This Reminds Me

Archive for the ‘San Antonio’ Category

The world’s largest rubberband ball bounced into San Antonio this week.

All I could think of was the Griswolds, enjoying their cross-country drive to Wally World in the old family truckster.  Or as Clark said, “Hey, hey easy kids.  Everybody in the car.  Boat leaves in two minutes….or perhaps you don’t want to see the second largest ball of twine on the face of the earth, which  is only four short hours away?”

Yes, summer vacation is wrapping up.  It’s time to start thinking “school supplies.”  The girls are going shopping next week.

Maybe I’ll have them grab me some Hamburger Helper for Cousin Eddie and Keith to grill.

Bye now.  Enjoy these last weeks of no bedtime and dinner at the pool.

When we met Guanna-to-be-Julia in February, 2006, she told us she liked dolphins – amazing, since she’d never seen a real one, and also since Lois has always been fascinated by them.   When we returned to her in May, 2006, we brought a dolphin necklace for her and each of her friends.  Shelley and John picked us up at the airport, bringing her a stuffed dolphin to clutch on the eye-popping 20-minute drive to her new “dom,” where her sisters anxiously waited to meet her.

It didn’t take Julia long to realize the billboards, tray liners, TV commercials, etc. were  telling her there were dolphins in San Antonio.  After a local author read his book about Sea World to her school last year – she was hooked.  “Mom, we need to go there.”  She’s asked at least once a week for more than a year to visit Sea World.

Monday, I finally took Hannah and Julia to Sea World.  Seeing her face there reminded me of taking two-year-old Rachel to see Barney at the Natural History Museum in Houston.  The looks were of joy and wonder – I couldn’t help but be happy, too, even with all the “whale spit” on my clothes.

Open mouth.  Clasp hands.  Wait a moment and point excitedly crying, “Look!  Look!”  Shamu is the big draw at the park but the dolphins absolutely captivated her.


We feed the Sea Lions enough fish to make me glad I’d visited the ATM.  Julia and Hannah barked to each other for awhile afterward.  Me?  They’ll tell you I bark all the time.

Afternoons routinely break 100 degrees here.  Yeah for the wave pool!

New dolphin googles, anyone?  “Mom, these are cool.”


The child is fearless.  In addition to all the water stuff, she and I went on Journey to Atlantis, and she did the 15-story drop, 65 mph Steel Eel roller coaster by herself.  As in alone.  As in neither of us wiith her.  I promised God in 1998 that if he would let me off the roller coaster I was on at Fiesta Texas, that I would never ride another.  Promise intact to date.

So this is how an eight-year-old former resident of Children’s Home #47 in St. Pete, Russia, came 6,000 miles to splash the day away with dophins and whales native to seas from the four corners of the globe.

See, world?  You’re getting smaller all the time.

Many thanks for your calls and emails about this breaking news story….

The Q’s were a’firing at the office yesterday

,,,,but I am happy to report we are not moving.  Rachel is now a senior.  I called her at church camp to make sure she and Lois understood before they happened across the story (I’m sure that’s what they’re doing at South Padre – scouring the papers, watching CNN, discussing current events, that sort of thing.)    Her question:  “Well, if we did have to move, you’d just let me live with a friend, right?”  Ummmm.   No.

We like San Antonio.  We love our church family, and our schools and the friends we’ve made.  The Fiesta Texas water park and our neighborhood pool keep the summers bearable, and there’s nothing more beautiful than the River Walk at Christmas.  No, you can’t get fresh sushi 24 x 7 here, but there’s a lot less filth, noise and vulgarity as opposed to bigger cities.  I was the one who fought moving for years, and yet it’s turned out to be such a good move for our family.  I’d move again if we had to – but I sure don’t want to.  And I sure don’t want to move anywhere bigger.


I’ve been with AT&T 28 years and nine months as of today.  It’s been a wild ride, especially 1983 – 1984  with Divestiture (the same time as “Ghostbusters” – hence the shirts – I’m the one on the left), Hurricane Alicia, the three-week strike and Southwestern Bell’s first layoffs ever.  None of the jobs I’ve had since 1997 even existed when I joined the company in 1979.  And U-verse – which Keith and I both work on now – is a whole new bag’o'tricks.   I worked at Remco TV Rental through five years of college (slow learner) , often reading/summarizing books and journals for the owner.  I became convinced that eventually, one telecommunications “thing” would exist in the home.  That’s why I went to work for AT&T instead of Prudential Life, a headhunter, a local book publisher or some oil company whose name I can’t even remember. U-verse is it. Well, the start of it.  It’s in its infancy.  But it’s growing up fast, and I think it will become the new norm for TV/voice/data.  I truly do.

My hope is our next move is to our scaled-down retirement house.  Keith and I love to walk houses under construction, or sign in with phony names at local open houses (so the realtors don’t keep bugging you) just to get ideas.  We want an outdoor fireplace on a good-sized patio.  I want a gynormous closet to store best-quality air mattresses to use when my 28 grandchildren (all named “Rebecca”) come to visit.  I want to be within easy striking distance of a college, because there are serious bible classes in my future.

But we can’t go anywhere now.

After all.

How would we pack the pond?!

We live in a neighborhood of overachievers.  We’re talking manicured grass.  Windows washed annually (as opposed to….ummm….never since we’ve lived here.)  Spook houses at Halloween.  And now – Christmas lights.

These folks live one block down.  When Keith and I take our evening walk, we stop to pretend to look at the lights so it covers the sad fact we just want to stop for a minute.

Neighbors two doors down – a young, beautiful couple whose children have perfect teeth.  They hosted a Backyard Bible Club this summer which Julia and Hannah attended, and I’m pretty sure “envy” was one of those seven deadly sins they studied.  Which is why I say no more.

Rachel sometimes babysits for these neighbors.  She swears they never run the air conditioner so I guess they’re saving fossil fuels for this display.
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The deer are really big this year.  I like them.  Keith thinks they’re tacky.  Of course, he also doesn’t want me getting the reindeer antlers I covet for my van windows, so, what does he know?

But personally – I think all their puny lights pale in comparison to the lavish decoration adoring our home – our Christmas flag.  So there.

“Mom! The flag is dazzling!  Really!”