We just got back from one of the shortest weekend trips in the history of weekend road trips. Joy, Ava and I loaded up the old (and by that I mean OLD) X-Terra and headed to Dallas on Friday afternoon to spend a weekend with our good friend (and the man responsible for introducing Joy and I) Vinu and his lovely lady friend Charene.I have only been to Dallas one other time in my life. 2000, I believe. I went for work and spent a week working 14 hour days and binge eating the other 10 hours of the day away. It was odd to be back in Dallas having only one set of memories from the place. I remember the all you could eat (a test I easily passed) brunch in a spinning restaurant above Dallas. I remember being a beached whale in the hot tub at the hotel that overlooked the county jail. I remember drinking more Dr. Pepper (NOT diet either) than I ever thought I could (when in Rome, I guess (Dr. Pepper in Dallas is like Coke in Atlanta . . . a given)). I remember buying a horrible cowboy hat because I couldn't find any tourist crap that fit me. All that and I still had a great time (I really didn't know how miserable I was, I suppose).
Anywho - TOTALLY different trip this time.
We got in late Friday night, met Vinu's new St. Bernard (Nana) and then we spent the bulk of Saturday with just Vinu (Charene had to work most of the day) at the unbelievably cool Dallas World Aquarium and then driving around Dallas and the neighborhoods Vinu and Charene call home and where they work, eat, shop and socialize. We all had a fantastic Tex-Mex dinner at Mi Cocina at The Shops at Legacy and some gelato and fountain watching in Plano. We got up bright and early this morning and came home.
In the meantime we saw one of Joy's old co-workers and friends, Heather (who happened to be in town for work). I got the "OH MY GOD" treatment for the first time in a while. I have, truthfully, all but forgotten that moment when someone who hasn't even seen so much of a photo of me in years lays eyes on the spectacle I have become.
All the specifics are not that interesting, I suppose. What MATTERS is that we saw some old friends who seem to be very, very happy (there was lots of very frank wedding and children talk coming from the normally "guarded" Vinu if that means anything) and a promise to see each other more often than once a year moving forward. A promise we plan to keep our end of.
THANKS for the hospitality, Vinu and Charene.
TWO more trips to make this fall. Can't WAIT for either of them!
