So, Friday night, my pint-sized date & I met Mary at Kerbey Lane for a late dinner. This was marvelous. Food was good, company was good, the waiter even turned out good (he was iffy in the beginning) - all good! I had a Hippie Burger and water, which was difficult because I love their menu. I wanted to order the Kerbey Queso (guacamole covered with queso & topped with pico de gallo, served with tortilla chips) and follow that up with Eggs Francisco (an English muffin piled with scrambled eggs, bacon, tomatoes, avocado, and queso), but I'm proud to say I refrained. I thought it might not be tasteful to order my dream items, then go into cardiac arrest, right there at the table.
Saturday Aaron had to work all day, so I helped Ken paint his house, and Zach ran around between our two houses while we painted. We went to dinner once Aaron got home, then ended up going to Target to browse around, and made it an early night to bed. Aaron had mentioned he wanted to take a day-trip to Port Aransas on Sunday, so that meant we had to get to sleep quickly. To make the day on the coast remotely worthwhile, we figured we needed to be on the road by 7:00am. We almost made it.
SIDEBAR: Aaron has been looking for his step-sister, Kristi, for a few years now. I have even tried finding her using my magical internet abilities, but she was nowhere to be found. Well, thanks to Facebook, they reunited on Saturday, and they are both ecstatic. Hooray! Another family reunion, thanks to a social networking site! Who would've thought we both would have an experience like this online? Yay!
Sunday, we woke up on time, but drug our butts getting everything packed up & ready to go. Thankfully though, we didn't fall too far behind schedule, and ended up leaving around 7:30am.
This is A.M.
Sunrise, over the toll roads. Ahhh, city life.
A nursery we pass every year, on the way there & back.
I vow to stop there eventually, and stock up.
A landmark that always reminds us of Aaron's Mom.
Once we were about 15 minutes outside Rockport & Port A, we had to make our traditional stop to The Big Fisherman. This was a restaurant that Aaron frequented as a kid, when he lived in Rockport. I like it because it's got cheap all-you-can-eat chicken fried steak, though I never order more than one.
Their unnaturally tropical parking lot.
A very happy duo.
They shared the all-you-can-eat popcorn shrimp.
This is one quarter of the restaurant.
It's enormous.
Another section.
The cats Z always loves to look at when we leave.
There are about a dozen of them living around
the restaurant at any given time.
Hooray! We're close!
Arriving at the ferry is strangely like coming home. I've never lived anywhere near the coast, but my love for it runs deep. It really is like coming home for Aaron, since he lived there a lot of his childhood.
The first gull sighting.
An extremely happy child, on the ferry.
Just right for the beach.
We picked up our annual beach permit, some snacks/drinks from the local grocery store, and headed for the sand. We changed in the car, and got busy enjoying ourselves.
As you can see from his hair,
a tad windy.
Aaron spotted this couple & told me that
that will be us in 20 years.
After about 90 minutes, the wind was just too much. It wasn't your normal windy day on the coast, it was gusting. Like 30mph. Sand was in our eyes, ears, mouths, etc. and it got old. We decided to pack up, dust off and drive into Rockport. There's a playscape on their beach that Z loves to visit each time we go there, and Aaron also likes to drive around and look at his old schools, house, etc. It's nostalgic for him, and it was especially so on Sunday, because that was the 5 year anniversary of his Mom's death. We spread some of her ashes in Rockport shortly after she died.
Rockport's beach.
Had my Dad gone with us, it would've been
him surrounded by birds instead of this guy.
The playscape I mentioned earlier.
After driving around down memory lane, we grabbed a quick dinner, then headed back home.
Sun going down.
Sleepy Aaron.
Um, what?
My favorite water tower -
it's painted like a giant watermelon.
The sun is gone.
It was a very fun, albeit windy day. I'm glad we got to go visit our little slice of Texas coastal heaven, even if it was only for one afternoon. We were all dog tired the next day, but it was absolutely worth it.
Now, on to our more interesting Monday. So, once Aaron got his new job, we didn't think to go back to Monster.com and deactivate his resume. Who would though, right? It never hurts to see what might come along. Well, he got a phone call around lunchtime from a woman who saw his resume, and really wanted to interview him for an Operations Manager position with a different company. Wow, what a nice surprise to find out how marketable you are in a shitty economy! I then get home from work/picking up Z from school, and what do I find? A message on our answering machine from yet ANOTHER woman at ANOTHER company, looking to see if Aaron would be interested in interviewing with her. Wtf? Really?! Two in one day? We're beyond blessed to be getting calls like this, we know that. It's just strange that two would happen in one day, after not hearing from anyone since his interview for the job he's at now back in late January. The odds on that happening regularly have got to be slim.
So, we went to bed, after talking extensively about possibilities at these two other companies, and settled in to flip channels until we dozed off. (No "Rome" last night, we were way too tired.) At 9:00pm, our phone rings, but only once. We blew it off and continued talking in bed and watching a History channel show on crucifixion, then it rang again 20 minutes later. That's when Aaron grabbed the phone to see the caller ID, and saw that it was his asswipe brother.
QUICK HISTORY: After their Mom died, Aaron wanted to reconnect with his brother. We hadn't talked to him, at that point, in 2 years. His brother ended up needing help, we offered up help, he lived with us for 9 months, we helped him get a job, a new place to live, clothes, etc and he ended up draining our bank account. Granted, we didn't have too much in there, but he took every last dime and left us spinning and scrambling, trying to keep our legitimate bills from bouncing all over town. Not to mention, we had a kid still in diapers, and Christmas was only two months away when this all took place. We got him put in jail, they only gave him one year, and we never heard from him again. That was late 2005.
We're still wondering what he could've been calling for. I'm sticking with the drunk dialies theory. The bigger question is, will he call back? He didn't wait to leave a message, and obviously chickened out at the last minute, but will he do it again? Is he calling to try to make amends? Or is he calling to try and con us into thinking he's changed and hoping it's all water under the bridge? We have so many more questions than answers at this point, it's mind boggling. I called Neal's number from our caller ID today, just to make sure it was really him. I mean, I know the chances of a *different* Neal Lawson calling our house would be slim to none, but hey, we had just had two job interview offers in one day, amidst a fumbling economy. Weirder things could happen, right? I protected my cell number by making it anonymous first, then dialed, my heart pounding in my ears. After three rings, he picked up, and now I know, without a doubt, it's his brother. I would recognize his voice anywhere. This is all so weird.
I told him it might be entertaining, at least, to call him back since we have the number. I don't think Aaron would ever do that, but it'd be fun to watch if he did. Today was very "normal", compared to yesterday, though the night's not over yet. If Neal ends up making contact again, I'll update it on here. Until then, I think it's safe to assume it was a fluke, and Aaron will go on as if it never happened. That's probably the best thing for his psyche, anyway.
Three things I'm grateful for today:
1. Caller ID.
2. Puffs Plus.
3. Aaron bringing home cake.
Peace & pastries, to everyone. Hope your week finishes out marvelously!
1 comment:
You haven't blogged in a while! I hope all is well!
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