House Warming

My parents just built a second house in the oil fields of New Mexico.  Some people are lucky enough to have a second house at the beach, on a lake, or in the mountains...but since my father's career has him in the oil plays of New Mexico for the next few years - my parents' second home is a short drive from an oil refinery.  Ha!  My parents are together, which is what matters most...a home is where your heart is...and my parents home is lovely.  To celebrate this occasion, we gave my parents this Paola Navone ceramic vase as a house warming gift.  My taste and my mother's taste are very similar...we love all things blue!  There's not a shade of blue we don't love!

My mother loved the vase, as I knew she would.  I loved the vase too, as I knew I would.  So I bought one for me too.  One for you and one for me! 

My husband says I have a hard time separating NEEDS from WANTS, but in Texas when I walk in my front door and see this fun vase I think of my mother in New Mexico and her fun vase too.  Who doesn't NEED that?

Go West Young Lady (and Man)

Today my parents are chasing the sun.  Last week my father went to New Mexico to meet the movers, and my mother stayed behind to oversee a few house projects in Texas, which included installing a new sprinkler system.  My mother will no longer be able to work a hose around her yard in the earlier morning hours of the hot Texas summers- she'll be west!

On Friday my father flew back to Texas, and today my father's sequoia is loaded down with Blue (chocolate Labrador retriever) and Annie (Jack Russell Terrier), and my mother is following in her two-seater Infiniti.  While I'm quite certain my mother is physically following my father on their westward adventure, I'm less certain my mother is mentally following my father on their westward adventure.  They haven't sold their Texas house, and my mother has already booked hair appointments every five weeks- she'll be back.  My mother has also had many weepy moments these past two weeks.  I know it's hard to put miles between you and your loved ones, but at least we're living in 2014!  We can talk, text, sametime, and email every day!

I have no doubt once my mother gets settled she'll enjoy this adventure in their life.  Like so many couples before them, my parents have gone west - it's an adventure!  When you're 58 and 60 years old you need to seize the adventures in life, because it keeps you acting (feeling?) young.

Ice Cream In February

My husband also always asks my mother to make her homemade ice cream for his birthday, and normally she "rain checks" his request until the summer.  Normally, she says it's too cold to make homemade ice cream in the winter!  However, this year she surprised my husband with ice cream in February!  She made him feel special.

My brother was in charge of the birthday cake, and he picked a "Disney Princess" cake because he knew our nieces would love it!  And my husband's happy if Presley and Paxten are happy.

Sweet and Sour Night

My husband's birthday is this week and he always asks my father to make sweet and sour chicken stir fry.  Last night we celebrated with my parents, my brother's family, my aunt, my grandfather, and my cousin.  It was a fun family dinner.  And my dad makes the best sweet and sour chicken.

Thanks Dad

While we were skiing last week my dad was overseeing a 130,000 mile tune-up on my 2004 Toyota 4Runner.  Thanks Dad!  I've slowly come to the conclusion that buying a car and driving it until the wheels fall off is financially the smartest approach to handling vehicles.   I want a new car, but I don't want to pay for it!  So I'll keep driving my 4Runner...and this tune-up gives me peace-of-mind.  I can drive with confidence!

Wilson Birthday Cake

We held a post-Thanksgiving birthday celebration for my father last night. It's always fun to spend time with the family, and it's especially nice when my father picked up his own birthday tab. He bought the meal. We brought the cake.

Happy Birthday Wilson!

Happy Birthday Wilson! Your favorite (gay) sons love you!

Today is the day my father arrived on earth in 1953. Let us pause and celebrate this most significant day in my life- without my father (and mother!) then I would not have been created, reared, and then married-off to my husband. I am so happy my father was born. I am so happy I am one of his sons.

We had an early birthday celebration on Saturday in Austin and we will have a late birthday celebration on Friday (the chocolate cake has been ordered) of course can you really ever completely totally sufficiently celebrate the birth of your father (and mother)? I think not. We can at least try. Par-tay!

Happy Fathers' Day

We are the sons of great fathers.

Give the World One More Chance

Once I had a conversation about suicide with my father. I think I was in high school. I was trying to figure out then what I'm trying to figure out now: why would someone do that? At the end of the conversation my father, who normally ends conversations with lots of humor, became serious. My father made me promise to him that if I ever felt the need to take my own life, then I had to first shoot myself in the foot, and after my foot healed if I still reached the same conclusion, then I could go ahead and take my own life.

I can remember thinking it was weird that he really wanted me to promise such a foolish thing. I wasn't going to kill myself, but I agreed to his request. "Yes, dad, I promise to shoot myself in the foot first, and after my foot heals if I want I can shoot myself for real."

Today I see the wisdom in my father's logic, and I appreciate my father's advice more today than when it was first given.

The truth is that we all have our own inner demons. Life includes some painful, heart breaking very low moments. We've all been tired, sad, and lonely. Everyone's pain is the same; we've all suffered loss and disappointment. What my father was really telling me is to not exit earth when you're at a low point- if you're thinking about killing yourself it must be at a low point- and he knew that a bullet in the foot would sound an alarm and give your friends and family one more chance to pull you up out of the hole.

If you're ever at the lowest of low points and you're ready to quit life, then just give the world one more chance to remind you that low points cannot last forever and happiness is just down the road.