Just Visiting

I was back in Midland this past weekend. Before I went, and partially the reason I went was, one night while talking to my Mom on the phone she mentioned that my Dad said "wasn't it time for Gabe to visit?" Now, my Dad and I get along more now than we have in the past, but for anyone who might have read the old blog you would know we've had issues. Those issues include him wanting me to be a cowboy, listen to only Country and Western music, and wear Wranglers. Not exactly in that order, but close. Thankfully he never wanted me to be a Republican, because he's not, and seriously that has made my entire life a much, much easier journey. Whatever jokes the universe plays on us, collectively and individually, that was not one of them.

Anyhow, so I know all the family misses me even though it's been a short period of time, and I decided to visit for a bit, and it was good because I got to see the kiddos and spend a lot of time with them. We had a good time, doing nothing really, but talking, coloring, oh yeah and I drew my sister a rough draft for a house plan, and here's hoping her husband, who I won't talk about much at all because there's definitely nothing glowing to report in that history, gets it built for her. I told my Mom if I could win just enough money in the lottery for my sister a house, that would be perfection.

After the visit I drove back on Sunday, this time with David in tow, luring him to Austin and eventually Keith will follow (most likely sooner than he thinks, because I have a feeling when he sees the size of this apartment, and the totality of Austin once again, he'll want it to be sooner).

Of course, I didn't Svengali him. Everyone I know wants to move to Austin now, I think even my Mom wants to move to Austin! I also have to get Amy here eventually. Who can blame them. For me Austin combines all the best of Texas hospitality with almost all the best that LA had to offer (and there was some "bests" it offered) including a bunch of Obama voting bleeding heart liberals. There's no beach and ocean, and I do love that still, but, driving backhere, and passing Lake Buchanan, I got almost the same feeling, so apparently it's a large body of water thing for me. That's not even to mention Lake Travis, also nearby.

But the large body of water thing's not in the cards too soon--it's about 54 degrees now, as a cold front blew in on Sunday night. Supposedly there's a warming trend for the next few days though. Funny--I thought today that it was like LA with the chill this morning, if it were raining, in that odd inversion of expectation vs. reality.

Yesterday was also chilly, though not quite as bad. I took David around the Northwest Austin area, so he could get an idea of the everything surrounding my location. Of course (why do you even ask) I took him to the Church of IKEA. I needed to pick up some things for my Mom and sister, and of course found some other stuff for me. The best thing regarding my religious affiliation with IKEA is that David has a truck right now, so I can plan excursions that involve larger truckbed sized purchases, thus I made a mental note of the items I might need as I passed them yesterday (as if I haven't had a mental inventory already going). Saves the IKEA delivery charge.

I'm also happy to have a solid friend in Austin now, as David will make me cast off my shell, at least sometimes. I jokingly (or maybe not) told him that he and Keith cannot move into my complex or Northwest Austin, and that, indeed, I had already made plans for them to move to South Congress for us to be strategically located. In this way, when they want to come shop in the retail heaven that is my area, they can stay here after an exhausting day of shopping. And when I want to go downtown, I can stay with them on South Congress, and just take a taxi to and fro, not worrying about having to park my car.

Yes, I have it all planned.