Surprises!

I want to record for posterity Carlene's 81st birthday surprise at Starbucks in Pearland, TX.


On October 17th I drove to Freeport to spend the night with Mom in order to take her to Starbucks the morning of her birthday (Oct. 18th). The closest Starbucks to Freeport is in Pearland (45 miles) and Mom was all for it.


What she didn't know was Glory was flying into Houston the same morning for her Brazosport High School 40 year reunion. We didn't know who would get there first, but either way, it was going to be a surprise.

As Mom entered Glory pats the chair next to her and says, "Hey, why don't you go ahead and sit here." Mom stared at the chair, then looked at Glory for a minute. .....processing.....then it hit her. Next came the hugging and some weepy babbling. Then in a moment of clarity Carlene looked at me asked, "Did you know about this?"




We all had our coffee and told Mom all about our scheming. Bill called my cell phone to say happy birthday, so I gave her the phone and they talked for a bit. Then about two minutes later HE WALKED IN and kissed Mom on the cheek. I had no idea and neither did Glory. It was such a good switcheroo that it felt like it was my birthday too. We all sat there together, drinking coffee and basking in our cleverness.

Happy Birthday Gweema!

Halloween or Hallowon't?

Halloween is hard. I am conflicted. I have taken two approaches to this night. The first is to turn off all the lights and hide in my house, sometimes I just evacuate all together. The second approach is a mild participation in the "festivities". I buy a bag of candy and wait for the little ones to come to my door dressed as ghouls, ghosts, pirates, and hookers.

Tonight I sit here with a bag of candy and NO ONE has knocked on my door. Such is the case with me and Halloween. If I don't buy the candy they swarm my front porch like scary moths, but if I buy the candy they stay away like vampires avoiding the sun. I remember last year going outside and snagging kids off the street trying to get them to take my candy.....then I saw this strange look in one dad's eyes and I thought maybe I was being a little pushy. So I retreated to my house and turned out the lights.

My friends Gail and David mailed me this coin purse with a Starbucks card inside for Halloween. The card came with a sticker on it saying I could download two iTunes for FREE. What a great, goofy thing to get in the mail. Sue sent me a cute card with a kitten wearing a witches hat. It is this goofiness that makes me like Halloween....and my goofy friends. Thank you friends.

I also want to apologize to all the people over 40 for the orange font color. I KNOW IT IS HARD TO READ!

State of Mind

Glory and I covered a lot of ground during our trip. We have roamed the USA several times in our lives together. This got me to thinking about all the different people I have taken road trips with and all the place we had been.

Let this post serve as my official 2007 State Visitation Inventory. The criteria for this inventory is NOT that I had a quality experience. All I had to do was cross over the state's boarder, if only briefly, by land (not air).

TEXAS - born here

Oklahoma

Kansas

Iowa

Minnesota

Nebraska

Missouri

Arkansas

Louisiana

Mississippi

Alabama

Georgia

Florida

Virginia

North Carolina

Tennessee (I think, with Glory once)

Washington D.C.

Maryland

Delaware

New Jersey

Pennsylvania

New York

Connecticut

Rhode Island

Massachusetts

New Mexico

Colorado

You might want to think about taking your own inventory at this time.