Just What I Needed

This past week I traveled to Washington DC to host an alumni event. I flew in on Wednesday evening, hosted the event on Thursday evening, and flew out around noon on Friday.

And I only left my motel room once – to actually host the event. Well, technically I guess I left it twice because I went through drive-through for lunch…

Yep.

I roll like that.

But can I just say, it was heavenly?

It was heavenly.

I had my laptop along so I spent some time with Hulu, caught up on This is Us (if you’re not watching this series, you should be), and journaled a bit. I skyped with a friend of mine, talked to the Husband, read quite a lot from my latest piece of fiction that I downloaded from our local library onto my e-reader, and took a long hot bath.

When I drove back to the airport on Friday morning, I did manage to look up at all the changing colors on the trees. I breathed in fall weather – crisp air, tall firs. And I took a moment to really be in the moment…as I missed most of these DC moments cuddled up in my motel room with my devices.

Once settled on the plane, this adorable girl named Lauren sat beside me. Lauren is from Dallas, newly married, and working on her Master’s in Business Administration. Now normally when I am on a plane, I set very strong boundaries that clearly state not up for discussion. But Lauren eased her way in between the pages of my book by quietly asking, “So why are you flying to Dallas?” And it went from there. She asked questions in a way that made it appear as if she were truly interested in what I had to say, and of course – it’s always fun to talk to someone who actually listens with interest.

Who doesn’t like to talk about oneself?

When the plane landed and we headed towards Baggage Claim, she hugged me quickly. “It was so nice to meet you, Vonda. I hope I see you again one day.” And then she was off, finding her husband and heading off to her in-law’s ranch located five hours south of Dallas.

My suitcase finally rolled around and I grabbed it, headed out the door, and flagged down Roy who was waiting nearby in his white pickup, flashers flashing so that I would see him. He jumped out and threw my suitcase in the back and then we headed for Hard Eight which heralds the best BBQ in Texas.

Normally when I travel, it takes a day or two to get back in the groove, to recoup from all of the goings-on. But this time? I came back refreshed and happy and eager to join the ranks of the living:

Great tv shows and heart to hearts with strangers and friendly alumni at a divine restaurant and hot baths in a motel nestled in the mix of concrete and falling leaves...

It was exactly what I needed.

Fall in Texas

It is cold outside this morning.

Of course, “cold” is relative. I have discovered that recently. Now that I live in Texas, my body thermostat has adjusted because, of course, Texas tends to be warmer than most states we’ve lived in. 

A couple of weeks ago, we had a “cold spell” for a couple of days that interrupted our 90 degree weather. One of those evenings, Roy and I were out on the back acre of our land where we have wood piled high from all of the trees we’ve cut down. (I say “we’ve” as though I’ve had a big part of that….) Anyway, the crisp air made me shiver and I said to Roy, “I think we should build a fire!” 

Roy looked at me and smirked. “Vonda. It’s 72 degrees.”

I hope I don’t freeze to death this winter when it gets down to the 50’s.

Anyway, my point is - we have officially hit fall weather, I do believe. Mornings are consistently cooler now and even the high of the day can withstand long sleeves made of a lighter material. People have pumpkins decoratively placed in their yards, and once in awhile I spy trees with golden leaves. (Not a common sight in Texas…)

It’s time to bring out the flickering candles, simmering soups, and cozy sweatshirts. My favorite season has finally arrived.

Yesterday, Roy and I were walking around and checking out the trees on our land. A few of them need a lot of work as they have been neglected for years. One of the trees out behind our storage shed is enveloped with dead vines that need to be cut off of it. It looks like a permanent Halloween fixture - its bare branches arching up to the sky, trying desperately to escape the suffocating dead vines that have turned dark and stiff. A few weeks ago, Roy cut the vines at their roots, but a wasps’ nest was hidden in the midst of the branches, and they found Roy an unwelcome visitor. So he never finished the job of removing the vine from the top of the tree — which will definitely require a tall ladder to reach.

Anyway, as we were looking around, we heard the Lewis family drive up with their last load. (As of last night, they are officially moved in next door.) And so, we strolled over to help them unload their pickup and their van, both piled high with boxes and such.

Yeah. We’re nice like that. 

(I’m pretty sure that’s about the extent of our help with their moving adventure…but we won’t talk about that right now.)

