Today was a pretty long day. It started a few days ago, I was at work, Wife was trying to enjoy her afternoon tacos sitting around my folks as she does because she lives with them during the week. I believe there might have been a little white wine flowing, but (I didn't know the instigating part until I was down here, that is Wife was casually mentioning that "oh yeah, I tell Mando I could bring him down any weekend for the day but he doesn't want to) that turned into a nasty text which left me confused. My mom told Wife to tell me that if and when my dad comes back with bad news from the doctor, I will not be told because I apparently don't care. At the time, I am in my lab at work, trying to get samples going on the analysis tool, and trying to prep samples in the acid hoods, so drama is not what I want to hear. I texted my mom directly, and just to avoid any new animosity, I suggest I will head down Friday morning, even if in my head I think it is abuse on Wife, since I haven't been driving long distances, which apparently Wife doesn't mind the driving back and forth, according to her big mouth making me sound like I don't want to visit.
Thursday night came around, Wife was in Austin, I got home around midnight, for lunch. She was going to bed, so she could get up in the morning to drive us back to Crystal. I got out Friday morning around 7:20am, went home, pooped and showered. By the time I gathered some clothes and Wife and Javalina were up and ready, it was almost 9:00am. We made a pit stop at the bank, we finally got the huge rebate for the solar panels we installed in our house. At least for a day or two, our bank account looks like it is owned by some "high rollers", as my brother would say. We were then ready to get on the highway. We chit chatted but I eventually fell asleep on the other side of San Antonio.
I woke up and voila, we are in Crystal City, my dad was at the house, my mom had gone to run some errands. Believe me, I don't hate being in Crystal, I hate the idea of leaving my comfort zone. My mom and everybody else says I just don't like visiting them and the "my shit don't stink" and whatever else to take jabs at me for not liking the small town life. I would probably eat a bullet if I lived like this from day to day, but once I am here, I don't mind enjoying a day or two doing nothing.
As it turns out, they were expanding the roof of their carport to make it longer, so their two new cars would fit under there, so we sat outside while the neighborhood "chore guy" took care of putting up the felt and then the aluminum coating in probably 105 degree weather. It was easily the longest I have been outside this summer, sitting in the shade, it was still warm-ish. I really loved that my uncle, my dad's oldest living brother (who I did the several summers of roofing and building a house with) came over. I suck at making my way around and visiting people, and they never come over, my mom said it was the first time in like fifteen years, but they were on the hunt for figs, which my mom has a tree/bush that has yielded hundreds, but it is past their due date. He looks good for a man of 75, but he is sick and refusing treatment, so that tells me it is just a matter of time. My dad is 70 but looks a lot better than his older brother.
Maybe I was guilted into coming down, but I am glad that I did. I was stressed a bit when we arrived, my folks were all "we are going to treat you at the new restaurant of your cousin, which is supposed to be a fairly nice place, but then nobody wanted to get dressed, and my mom changed the idea to just run and get tacos from a little dive place that has pretty good food. I much prefer to be home when I am home, I probably napped for fifteen minutes while my mom went to get the food, but I got up to eat. It was very nice and pleasant other than arguing with my sister, who doesn't want to converse to learn facts. She comes loaded with an agenda and she is going to stick to her bullet points and fight from that position, even if it doesn't make sense.
Still, I couldn't ask for a better visit. My mom was happy we came, my dad looks good, he has gotten past a nasty cough, which they all seem nasty because the old Knucklehead will not quit smoking. I saw my brothers who are both generally ok, I did invite my younger brother back to Austin, if he has trouble finding work, I just want him to live a better quality of life, not just stuck listening to all the stuff from the fringe right which won't make anybody happier. My sister showed up late with her hubby, but a little sister goes a long way, she's like a Jalapeno pepper in a burger, she will dominate the flavor profile. My aunt hung out for a few hours which was nice, and of course the chance encounter with my uncle who I did want to see. It was a pretty loaded visit, but by 10:00pm I could barely keep my eyes open while hearing Wife yammer on and on with my aunt about who knows what.
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