Last weekend I headed home, flying out on Friday morning, landing on Friday afternoon, spending a very short 48 hours on the ground and then flying back on Sunday afternoon, landing on Monday morning and then going straight to work after a shower. If I didn't see you while I was home, I apologise. I had a very strict Excel itinerary to stick to. Yes, I am that nerdy. Here are a few of the highlights:
1. Attending a rehearsal dinner for a wedding on Friday night and almost falling asleep during the main course (and head in steak). And cue leaving early.
2. Shopping with my mom and A on Saturday morning. Found pants for work!!!! I will no longer look like a bag lady after this Friday. I also found out that I've lost 13 pounds and I'm closing in on pre-starting work weight of 8 years ago. Woohoo!!
3. Mom went the extra mile and did 2 extra shops for me to find the same pants to purchase again. YEA!!!
4. Some success for A & A's wedding - mom has her dresses covered. I have one of mine that I will recycle from this wedding. Just need to find that green one.
5. Visited with T&D and saw baby A again. What a cutie! Miss them so much....it was nice to get a few hours together.
6. Raced to L's apartment to get ready for the wedding and pre-game with some Astros baseball and girl talk.
7. Wedding - one of the best weddings I have ever been to. Dancing started the moment reception began and wasn't over when I left around 1. So fun and such great people to catch up with.
8. A came over for lunch and then I flew out. Phew...what a weekend.
9. I learned that Benadryl (and a super crazy weekend) are my secret to sleeping on overnight flights. I popped one and fell asleep before we took off. I woke up about 5 hours in and waited in line for the loo, then fell back asleep instantly. It helped that I had an empty seat in the middle. I slept right through breakfast. Unfortunately, I looked like I had slept through the flight....I had my work clothes with me and was going to change at the airport and go straight through, but realised quite quickly that a shower was a necessity. I hate the fact that I needed to drug myself to sleep, but I felt pretty fantastic most of Monday. Maybe I was still on a high from the wedding or maybe it was the added bonus of clear sinuses. And for those that suggest Melatonin going forward - those things are like sugar pills to me. I have never slept on those.
That's about it from the Houston weekend. This weekend has been calm. I've been on a reading kick lately....a colleague at work suggested a book club and since then, I can't seem to put them down. I've read The Great Gatsby, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and The Dinner for the club....and we haven't even announced the first meeting. I've been trying to read all of the books I have on my iPad that I never got around to reading. I also discovered the American Book Centre here in the Hague, which has a great selection of the English books (and it's just cute).
This weekend did contain a bit of a bummer. My bike was stolen from out front of my flat. I was hoping maybe someone just borrowed it and would bring it back, but no such luck. I went down to 3 different bike stores again, but ended up going to the one I bought the original and got the same bike again. And this time, I got the insurance. Insurance apparently is not for fools. I also found out that a hail storm went through my neighborhood in Houston where I still have a house and apparently I need a new roof. So I'll be on the phone with insurance adjusters and roofers to get that taken care of. Yuck.
I saw The Great Gatsby this weekend. It was an interesting take on the book - I'm not sure I appreciated the use of pop music strewn throughout the score. The 1920s was rich with such great lyrics and rhythms that I don't understand why artistically they couldn't stay with the period. The costumes were incredible and I'm a sucker for Toby. It was extremely true to the book, which I enjoyed as well. Tom was just as swarmy as I imagined him.
Last but not least, today is Father's Day and definitely not the first I've been away. From all of the summers on the road in university and workcamps/mission trips in high school and post college during the summer, my post childhood years have been a steady string of dates not spent with dad. So in honor of Dad's day, I'll share some of my most favorite times with dear old dad:
1. During college, especially during the first year, my dad sent me a card almost every week, just because. Most of them were of the humorous nature, but some were just sweet with an encouraging word in them. All of them, without exception, made it up on my bulletin board and by the end of the semester, I would have to clear it off when I moved out for the next set of cards. It meant so much to me to know that he cared enough to pick something up every week, find a stamp and a post office and send a card telling me how much he loved me and was proud of me. To this day, when he knows I'm having a rough time or just because, I have an email from him with something funny or just a few words wishing me well. And he never forgets Valentine's Day. He wins the best "sweet" dad award. That doesn't sound very manly, but it's true.
2. Dad is unintentionally funny and has a great sense of humor about himself. He is super smart and generally uses common sense more than the average human. However, sometimes, even he falls victim to the occasional blip. Everyone has a first memory and mine is a silly incident in which one of these blips occurred. I was about 5ish (maybe 4), we had gone out on a bike ride. I was on the back of Dad's Schwin and Mom had a little A on the back of her bike. At the time, the neighborhood was still being built and there were construction sites everywhere. On these bike rides, it was our habit to take bags to pick up aluminum cans from the sites to recycle for change, which went into college funds. I learned a lot on these bike rides - i.e. how cool construction is, the importance of saving for college and working hard, how many cans a bag can hold before it starts to overflow and cans are strewn everywhere, etc. On this ride, Dad stopped at a site to pick up 2 beer cans. For some unknown reason, these cans were completely full and had not been opened. Dad didn't want to leave the cans, so he had a momentarily lapse in common sense and decided to open the cans right there and then. Apparently they had been shaken, not stirred for a good amount of time and had not settled. The can sprayed straight into his face and then he did what only any natural reaction would cause one to do, spray it away from oneself. In this incident, the direction happened to be at me, my mom and his 2 year old son. We were instantly covered in beer. It was the greatest bike ride I have ever had (Dutch bikes included). I'm so glad that my first memory is of laughing so hard I cried and seeing my mom do the same. Such a happy memory. And then getting hosed off in the yard because we smelled of stale Coors Light.
3. Any time fishing with my dad is a great time. Mostly because he does very little fishing and lots of untangling, baiting and taking fish off. It used to be that he did that for us kids as well as his own line. I learned in my older years that he spends a lot of time doing this for himself as well. It's not a good trip unless the reel creates a mess only Jesus can untangle.
Love you dad and I miss you!
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