The Road to Oz

The holidays have come and gone, and humanity is probably none the wiser for the true meaning behind Christmas.  At any rate, I was able to spend four glorious days travelling to visit family and friends.  On the day after Christmas, I headed to Victoria, Texas, in order to meet a long-time friend I hadn't seen in well over a year.  We are both getting older and experiencing health issues.  That's only one more thing we have in common.  Ha ha!  After a great time of fellowship over lunch, Mom and I went shopping at the local mall, Wal-Mart, and the neighboring Goodwill store.  In spite of a bad back acting up, we both enjoyed the time spent together.  Thursday the 27th was my 45th birthday!  Woohoo!  Hopefully I don't look as old and I feel.  Once Mom and I bid our farewells to each other, I headed to Austin to spend the morning and part of the afternoon.  Genuine Joe, my favorite coffee house, had my favorite blend brewed: Guatemalan Antigua.  I'm sure it was merely coincidental, but I thoroughly enjoyed drinking it nonetheless.  Not having very much time to spend there, I did at least look at the book library.  Unfortunately I didn't find anything to take with me.  Driving to the Salvation Army store, I still had about ten minutes to kill before they opened.  Many fond memories of shopping here with Mom and Grandmother flooded my mind.  Planning to meet my brother for lunch at 1 p.m., I ended up with plenty of time for a smoke or two at Pipe World.  Both Genuine Joe and Pipe World are must-have's for when I'm in town.  Cael (pronounced 'kale' and short for Michael) was there.  I hadn't seen him in quite a while, and we were able to catch up on old times.  Unlike my previous visit, there were a couple of smokers in the lounge to converse with.  The icing on the day was meeting my brother at Trudy's for lunch.  We exchanged gifts and caught up on each other's lives.  Once the fellowship was over, I immediately headed back to Fort Worth.  Thankfully I arrived early enough to still wash a load of clothes as well as to adequately get unpacked.  Overall the trip was wonderful but not long enough.  I could have kept on travelling had time and finances afforded me to do so.  Now I get to look forward to the next time I am able to head out of town.  I'm not sure when that will be, but I can expectantly wait for the next opportunity.

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