Wanting to be sure that I get up in time to say goodbye to Eric, my SIL, before he headed to work, I come downstairs at 6:45 this morning. When I get to the bottom of the stairs, there, in all it’s glory is one of my bags packed and sitting by the door. All I could do was think, “my goodness, all you had to do was tell me that it was time for me to go home, you didn’t have to hint to me by packing my bags and having it by the front door!” I really thought we had had a good time and that I had been helpful rearranging some of their furniture and appliances in the kitchen. Or that being sure to pour in lots of bleach in the washing machine, (oops, that might have been where I went wrong, I added the bleach to the clothes, not the towels). And the tiny bleach spots on the carpet in the kitchen are JUST NOT THAT NOTICABLE! So really, to sneak in my room and pack my bags, had really hurt my feelings. All of a sudden I remembered that Jodi had the same exact bag as I and had packed up some clothes to take to her MIL in the hospital for Eric to drop off this morning. Well, what a relief to know that maybe in a year or so, they will be ready for another Nana visit. I am having to sign a covenant that says that I will never do laundry at their house again, or move appliances as Eric couldn’t find the coffee machine in the dark yesterday morning. But all in all, I think it was a great visit. Have to go, Jodi is dropping me off at the airport at 12 for a 3 o’clock flight. She says that she is not trying to get rid of me but that she wants to get through with her crying spell early before Eric gets home and sees her with red swollen eyes….I wonder? No, surely not that….

Why do I forget all the things that happen to me when I visit these little darlings? You would think that even if my memory failed me that I would learn to write a diary of my visits. But I guess it is like childbirth. When I get home, all I remember is the sweet little voices that say, “can Nana sit by me?” or “I love Nana more than anything but an Ipad”.  But I seem to forget the moments that I need to go through basic training before trying to get in some of the predicaments that I seem to always get myself into. Today, we were headed to take two of the sweet darlings to Chick Fila..we get Noah strapped into his car seat, Caleb is now strapped in. Jodi turns on the ignition, gets the video’s playing to keep them quiet, (yes the benedryl has worn off from this morning already)  when all of a sudden, Caleb announces that he has to go to the bathroom. Jodi ask me if I wouldn’t mind taking him so she wouldn’t have to turn the car off. Being the great Nana that I am, I tell her of course, I would be happy to do that. Well, we are off and running. We had a couple of little side trips before going to eat. We went by Eric’s work to pick him up, causing me to once again crawl over two seats, a console and crushed cheese nips on the carpet. After dropping Eric off to his destination, we proceed. I decided that it was easier just to stay in the back than try to crawl over the seats again. Before pulling into Chick Fila, Caleb announces that he just can’t hold his pee pee any longer. Jodi shows him the  Chick Fila sign, signaling that we are just almost there. “Mom, would you mind going ahead and climbing up here so you can jump out to hurry Caleb into the bathroom, as that will be faster than me parking and trying to get Caleb in?” Does she not remember that I am old and the only positions I am suppose to be in are laying down or sitting in a lazy boy chair watching television?  But…of course I agree, so here I go, crawling over the two seats, when I fall bottom and shoulder first into the front seat with my legs up in the air. My feet have got tangled in the wires that connect the videos to the back of Noah and Calebs seats…She is now driving and trying to untangle my feet so my head doesn’t end up in the front floorboard. We are laughing so hard that we were the ones almost peeing in our pants. But she did it, I was not untangled and hurrying Caleb into the bathroom. Well, he was running and I was walking fast…my foot was still sore from Caleb running the grocery cart over it yesterday. We are back home, all safe and sound. I think I will start to videotape my incidents here just in case before the next trip, I forget that I need to bring lots of pain medication, and of course, Depends, for all those funny moments when we aren’t close to Chick Fila.

After 3 hours in the air and descended into San Antonio, I walked into the terminal from the plane, I knew what I would be having. Tex Mex. that makes 3 times this week I have had variations of Mexican food, each wonderful in its own way. The tacos that were served to me were as good as the tacos that Randy and I use to drive down the Tollway to get. Our friends thought we were crazy when we would tell them that we would drive downtown on Sat mornings, pull into a truck stop which sat right smack dab in the middle ( sorry, but I’m in Texas so I have to used Texas words, like smack dab, as it makes me feel so at home) of bail bond buildings, which surrounded the jail. You never knew who would be pulling up next to you at this truck stop. You might find yourself looking straight in the eyes of someone just released from jail, hungry for street food, or a fancy dressed lawyer who might have been just the guy who had defended or prosecuted the drug dealer who was now eyeing either my wedding ring or my shredded beef taco. It was hard to tell. One Saturday evening, we got the urge to head down to get some tacos. As we pulled into the truck stop, Randy,my brave little protector, said, since it is almost dark, maybe we should at least park under the light which shone over the parking lot. He told me that if I felt really brave, I could go inside the truck stop to get us a drink while he got our tacos. I told him that I was dressed to nice to do that. After all, my shorts actually matched my blouse. I would stand out too much and they would know we were outsiders. We would just have to order the mild sauce since I was afraid to get out of the car for our drinks. Since there is no inside seating, you eat in your car. When he went up to the window to order our tacos, he first reminded me to lock the car doors as soon as he got out. As I sat there waiting for him to come back, wait let me rephrase that, praying that he would make it back to the car, with tacos in hand, I decided that this might be our last trip to our truck stop. We were getting to old to fight or run. the next time we craved these delightful little taco gems, we would just have to settle for El Fenix. At least they had more parking lot lights and you could eat inside. The clientele wasn’t as diverse, but at least I didn’t have to worry about losing my wedding ring or someone snatching our tacos out of our hands. If they did, we could ask the waiter to go chase them for us! He would get a really nice tip!

Headed to Texas tomorrow. Land of the best Mexican food, Diet Dr Peppers and Blue Bell ice cream. Will be home November 1st, but will be posting whenever possible. Between trying to fit in all my favorite restaurants, visiting family and friends, I will be scouting for new recipes. Keep cooking, keep smiling and share a baked good with someone. It will bless your heart.