Christmas 2014

On December 31, 2014January 1, 2015 By DGThomaIn Family, Humor/Light Hearted, Writing2 Comments

Christmas 2014…. What a crazy and wonderful time we had. Previously I nicknamed 2014 as the year of the broken bones. I suffered through a broken toe and my husband Ron is sporting a trendy black cast while he recovers from a break in his wrist.

As we sprinted to the finish line to usher in 2015, I was a bit relieved to see 2014 come to an end. We are normally very healthy. We exercise and try to eat right so it is outside of the norm for us to have issues.

In December, we traveled to New York City for a bit of relaxation and rejuvenation before heading to Texas on Christmas Eve for our extended family Christmas celebration. We were scheduled to fly out of JFK on the 23^rd. After a long busy day of activities on the 22nd, we received a text from my daughter which read “On my way to hospital, probably broken ankle, I’m okay.” Followed shortly by “Broken on both sides, trying to determine if they will transport to surgery tonight.”

Oh, boy! We were unable to change our flights due to the Christmas travel, so we headed to the airport to standby for any earlier flights. No earlier flights materialized. All things considered, the airport and subsequent travel went relatively smoothly. We flew into Austin, TX, arriving at 9:30 PM where we grabbed our bags, retrieved our car and set off for Tulsa, OK. We stopped about half way to Tulsa for the night. Early the next morning on Christmas Eve we set off again.

While we were trying to get home, my son and daughter had coordinated and moved our Christmas celebration to Tulsa. My son transported gifts, food and family and himself to Tulsa in support of his sister. On Christmas Eve the two of them were sitting in the orthopedic surgeon’s office having her ankle reset, surgery scheduled and making everyone laugh.

By the time I arrived, dinner was being prepared, the house had been spruced and gifts were under the tree. Everyone was smiling, my son-in-law’s parents were dropping by and one of his co-workers was on the way to share in the celebration.

As we gathered around the dinner table, we were all grateful to share a meal and celebrate being together. So while I may have been pre-emptive to declare this the year of the broken bone ended, this is it! No more broken bones allowed!

We had a wonderful new celebration of memories to add to our holiday traditions. Today Christmas is over and we are sitting sipping our coffee and watching the snow fall outside while we were warm and comfortable inside.

Pretending

On December 24, 2014 By DGThomaIn Family, Humor/Light Hearted, Musings, Travel, WritingLeave a comment

When my children were young, we would often launch into spontaneous nonsensical conversations. It might be a perfectly innocent comment that became a springboard. A wondrous adventure would unfold as we each added our own spin. We would slip into role play effortlessly, becoming princesses, elves or ogres depending upon the trigger.

We had fun pretending our way through a diversity of situations without the benefit of any props other than our imagination.

Often, I still go off of imaginative tangents. When I’m on a road trip anything can become fodder for a rambling conversation that the casual observer would find perplexing. Recently, heading toward the town of Stephenville I forgot the name of the next town we would pass through. I asked my husband “Are we almost to Benjamin?”

And my husband replied no, Benjamin is the town we go through on our way to Lubbock. Undeterred, I replied, “Well if we get to Benjamin we’ve gone too far!” Considering Benjamin was about 6 hours beyond where we were headed, that may have been a slight understatement.

A few days later we were driving toward the airport after a long weekend and my husband said something about Timbuktu and I said or Kalamazoo, which made no sense at all. After all Timbuktu is a city in the West African nation of Mali and Kalamazoo is a city in the state of Michigan and there was no reason to discuss either of them. But for no reason at all it made us laugh and laughter is a wonderful thing.

Our car talk is not always so off the wall, but every road trip is an opportunity for slipping into inane conversations and we rarely pass up the opportunity.

Growing up in a small town…..

On December 17, 2014 By DGThomaIn Friends, Musings, WritingLeave a comment

Growing up in a small town, I knew everyone and everyone knew me. There were approximately 3500 people in our town. As soon as I could, I left in search of excitement and opportunity. I rarely look back with any regret and have enjoyed my life immensely. I have come to value my privacy and enjoy living in a bigger city even though “Nobody knows your Name.”

However, occasionally I am reminded that there are trade-offs. If you stand in the center of my hometown you could walk a mile in any direction and likely be on the edge of town. Getting anywhere is a matter of minutes not hours.

Photo Courtesy of Barclay Gibson Photography

Currently, I commute an hour to an hour and a half to get work each day. I am grateful that my husband and I work in close proximity and are able to ride in one car. That’s great until something happens.

Recently I was working a little late and waiting for my husband to pick me up. He had called to say he would be there in about 10 minutes, so I was surprised when he called back within a couple of minutes. Assuming he was warning me he was stuck in traffic, I grabbed the phone. Nope, he was stuck but not due to traffic. His car was dead in the middle of a fairly heavily trafficked street. We decided to call our roadside service and began to reach out to friends for a ride to pick up my car.

After several phone calls, we determined that it was just too complicated to find someone to pick each of us up and drive an hour to get us to my car and then spend another hour returning back to their homes. We also had to find a way to get to our car and talk to the service department where it had been towed. I have great friends and they would have been willing, but it was too much to ask. Instead, several kind strangers helped push the car off the road and the tow truck dropped my husband near a rental car agency. Half an hour later, he was at my office to pick me up and we were able to head to the dealer.

