On Friday morning, I had to be the shuttle bus from my town to Chicago O'Hare airport at 7:05 a.m. It was so early! However, I got a lot of sleep on the bus on the way to the airport so that was great.
The bus got me to the airport at 9:40 a.m...four hours before my flight...haha. The next shuttle to leave my town would have gotten me there late. So, I spent a lot of time walking around the airport, eating lunch at Chilis, watching a basketball game I cared nothing about, and reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, one of my favorite authors. My flight was delayed and didn't end up leaving Chicago until around 2:15 p.m. I arrived in Dallas at 4:30 and was greeted by the very beautiful Rosie. She took me to a wonderful restaurant called Buttons, which is "Food and Music for the Soul." We got traditional, down south, chicken and waffles and it was just fantastic.
We may have each had a bit to drink and we got a little goofy and a little loud, which seemed to be fine. We talked about anything and everything. I am really thankful for those three hours where we got to sit together and talk just the two of us. After dinner, we started the drive to her town and we arrived around 9:30 p.m. Her kids were already asleep, and by the time we got there, we all just wanted to go to bed early, which we did.
On Saturday I woke up in the guest suite, it was awesome I got my own room and bathroom. Yay for house additions! I took a shower and went to find the family. The whole family was sitting in my friend Rosie and Chris's bed watching TV, so I joined them for a great hour of Spongebob. We decided on a whim that we really wanted to eat ice cream for breakfast/lunch, so at 11:00, as soon as Coldstone opened, we were there. Coffee ice cream with chocolate chips in it is one of my favorite ice cream combinations.
After we got back from Coldstone, we all proceeded to spend literally the next 4-5 hours sitting in the living room, listening to pretty music and reading books and then ultimately watching movies. It was relaxing and lazy and wonderful. We ate "Texas Food" (according to her son) for dinner which included brisket, potatoes, okra, rolls, and green beans. It was delicious! I could eat like that everyday and be (600 lbs) very happy. After watching The Help, the two kids got sleepy and headed off to bed. Chris was next to fall asleep. Rosie and I sat around for awhile and watched bull riding on TV and then we also headed to bed.
On Sunday morning, I was greeted by Rosie singing a Good Morning song to me, which I just loved. We headed to church at 10:30. I fell in love with this church. It's the type of church that have people yelling Amen! and Hallelujah! throughout the service. A little different than what I'm used to in Illinois, but I think worship should be very vocal. This church also has a full orchestra that plays every Sunday. It made the music and hymns sound so full and fabulous. If I went to this church, I would definitely be breaking out my bass clarinet every week to play along. I decided that the next time I visit, I'm bringing my instrument and hopefully the orchestra will let me play along. The sermon this morning was also pretty great. It was all about the storms of life and I could really relate to it. The pastor was very well-spoken and I enjoyed everything about it.
Shortly after church, at 1:30 p.m, the travel adventure began. We started the trek to the airport. At 4:30, I was dropped off at the airport. My flight left on time, at 6:00. I landed back in Chicago at 8:20. I sat in the bus shuttle terminal for two hours. My bus left at 10:15. I arrived back in my town at 12:40 a.m. My mom picked me up and I was home around 1 a.m.
Whew! I love traveling but it sure is busy. I can't wait to do it again! I decided that if I don't get to go to the Philippines in July, I'm going to make another trip to visit this family, hopefully a longer one next time.
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