Left My Heart in Texas

At present, K and I are in a metal tube, hurtling over Missouri or Kentucky at a few hundred miles per hour. Flying seems like such an improbable thing to do, but I suppose we do it all the time without thinking of it. But the reason that we are in said metal tube is because we are heading home after a lovely long weekend with the Texas contingent of my family, namely my brother, my awesome sister-in-law, and my nephews and niece.

We arrived Thursday mid-morning after a loooooong night at home, taking care of work things, cleaning the house, taking care of laundry that had been waiting to be ironed for weeks – the usual. That resulted in us getting no sleep to speak of, and spending most of the journey out to Texas unconscious. However, we arrived, woke up, stumbled off the plane, and were greeted by Stacy and Katie, my 9-month-old niece (who is clearly a physically superior child since she’s almost walking at this early age). The weekend was so much fun – a lot of it was spent playing with the kids and hanging with Pete and Stacy, which was kind of the point, and it was so great to see both of our relationships developing with the kids as the days went past. I’ve always had a close relationship with my oldest nephew, David, but in the last few times that we’ve seen them, I’ve really had the chance to spend some good time with my middle nephew, John, and this time, Mikey opened up and was a whole different kid with me! We were having such a good time with them that we decided we didn’t want to leave to go to our hotel, so since we had time to cancel the reservation without penalty, we did, and just stayed there the whole weekend, which was a great decision.

To give one example of why this was a great idea, this morning Mikey padded out into the living room in a t-shirt and a diaper. I was already awake, but K was still passed out on the other couch, so as I saw Mikey trot over to him and say “Uncle Keef?”, I gently said “Uncle Keith is sleeping, do you want me to read you a story?” So Mikey, who refers to himself as Mikester (“Come watch Mikester play Marble Blast!”), went and selected a book, crawled up on the couch next to me, handed me the book, and said “nuggle me?” in his gravely, deep little voice as he wedged himself between my arm and my side. THIS is something you just can’t do over the phone.

It was also great for K to get a chance to spend time with the kids and bond with them some more. I swear, he’s like the Pied Piper, they just flock to him. Plus, he’s a boy and he doesn’t have a bad back (not yet, anyway), so he can wrassle with the kids like you wouldn’t believe, which I’ve had to cut back on a lot lately (which sucks). It’s awesome to watch. Even John, who is a little more introverted and shy, thinks that K is just the most awesomest, and loves to play with him. When they were in town for our wedding, John crawled up onto the couch next to K one day, looked up at him thoughtfully, and said “I like you today.” K looked at him, and said “Oh, really? That’s good. What about tomorrow?” John looked back at him, and a minute later said “I don’t know about tomorrow.” But it appears that K has continued to make the grade with him.

David is just turning into a grown-up and it is totally making me feel old, but it’s great to see him growing because he’s continuing to grow into a really great person. (I can’t call him a great guy yet – he’s way too young.) He’s smart and articulate, and definitely a track star in the making. Mikey is destined to play Texas football, and he can already take a hit. (He’s got two older brothers, so it’s a skill he learned very, very early.)

And then there’s Katie – little miss Katie who was two months old the last time I saw her, and is growing up so incredibly fast. She’s pulling herself up and standing, she smiles and laughs and knows her name and all those great things. Gah!

So, as I said to the most Fabulous Stacy, I really miss them and wish they were still close by, but I’d rather that they be happy and farther away than close and unhappy. So that’s the way it is, I suppose. But we can always visit, and we will certainly continue to do so as much as possible. I’m not sure what river we’re crossing over now, but it’s really big (maybe I’m totally off on where we are and it’s the Mississippi?). The earth from the air is always an interesting puzzle to look at, and it does make things feel closer. Not necessarily close enough, but closer.