Last week we went out of town for several days. We ended up having to change our travel plans almost last minute and rearrange the order of where we were going and when. Overall the changes worked out for the best.

As with all road trips, there were frustrations and surprises. It started out less than stellar. About two hours into our travels we had a flat-tire. I told Paul he must have had a premonition. The day before we left he had me make sure the air compressor was fully charged, and right before we pulled out of the garage we checked the air pressure in all four tires. When we ended up with a flat in the middle of nowhere, Paul suffered through some pretty overwhelming heat to put the spare on. I stood out in the sun with him to lend a hand, but mostly all I did was stand there looking baffled and making sure none of our possessions inexplicably disappeared. Once the spare was on, it served us well and managed to get us where we needed to go with very little trouble. Later during the trip, Paul had another grand adventure getting our flat replaced, but I didn’t accompany him on that particular outing.

Once we were in Lubbock, we took things easy. I’d like to think we’re very laid back and undemanding house guests. Paul spent most of our stay playing Crackdown while at the same time fending off the affections of an enamored female boxer. I meanwhile attempted to help Lara find her way through part of Ocarina of Time. She got stuck about two years ago and hasn’t played much since. She’s actually near the end of the game and I hope now she’ll find the time to finish it so she can go on to play other, better, Legend of Zelda games. Our trip also gave Lara and Ron a chance to show off the work they’ve had done to their house since we were last there. It’s very nice, and after seeing all the work they’ve put into their house I now know that there’s very little chance they’ll ever move to the Dallas area.

We also visited my Grandparents and most of my family while in Lubbock. There were a few individuals I didn’t get to see, but I’ll just have to catch them next time we go through. We did get to meet the kittens. My grandmother and one of my aunts adopted three kittens in June. They are some of the friendliest cats I’ve met. They aren’t shy, and pretty much take ownership of people instead of vice versa. We were only there long enough for me to begin seeing some of the separate personalities surface. As we left, I was threatened with a purse check to make sure I wasn’t walking off with any of them. It seems my mom is spreading vicious rumors about my desire to have a cat again. She seems to think I’m desperate enough to take other people’s pets. This from the woman who practically gave her cats away to me this summer. Shame on her.

After Lubbock, we continued our journey and headed to Odessa. The circumstances in Odessa are behind the changes to our travel plans. We’ve been expecting the birth our the first nephew since August 22. It turned out he felt no obligation to hurry up and arrive. He ended up being over a week late, and was only born about an hour after we got to the hospital. There were a lot of surprises there. First we were surprised that we were able to see him up close only minutes after he was born, and we were even more surprised when we both got to hold him the next morning when he was less than a day old. I was also surprised that I actually liked him, since I have a notorious dislike of babies and small children. (This sudden liking of a newborn in no way changes the way I feel about having a child of my own. Just a heads up to those of you out there who are keeping their fingers crossed.)

One of our most unexpected moments was a 10-15 minute adventure in the hospital parking garage involving a stranger’s car that was rolling backwards. Paul stopped the car from rolling into the vehicles parked behind it and then left me to hold it in place while looking for a security officer or someone to find the owner or cement blocks to prevent it from blocking the traffic in the garage. Much to my relief, Paul managed to find someone associated with hospital security and he took the situation over for us.

We also visited with most of Paul’s family in the area. They kept us pretty busy going from one place to another. And with all the travel and bouncing from one place to another we somehow managed to squeeze in a movie Sunday afternoon. Paul also managed to eat at his favorite Mexican Restaurant while we were there … twice. I’m rather amazed about that. Our trip home was peaceful and uneventful and it was a nice end to a very full vacation. And as much as I like seeing family and friends I think next time we take a trip we should go somewhere just for us. Somewhere neither of us have ever been, like Vegas or New York.