Now that I am back home and sitting in my happy spot on my own couch, I am writing to tell you what I can about my trip. 
Christian and I left on Monday morning to begin our journey to East Texas. Considering our last road trip, to New Hampshire, I was afraid of how Christian would react to another road trip. Surprisingly, he turned out to be a really good riding companion. Like most children his age, he slept quite a bit. While he was awake, he talked to me about all the things he was seeing. It was actually quite pleasant.
I can’t tell you exactly what I was doing in Texas since it’s one of those “things of which we cannot speak”. But, I WILL tell you that, other than the time I was 9 months’ pregnant with Christian at the age of 40 years, it was the most difficult thing I have ever had to do. Add to it that I got absolutely no sleep and it got even more difficult. I figured it out and I had 15 hours of sleep during a 5-day-period. And, I am sore all over. Friday morning, I could barely get out of bed. Fortunately, I remembered to bring lots of Tylenol and Ibuprofen!
Although the week was positively grueling, by the end of it, I was beaming! I know that everything I did and all the hard work that went into it was soooo very much worth the effort! Everyone who follows my work will love love LOVE what I have done. Blood sweat and tears (literally) went into this project. And, I can hardly wait to share it with you. I don’t believe I’ll have to wait very long. I think some “spilling of the beans” can happen about August, just in time for the CGOA conference in Buffalo!
During the time I was working, my mother was watching Christian. Since most of you know already that Christian is a REALLY energetic little boy, I was afraid that she would watch him then decline watching him when we went to Buffalo. I am very happy that, as she hugged me goodbye on Saturday morning, she whispered, “and I’m still coming to Buffalo.” Whew! My mother deserves a medal for taking care of Christian for a week and, to be honest, she was taking care of me as well. I believe that she may sleep for the next week.
Even though I can’t tell you what I did, I will tell you that my mother and Christian had a great time. Christian went to Chuck E Cheese for the first time (and, from the sounds of it, I believe that he would have been perfectly happy there for the remainder of his life since my mother had to force him out of there after about 3 hours). In fact, on the entire ride home, I had to repeatedly tell him that “yes, we’re looking for a Chuck E. Cheese right now,” rather than say that we were on our way home.
One especially pleasant part of our trip to Texas was the Outback Steakhouse across the street. My mother had never been and I wanted to give her a special treat. So, the night before leaving, I ordered lots and lots of stuff from Outback Steakhouse and we ate it in the room. (Trying to take Christian over there would have been too stressful for both of us.) I ordered a lot so that she could have a nice variety and a really nice memory. The food was incredible, but I had been told about the “Blue Cheese Pecan Chopped Salad.” It was truly my favorite part of the meal, which is really funny since we had a huge variety of shrimp, steak and chicken. It’s just funny because I guess that my favorite part was practically the least expensive thing on the menu! hahahahaha
Both my mother and I completely forgot to take photos. I am obviously a really bad blogger. Yikes!
And, one final thing. I had no idea that being in Texas again would have such an effect on my speech! I haven’t even been in Texas in 17 years. But, apparently, no matter how long I stay away, it takes about 24 hours for my southern accent to return, in full force. It’s hilarious! How could I go for 17 years without saying “y’all” and “fixin’ to” then, within a day, they are dripping out of my mouth like I never left? Too funny!
