to Florida for Widespread Panic and have dinner with Jodi and Tom. I will stay at their place tonight. The Winfield Inn in Kyle, a beautiful B&B sitting on 10+ of the most beautiful hill country acres surrounded by huge oak trees. Tuesday morning I will finally head home. I am ready to sleep in my bed and settle into a routine.
