Where else have I been

My sister is soon to have her wedding day in downtown Austin.

Pursuant to such goings-on, a shower was held by my mother in her town on the 11^th of this month and Lauren and I went up with my Dad to attend. On Friday my dad drove up and picked Lauren and I up and we proceeded to head to Eastern New Mexico in his big, green, Excursion. It was a drive up 183 towards Abilene and we really had a great chance to talk and socialize.

It was really interesting because Lauren and I have been talking a lot lately about creative process and how good work is done and my Dad had been working on some pitches and it was a really good series of conversations. I think that a lot of my awareness of thinking about business comes from long drives with my Dad. I remember countless afternoons out in Houston when I would ask him to explain the ephemera of the business world to me. I must have asked at least 5 times to explain what the stock market was ( short answer: legalized gambling ).

Oddly having such discussions made the time fly by relatively quickly and we arrived in New Mexico in time for dinner.

That night my mom and her husband hosted us and a gaggle of my relatives for a buffet dinner. Saturday morning my Dad played golf with some of my relatives while Lauren and I visited with my sister, her fiance, and his parents at my mom’s house.

That evening one of my mom’s friends hosted the shower and it was a wonderful night. There was no wind, the humidity was absent, and on the golf-course adjacent house’s backyard finger-food, drinks, and catching up were the order of the evening.

As the stars ascended into the sky we made our way in for the couple to go through the shower gifts. After a mighty haul, including the legendary KitchenAid Mixer, we retired back to our accommodations.

Sunday morning we got up and wished happy Mother’s Day to mom, gave her a gift, and then headed to Amarillo whence my Dad hails and, en route, decided to take a hike of the Palo Duro canyon (see below!). It was a lot of fun and I hadn’t been there since I was a very young boy.

Particularly notable during this entire trip was the green face of West Texas which I, now almost 30 years old, had never seen before! It was like a completely different place. If you look through my photos you’ll see prairie grasses, healthy cacti, and the hidden desert face of the West. It was really an experience to have.