late turkey post

Lo siento for the absence. Been busy not using my brain.

We are back in Durango after a much anticipated week off.  It’s currently my planning period, and I dragged a chair over to a sun-drenched spot of the hallway to try to thaw out. It's warm here during the days, but it still gets into the 40's and 50's at night, and the buildings get really cold. So every spare moment I find, I grab some sunshine.


We left last Saturday, the 23rd and had a fairly quick travel day, for once. There were a few little mishaps, but everything turned out in our favor. I got super lucky, several times. For some reason, in Durango, they didn't check our bags all the way through to Dallas, because they said I didn't have permission to leave the country (wtf?), so I had to recheck them in Mexico City. Thankfully, they were wrong, but because I had to wait for my bags and recheck them, I was going to miss my flight.  Just as I was beginning to panic, a kindly, wrinkled gentleman grabbed my bags and hurried us to where we needed to go, printed out our boarding passes and then led us to the beginning of the line. I tipped him well, but not enough, because the man was priceless. And then, as we were boarding, I saw my Texas driver's license just sitting at the check-in stand, partying solo.  I have no idea how I lost it in the airport as I didn't even have to use it because we have our passports and resident cards. In a fairly shocked voice, I said, "Hey, that's mine!" and the airline agent replied, "Hey, take it!" Thankful.


Caden spent the whole week with Cory, in Forth Worth, and I was with Matt and his buddy, Frenchie, in Oklahoma for the end of their tour, and then in Arkansas, for Thanksgiving at Matt’s aunt Cheri’s house. She was a wonderful host and greeted us with hugs, presents, and wine for the frenchman and me. So. Much. Wine. Matt cooked the turkey and I think we were all pleasantly shocked surprised that it turned out as well as it did. I cooked everything else and but didn’t really manage to get many pictures to post.  Everything else, you ask? Five cheese mashed potatoes that are now a new favorite. Cornbread casserole. Cheesy broccoli and rice casserole. Rolls. A chocolate pie. You know. Good shit.

Sweetest woman ever with
the sweetest Elvis, ever

 It was a long and interesting road trip. Picture enough music and sound equipment for two people. Then picture three people, each with clothes and toiletries for a week. Now picture all of that stuffed into a golf cart.  Yeah.

The trip involved two pull-overs, but only one resulted in a ticket. Several casinos, shady road stops, hotels and lots of coffee.

The week was too short and I can’t say that I was ready to come back, but we did.  (With an entire suitcase stuffed with books for my kiddos!) I didn’t really get to hang much with my family and friends during this visit, other than the Saturday night when I got into town, when Brinda and Jerry and Stefani and Chris met up with us. That was a wonderful night, dripping in good music, belly laughs, and good company. I miss my friends.

I always have a book with me. Even at a bar.
Frenchie found this amusing.

There were several of you who I really hate that I missed, but I’ll be back in three weeks. This time we are flying into Houston and I’ll be around for two weeks, so if I missed you this time, email me or better yet, download the whatsapp app, and we’ll figure something out. I will more than likely have the use of my car and will be back and forth between Dallas and Houston. No real plans yet, other than Christmas Eve at my folk's. My brother will be in from Afghanistan with his family, so it should be a full house.

I can't forget to mention that Caden got to go back to Venus last week. He said that seeing our old house made him sad, but what made it better was that he got to spend the night with his best friend, Adam. He spent the rest of the week with Tanner and his beloved Mama (Jolene.) He had a blast. He was a trooper, getting on the plane Saturday morning. He managed to keep it together until the
plane took off, and then he crawled into my lap and cried his little self to sleep. I’m so torn. I want to make his life as happy as possible, and he is happy, for the most part, when he is here, but he isn’t shy about his loyalty and yearning to be back in Texas. I told him, though, that even when we are done here, it doesn’t necessarily mean we are going back to Texas. I'm actually resubmitting all my stuff back to the University of Washington today for early consideration for my master's program.  I didn’t get to visit Seattle/ Port Angeles this past summer and it’s starting to make me edgy. Time for a visit.
And maybe another tattoo.
Or two.