So, in Albuquerque they gave me a rental car with Texas plates.
Let me get this straight…I am a New Mexican who lives in California driving a car with Texas plates?
There is a joke in there somewhere. I’ll need another margarita to figure it out.
Hit 115 visitors yesterday, a new record for my little blog that could!
Thanks to all the eyeballs that (who?) dropped on by! Much appreciated!
Today I embark on a journey back to New Mexico. We’ll see what sort of trouble I can get myself into!
And oh yes, there will be good eats. Of that there is NO doubt!
Man. Can’t believe we’re already into July. Of 2009. Wow.
Been a little quiet here on the blog-o-rama since I was out and about all weekend.
Big fun. Well worth it!
Sure, I thought I could never top last year’s holiday celebration, featuring the viewing of fireworks from a Cessna aeroplane.
But this year went ahead and topped it.
There were fireworks, but not like you think.
This year, The Good Man and I loaded up the car and went on a road trip.
Destination: LA
Reason? My amazing, world-class talented cousin wrote and produced a musical and chose this weekend for a family and friends weekend show.
Now, I had read an early version of the script, so I knew what to expect, but this show blew well past even my own expectations!
It was an amazing night, all around.
So there we were in West Hollywood…my cousin was wise and prescient enough to get us a limo (easy to corral a lot of family that way!).
We all got ourselves dolled up for the show and loaded up. Off we went, cruising the streets of Los Angeles.
So yeah, you know, on the Fourth, I got to emerge from a limo, in LA, on my way to this fabulous new show…
Cuz I roll like that.
Yes, I was able to keep my skirt down as I emerged. Yes, I was also wearing chones. I also roll like that.
No one needs to know that really, rather than “emerge” from the limo, my high heeled foot slipped off the step rail, thus whacking the side of my foot on the way down and causing me to actually tumble out of the limo.
But in my memory, when I retell the story, I emerged gracefully, like an elegant movie star from a bygone era.
It was just all around, an amazing weekend that went by way WAY too fast. I got to be with my cousin, one of my most favorite people in the whole world. I got to be with family, I got to see a killer show, I got to hit a couple Hollywood hot spots, and I got to have another amazing memory to make with my fabulous husband.
I can’t ask for anything better than all that!
And now, here we are at Monday.
This morning, there is a line for the auto-espresso maker.
The light of day in the real world is always a bit of a let down, now in’nit?
…that even if they make you mad, or you don’t see them for a while, or you don’t even know some of them, they are still yours. And they tell you a little about yourself.
I had the chance to take my still freshly minted husband to visit with the folks from my dad’s side of the family tree.
Unfortunately, my dad passed before The Good Man got the chance to meet him. TGM has heard all of my stories and I thought it was important for him to hear the stories that others had to tell.
I think you can learn to know a person by their stories.
This trip was also a lesson for me in asking for what you want.
I asked my aunts and uncles, surviving siblings of my father, to be willing to tell us stories about my dad.
They were only too happy to respond. And oh did they deliver.
The first day of my visit, my wish was not just fulfilled, my expectations were far exceeded.
Two aunts and two uncles, siblings of my dad, along with an aunt and an uncle by marriage, my mom, my husband and I all met for lunch.
Our orders were barely placed when the story telling began. Oh does my family love to tell a good story. My grandparents were real characters, like something out of fiction, and there is quite a bit of fodder there for stories.
I haven’t laughed that hard in a very, very long time. In fact, had I not been laughing, I probably would have cried my eyes out for all the gratitude I felt.
In two hours of lunch, I got a pretty deep glimpse into my dad’s life growing up. I didn’t know my dad’s side of the family that well since we were in New Mexico and they were in Indiana. Since my dad’s passing, I’ve been developing relationships with these folks and feel sad on the years I missed, but happy for the love and friendship and family bond I am earning as an adult.
I know a little bit more about my dad now. I know a little bit more about me, too.
And maybe the timing on this visit couldn’t have been more perfect now that I face the next decade of my crazy, mixed up, perfect life.
The funny thing about my family is…we may be a little strange, but the roots of our raisin’ run deep.
I wouldn’t have us any other way.
