600 Miles From Home

Is home where you are originally from or where you are currently living?

Right now I am back to where I grew up, St. Louis. Already I am reassured as to why I moved 600 miles from my family. Saturday I drove 9 hours and arrived at my brother's weekend cabin to find 90% of the inhabitants intoxicated by 4pm. I guess if you are getting ripped at the same time as everyone else you don't notice how stupid everyone is being. They were being obnoxious.

Sunday was relaxing as I got about 3 hours to myself while my mom took the kids to church with her. It was one of the rare Sundays that I didn't go to church. Sunday afternoon I made it to a friends pool party. One of the guys just finished his one year commitment in Iraq so there was reason to celebrate. Plenty of Bud and Budlight for everyone. Seems like Sunday was just day 2 of a 3 day "celebration" for this clan as I found out Saturday most were partying at the lake and today many of them were going to the Cardinals/Astros game at 3pm.

I guess I just don't understand how someone can drink alcohol 2-3 days in a row. Even in my 20's and single days I rarely drank 2 days in a row. Whether I had 2 or 3 beers or binged with double digit numbers I was always tired the next day. Growing up with the nickname "Porky" it suggests that I probably couldn't afford the extra 1000+ calories that came with drinking a 12 pack anyway.

This brings me to Memorial Day with my family. Even with cell phones we are not that succesful in communicating. My dad is taking a 6 hour round trip to visit gravesites in Smalltown Missouri. "Dad, you're retired, go on Tuesday when the traffic won't be so bad." My brother has 3 different kinds of steaks ready to grill and he just called wanting to know what time we were coming over. "Bro, I guess that means we are coming to your house today."

Probably to most flexible person in my family is my mom. She invests the most time in my kids and always has the "just tell me what's going on" attitude. I do take after my mom, fortunately.

Meet Me in St. Louis!
Tuesday: fishing
Wednesday: the St. Louis Zoo
Thursday: ???
Friday: Cubs/Cards game??? Billy V in town.
Saturday: Birthday party for the boy
Sunday: A day of rest before driving back to Texas.