It reminded me that in my home town, I could have walked to my house to get my car, someone I knew well or was related to would have given me a ride and if someone I barely knew happened by, it would have been safe to accept a ride.

It’s a good reminder that living in a community of any size, you still need to have strong relationships and that commuting is not much fun. I do love my life and wouldn’t change it but maybe I’m a little more grateful for growing up with a wonderfully established community and I remember that sometimes it’s good to go where “Everybody Knows Your Name!”

Rocking the Streets of San Antonio Texas

On December 10, 2014 By DGThomaIn Exercise, Family, Friends, Travel, Writing2 Comments

The Humana Rock and Roll Marathon was the weekend of December 6^th through December 7^th in San Antonio, Texas. This is the 7^th year l have participated in the San Antonio Rock and Roll marathon. I signed up months ago before this became the year of broken bones. In August, I broke my toe and the healing outlasted my patience! Not to be left out, my husband Ron fell and broke his wrist a few weeks ago. And then, just because we are a little insane we signed up for the Remix challenge which means we ran a 10K on Saturday and a half marathon on Sunday.

San Antonio is a beautiful, magical city and one of my favorite places to visit. The expo in the downtown convention center was as entertaining and chaotic as always. I never seem to leave without purchasing something. This time it was new socks and some GU gel blocks. Leaving the expo, we stopped to enjoy the twinkling Christmas lights along the Riverwalk and the Tower of the Americas. It was lovely in the soft evening light.

We didn’t stay in a downtown hotel for this trip, so we had to get up a little earlier to ensure we could find parking. On Saturday, the 10K didn’t start until 9:00 AM and there were only 2500 or so competitors. The parking was easier to find and it turns out it was considerably cheaper. Sunday morning, the official start was 7:30 AM, so we left the comfort of our warm beds a bit early to head back to our parking garage from the previous day. Supply and demand was definitely in play as we had to pay double the fee we had paid on Saturday.

I should clarify that I am not an elite athlete and I enjoy the fun and camaraderie found by those of us crossing the start line 30 minutes after the sprinters in the first corral. When you run slower you can see all sorts of sights along the course.

Sunday morning, we all lined up; the elves, the tutu wearing competitors, the old, the young, and all other 12,000 plus runners, walkers and wheel chair participants. The music was pounding and the weather was just a little chilly.

As expected, I crossed the starting line about 30 minutes after the gun sounded. The course was a bit downhill in the beginning, heading from the Alamodome toward downtown. As we passed the Alamo, many runners, stopped for selfies with the façade and spirits of the Alamo. Leaving downtown took us through Trinity University and hills. The spectators lined the road through Trinity, cheering us up the hills. The enthusiasm was wonderful, but it didn’t really make up for all those hills.

The course in a Rock and Roll marathon is always alive with music and excitement. It is also lined with coaches, family members and complete strangers. Sunday was no exception. Signs along the course proclaimed, “Worst parade ever”; “Run like a Zombie is chasing you” and my favorite, “I’m proud of you complete stranger.”

I think my favorite coach along the course was the gladiator wielding his sword, his face encased in a metal helmet in the parking lot of a Cross fit gym shouting encouragement as we passed. My most memorable athlete was the young man I passed at mile 12, limping to the finish line, carrying his shoes and socks because of blisters on his feet. Dedicated or stubborn I’m not sure but he finished!

At the end, I was so relieved it was over! It was the slowest I’ve ever finished a half marathon, but I felt quite proud to have survived.

We ended our San Antonio trip with a wonderful meal at Canyon Café, a southwestern grill in the Quarry Market. I am never disappointed with the food or service. It was a great meal to end a great trip.

Crab legs, Lobster and Family Traditions

On December 3, 2014 By DGThomaIn Family, Food, Humor/Light Hearted, Writing1 Comment

My father’s birthday is October 31^st. This year he is 81 years young. In spite of typical aging issues, he is remarkably healthy and fit. He has avoided most chronic health conditions. He still drives well, mows his lawn and manages his daily activities with little assistance.

My grandson, Alex’s birthday is October 5^th. This year he is 13 years old. They both live in the same town about 5 hours from where I live.

My husband and I drove down to take them out to dinner to celebrate their respective birthdays. We picked up my Dad first and then drove over to pick up my two grandsons, Alex and James.

Finding ourselves at a chain seafood restaurant, a lively discussion regarding what food to order ensued. Neither my grandson, Alex nor my father (Papa) had ever eaten crab legs or lobster. They both share a love of shrimp.

Debating the merits of al a carte vs platters, Alex and my dad ended up with a plate of food that would have been three meals for me. They had crab legs, lobster tail, fried shrimp, shrimp scampi and rice. My grandson James opted for a traditional steak meal.

Watching my dad and his 13 year old great grandson side by side, cracking the hard shell of the crab was priceless. They each experimented with different techniques to get to the delicious pieces of crab inside. Butter dripped, shells cracked and tall tales flowed. Everyone was smiling!

The lobster dripping in butter was no match for Alex. It was one of his favorite things on the plate. My dad didn’t enjoy the flavor nearly as much, but Alex helped him out and finished his lobster as well his own. Neither my dad nor Alex took home a significant amount of leftovers.

The service wasn’t great. No one served us for quite some time and when everyone else’s food was coming out, the server let me know they were out of what I had ordered. The sides we received were not what we ordered. Even with the issues of service, the memories were priceless.