Day 1

Day 1

Things really began the day before. The weather was bad and it looked like Katie's poorly-tired vehicles couldn't safely get her over Donner Pass. It was a pretty windy trip for us on our route, as well. But the Lord is so good and we made it in the end without incident and actually arrived in town close enough to the same time that we had dinner together. I said a tearful goodbye to my family at Red Robin and Katie and I headed to our dad's for the night. 

My dad wasn't there, but our stepmom was; and she was a most gracious host. She loaned Katie a pink shirt so we could match and two jackets so she wouldn't freeze. When she heard our plane was leaving at 6am and it was already 9pm, she behaved as any loving mother would and demanded we all go to bed. 

I am afraid Katie and I responded just as typically in the role of reunited sister friends. We were up past midnight talking and giggling. We even fell asleep once; but I dreamed I'd stepped on a cat's tail, so my leg jerked and woke me up. I told Katie why I had just violently shaken the whole bed, and we just started talking again without missing a beat. Then--so she did not feel left out?--our sister texted us at 2:30am!  

We got out of bed at 4am the real day 1. We got to the airport, thanks to our generous stepmom, and made it through security without a hitch. We took two flights. The first was a little more sedate than the second, which was full of more playful (and awake) people. 

Diane and her husband were waiting for us in Austin and drove us back to their city and a delicious hamburger lunch. 

We got to their home to see that our niece Cherilyn had come home from college a day early and scoured her brother's room so allergy-ridden Katie could sleep in the house. What a good, sweet girl. 

We got right to work tackling boxes. Soon Cher's fiancé showed up, and it was a treat to meet him. We worked until the sun went down then ate Subway and played a new game (Agricola). At midnight I hopped into the shower (the only courteous thing to do after Cher's room cleaning and when sharing a bed) and crashed soon after that. 

They said we got a lot done. I'll have to trust their word because I don't see it yet. Sometimes I felt a little stalled, but tried to keep moving by shifting gears. So, I didn't finish every box I opened, but hopefully in spite of the undone work, I stayed relatively productive. 

I hope today yields even more measurable results!