No place like Texas- No place like Home

Let me start this entry with an apology. It has been exactly thirteen days since my last post, the longest I have ever gone without documenting our crazy life. In talking with a dear friend this week, she confessed she has gone up to two weeks before...I am so thankful for my friends.
(Note to self...perhaps I'll call her after the new year when my jeans no longer snap!)

Now, the reason for the delay...I have been in TEXAS! Yes, my home state, the state for which it takes two days to pass through whether you are driving North to South or East to West, the state for which the words, "Howdy, Ma'am" are spoken daily, and the state for which men step aside to open your door. Yes, I was in TEXAS (deep breath)...for eight days.

Since a lot can happen in eight days both on the home front in PA and in my professional life, I chose to condense all the highlights into this post. So, here are eight notes for eight days...

1. BIG jewelry, BIG makeup, BIG hotels...Everything is BIG in TEXAS! I arrived last Sunday to DFW, a massive airport which I am sure has its own zip code, and was shuttled off to the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine. Have any of you heard of this place? It is an adventure park/hotel for wild families and their cubs. This would have been perfect if I only had the wild creatures with me. My "den" was two-story, had a living room, kitchen, three beds, two baths, and came with my very own lime green wrist band for the indoor water park! From the nightly storytime reading by the lobby fireplace, to the bubble gum body wash, and the kids running through the halls with sparkling wands on a scavenger hunt for adventure...this place was like no other I have ever been to! Check it out..http://www.greatwolf.com/grapevine/waterpark

2. Texans like their trucks. Yes, tis true John Wayne rode off in the sunset on a horse. But, in Texas, I am convinced many a sunset are approached by a Chevy, Ford, or Dodge.

3. Purses=Pocketbooks. I forgot that moving to the East Coast has provided me a whole new vocabulary. I was reminded this week that in Texas, pocketbooks are purses, cement is pronounced seament (not sament), and that the "12th man" is not a reference for a team of angry jurors.

4. I am officially in my thirties. As a staff member of a National Association, I was given the honor of helping "work" the annual convention from Sunday to Thursday. This meant I was at the Convention Center daily as early as 6am, and didn't return home until 10pm every night, due to dinner and happy hours with old collegues and dear friends. With each passing morning, it seemed I needed one more cup of coffee to make it through the day.

5. My family is the best...including the one I married into. Everyone who knows me knows that I am deeply close to my Mimi, and this past weekend, she turned 80. All those who love her, whether they call her Mom, Mimi, sister, or friend, gathered in a small Italian restaurant to celebrate eighty wonderful years. She is so deserving! I will remember that night always!

Meanwhile, back in PA, my husband's family volunteered to spend the week helping Mr Mom with the kiddos, selling jewelry, dance classes, school, broken down clothes washers, and so on. I am such a lucky girl to have them to lean on when the travel gets tough.

6. My brother is one of my dearest friends. Whether he wants to be or not, my brother is one of my best friends. While we are no longer sharing nightly walks and conversation on the beachs of the Pacific Coast, spending a few days with him (and his sweet fiance) felt just like those years in California (except without the tan). I am so proud of the man he has grown to be.

7. Football in Texas is fierce! Aggies or Longhorns? Some fans are as hush hush about the team they support as they are about their political affiliation. And just like politics, others are not.

8. There's no place like home. For years I have called Texas my home, and in many ways, it always will be. But over the last eight days, I was reminded that even though it was nice to be back in the Lone Star state enjoying quiet evenings and long conversations with family and friends...I missed the chaos. I missed the goodnight kisses, the noise of the house in the early morning hours, and someone calling me "Mom".

As I looked out the plane window seat over Baltimore this afternoon, the world looked peaceful, and well...eight days older. The sun was shining over the rippled water like a glassy fingerprint, and the leaves had distinctively turned dark shades of red, orange, and yellow. Pumpkins, hay bails, and scarecrows draped each house in the neighborhood, and the temperature had fallen to the mid-fifties. Katie looked much taller than when I left (I am convinced of it), and Conor had spoken a new word..."water".

Yes, while Texas will always be a part of me, I have never been more happy to come home to Pennsylvania.