Gray Skies and Happy Memories

It's been a long, hot summer. It's been a long hot summer where one of us was diagnosed with cancer, one of us had a revision of a hip replacement (complete with replacement parts!), one of us suffered through weeks and weeks of radiation with the agony of major burns, one of us got a concussion (while dancing!) and one of us had, yes, a seizure. Does that sound like at least 5 people? Hmmm. I had cancer and radiation, Brit had replacement parts installed and a seizure, and Lydia, bless her heart, received a very mild concussion after dancing into a rail while leaving the stage at theater camp.

As of today, though, we're all good. And that's what I wanted to tell you about. I want to write about good. What goes into good, what it looks like, how it feels.

The weather today was bad. In a way that feels good. It was rainy, we lost power twice, and the skies were oh so gray. Sometime during the second power outage, when causing Thomas the Tank crashes became more noisy than fun, and the house started to heat up from lack of A/C, we decided it was time for an adventure.

Today's adventure was nice. And someday, I might write about it. It was really just driving out to Spicewood to try a new restaurant. But the gray skies, and the rain that stopped every time we needed it to, and the realization that good times are really just about good company (and temps in the 70's and 80's) - it all reminded me of another adventure, this past Spring.

The day before Easter we were fortunate enough to be invited to Case Avocado. This is the lovely ranch property of our friends Lindsay and Oliver - land that's been in Oliver's family for over a hundred years.

The ranch is out in Llano. The trip itself is spectacular - a dirt road past cactus, cattle and scrub, with plenty of twists and turns, that ends at an AMAZING stone barn, with two beautiful old ranch houses near by - houses that Oliver's relatives still occupy, and have since they were built more than a century ago. The road from there is intraversable in anything less than a Suburban with longhorns attached to the hood. Thankfully, Oliver was making regular shuttle runs, and picked us up and drove us, in the rain, to Casa Avocado. We climbed out of the Red Dawg, and the rain stopped. The rest of the day saw very brief, intermittent showers, with long patches of mottled gray skies and cool temperatures in between.

Kids played. Hot dogs were roasted and eaten.

Cascarones were, of course, dispatched.

Wine, beer and wonderful stories flowed freely.

It was one of those days that you hoped grown up life will be like, when you're you were thinking about being a grown-up someday. It was one of those days that as a parent, you want to string together to build a lifetime of memories for your kids. It was, indeed, idyllic.

Our hosts were gracious. The company was fantastic. Most of the women there were part of the "Temperance Society" that keeps me sane these days, and it was a pleasure to get together with kids and husbands and see, that indeed, they all like each other as much as we do.

I finally got to know my friend Marla's husband, and share with him the fact that our mothers are old friends.

The kids played. They played hard. There were naked boys in the creek, and the shrieks of appalled young ladies/older sisters that make nudity especially satisfying, when you're the little brother. It was a gorgeous day. Did I mention that? Cool, and just a little damp - perfect for sitting around a fire telling stories, with the noise of barely attended children in the background.

Barely attended? Okay, not really. But they were that amazing low maintenance that lovingly raised children become when they find they genuinely enjoy each other's company. That was one of the best parts. Our kids were all playing together about 20 feet from us. But they didn't need us. They had the "wilderness"and each other. You remember what that's like, right? Your just 3, or 5, or 7, or 9 and you're surrounded by other kids and trees and rocks and it's kid-land. But someone with access to juice boxes is just a few steps away. And for the grown-ups? Uninterrupted talk, with the knowledge that any legitimate cry for help, or even just a few moments of attention for a really good trick, will be immediately responded to, and then the grown-up time returns, nearly seamlessly.

Man, we all slept good that night.

Thanks Lindsay and Oliver. You and your kids sure know how to show folks a good time.

Besos,

Emily