When we finally got home from our evening adventure, our house reeked from fish that Roy cooked himself for dinner. Can I just say, I hate that disgusting fish smell? And so, we both went to work spraying air freshener and lighting candles while I begged Roy to please not ever do that again. Ew.

And then we settled down in our rocking chairs that now sit side by side in the living room. We recently acquired an old La-Z Boy rocking chair that my father bought back in the day. I seriously have no idea how old this chair is. But once we redo the back and add some stuffing to it, it’ll be as good as new. This chair has made the rounds. Dad passed it on to Tami who passed it on to Lori who has now passed it on to me.

And I love it.

When we first brought it in, Jace walked by, wrinkled his nose, and said, “Please tell me you’re not keeping that chair.”

“Oh, but I am,” I proudly proclaimed.

And I am. I love this new addition to my living room. It’s comfortable and homey and it reminds me of my sweet father who warms my heart.

Fall in Texas may pale in comparison to fall in the Smoky Mountains when it comes to beauty. But for me? 

Well, there’s no other place I’d rather be.

The New Roy

We have dead trees in our yard.

Well, I should say we had dead trees in our yard.

When we first moved into our home, Roy was concerned about this very large tree that was just on the outskirts of the driveway as it was mainly dead. If it fell on the house, it would do considerable damage. And so, he asked a guy who cut down trees to give us an estimate on how much it would cost to bring it down.

$1500.

Thanks but no thanks. We shall do it ourselves.

And so, a couple of weeks ago, Sean Swayze was visiting and Roy decided it was time to get the job done.

Sean has been with us since he was a freshman in academy in Missouri.  Of course, he's far beyond academy days as he graduated in 2010, but he was always a big supporter of Roy, and our family in general, so pretty much he's just family. He lives in Colorado but as he has a lot of friends here in Keene, and he's especially fond of his dentist in Burleson, we see him on occasion. Anyway, Sean is wiry and youthful and can do things that Roy just doesn't do these days, and course, this boy knows how to work. He's kind of a beast actually.

Roy and Sean started on the trees in our yard (we had a fully dead tree in the back yard that had to come down) early on a Sunday morning. By that night, they were only partially done with the tree in the driveway. But by the end of Tuesday evening, it was as down as it was going to get. All that is left is an 8 foot "stump" that will, most likely, come down in due time. But for now? Well, the lumberjack in all of us has pretty much skipped town.

Every day I take Jace to school at 7:30 a.m. I back out of the garage, carefully eyeing the "tree stump" in my backup camera, and then pull out of our driveway and head off into the sunset (or, as in this case, the sunrise...)

Well, this morning Jace was running late. And so I partially backed out of the garage and hung there for a minute, getting a tad more impatient with each passing second. When he finally walked out the door and got in the car, I began my mini-lecture:

"Jace, you're not the only one in the world here. After I take you to school, I have to come back home, eat breakfast, and get myself out the door so that I can be there by 8:00! That's difficult to do when..."

BONK.

Yeah. That happened.

I hit the tree.

I sighed, threw the car in gear, and jumped out to survey the damage. And there, at the top of the car trunk, was a definite dent that most definitely had not been there before.

Jace was just happy that I was off my soapbox. "Is there a dent?" he asked, just a little too happily.

"No, it's just fine," I lied.

After I dropped Jace at school and drove back home, I parked the car in the garage, took a picture of the damage, and called Roy. As he was in a meeting, his voice was quiet when he answered the phone.

"Roy? Um...I backed out of the garage and I hit the tree. Don't kill me. There's a dent in the trunk where there wasn't a dent before."

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine."

"Does the trunk open?"

"Yeah - it's not that big of a dent. But there's definitely a dent now."

"Oh well. Those things happen. Don't worry about it. I gotta go - I'm in a meeting."

And then he hung up.

He didn't even sound irritated.

Okay, wait. This is Roy. Do you know Roy? Roy is a perfectionist. He likes everything spotless and perfect. That means we don't drive cars with dents in them.

But this Roy?

Wow.

I don't know what he did with my husband, but I think I'll keep this new guy around for awhile.

Meanwhile, I bet that tree stump isn't long for the world. I could be wrong...but I'm thinking Roy won't want to take any more chances. At least the old Roy wouldn't.

We'll wait and see what this new Roy chooses to do.