'Josie's on a vacation far away'

Not really. I mean, I was, but it wasn't far away. And my name isn't Josie. I do have the same number of syllables in my name as good ol' Jos, though, so I guess it could work. Kinda.

So, yes, Lubbock was a very nice little getaway. I dropped Alex off at the airport in Austin around 7pm on Thursday and hit the road. I didn't get in until about 1 in the morning, but it was worth it. I had a full day planned out for Friday and getting up at 4am just wouldn't have sufficed.

I was able to meet Kala for lunch on Friday, which gave us the perfect opportunity to catch each other up on life, gossip (at least I admit it!), jobs, boys, Austin, Lubbock, jury duty, yucky hospitals, and all of that crazy stuff we call Life. That was very nice for me, considering we very rarely get to see each other these days. The other times I've been back to Lubbock have been strictly family lockdown situations. My mom and Aunt Kay have a way of filling my hours there is very strategic. (Not complaining! I enjoy it immensely.)

But, yeah, Kala and I were able to talk, talk, talk ... just her and I ... which was, as I said, wonderful. She's doing pretty freakin' great, has stopped smoking, and is more motivated to embrace a completely healthy lifestyle than I have ever seen anybody. I'm so proud of her (not to sound trite at all). Never having been a smoker, I can't really relate to the difficulty of quitting. I hear it's rough, though. That girl just went cold turkey, and hasn't touched the stuff since! Yowzers.

I also got to see my little sister almost every day that I was there. I still can't believe that she is 22!!! My baby sister ... 22 years old. It's freaky. But it's true. She's this almost completely grown-up person. She still wacky as ever, but that's how we all love her best. She's a good kid. Always has been. She's trying to get back into school sometime soon, and I think there is nothing better she could do right now. With the economy potentially flushing down the toilet, school is a very safe bet for a few years. Wait out the worst, jump back on the wagon when it starts rolling again. (And it will start rolling again.)

Anyhow, we went out for drinks the two nights before Alex came into town (Thursday and Friday), which was also great because I ran into a lot of my old crew. (Bunch of Trouble running around! Still adore 'em to pieces, though.) I also noticed while I was out with my (younger, remember) sister that I simply cannot hang like I used to be able to. (And don't really want to be able to do now.) I was never a heavy drinker by any grand stretch of the imagination. I went out on the weekends some, but never to excess. Now I barely do anything alcohol-related. My tolerance ... pathetic. It's alright, though. Cheap date!

Oh, and Friday night I went to see Mama Mia with my mom and Aunt Kay. I love musicals (can't help it, have no desire to try), and we all enjoyed that one quite a bit. After the movie, we grabbed quick bite to eat, and I met up with Heidi and Courtni for a bit. We started at Fox, but some of their crowd wanted to hit Chances R. Anyone who knows me knows that I am about as far from a Chances R girl as a person can be ... so ... I opted out of that portion of the evening. Still, even though it was brief, it was nice to see my ladies. I miss them (all!) so, so much.

On Saturday, I woke up super-massive-whoa-early to have breakfast with my mom and Aunt Kay before my mom had to go get her shop ready to open. After breakfast, I fell asleep for much longer than I had intended and woke up just in time to shower, get ready, and grab Alex from the airport.

Once he was there, it was all family, all the way. We took my mom a late lunch at her shop, then headed to Aunt Kay's for dinner, cards, and drinks. The same could be said of Sunday, save a trip to the lovely South Plains Mall for some shopping. (Strange that we shop more in Lubbock than in Austin? Not really. Everything's close in the LBK. Not so in the ATX.) I think that was the night we "officially" celebrated my mom's birthday. Monday was supposed to be the day we left to head back to Lubbock. Supposed to be ...

We had just eaten lunch on Monday and were preparing to hit the road, car packed, everyone about to say their goodbyes ... when Alex looked over at me and said, "We're staying another day. I'm going to take my free day at work." Then he looked over at my mom and said, "Happy birthday, Patty. I give you your daughter on your actual birthday." (She loved it.) Her "real" birthday was on Tuesday, the 2nd, which we were going to miss entirely. Game time decision, we stay! Ha.

The real reason for staying was neither one of us wanted to drive and we were all having such a good time, we weren't really ready to leave. Since Alex works for the government down here, LBJ Day was a "come to work, win a free day later" workday for his office. He worked; therefore, get-paid-for-no-work-day for him! Hey-oh! It was beautiful. Due to the impromptu extra day, we just hung out all day Monday and Monday evening. Then, on Tuesday, we kidnapped my mom and took her to lunch for her birthday, then left around 2 in the afternoon.

It worked out so much better that way because traffic was light, and we got to sneak over to Colee's (my sister) house on Monday evening for one more visit before we left. Plus, obviously, my mom was crazy-happy we were able to see her on her actual, day-of birthday. It made her week. And mine! :)

That was my trip in a nutshell. A lot of other crazy stuff happened, especially the Friday that I met up with Colee. Late night was INSANE! We felt like we were straight out of a Twilight Zone episode. Details would take far too long and this thing has already been semi-novel-ish. Let me just say that it was like The Series of Super Unlikely Events from the minute I walked in to PM to meet her, right up until I drove back to Aunt Kay's at around 4 in the morning.

Quickly ... highlights of the weekend were definitely seeing Kala's pants almost fall off her thin hiney, my mom and I and our verbal antics that no one else thinks are funny, Alex and Norbert getting drunk as skunks on the patio and hugging it out, Aunt Kay's homemade rolls, seeing old friends and getting the "Woop, woop!" pick up and twirl, MY SISTER!, the relief of knowing that all our move-in/move-out work back here was done, the mashed potato in the kitchen, re-discovering that "one, special thing," and a lot, a lot of laughter.

Fin.