Just a taste of that Southern hospitality . . .

Welcome Home!!!  My family drives up in the old white, '96, extra long, manual, crew cab pickup.  "Throw your stuff in the back!" I hear.  Oh boy, it has been awhile.  I took a deep breath and heaved the heavy box over the side.  Just missed not making it.  Phew!  That would have been embarrassing.  The other bags followed suit, but thankfully 6'2" Joseph was there to do the rest.  "You're sitting in the front Ticky!" they call.  After saying hey to everyone I hop in front.  We start off.  The truck rumbles down the road.  Thwack! my knee gets the stick.  Ouch!  Ok, watching for that now . . . Well, I tried to watch for it.  My knee wasn't real appreciative of my attempts to keep clear by the time we got home.

Day after coming home we went to church and to a sweet family's home for dinner.  "Charity, come look at our garden!" the five year old calls out.  I step out the back door and down the porch steps.  Bang, boom! "gotcha!" Oops, I stumbled into a crossfire between neighbor boys playing WWIII through the fence cracks.

Sporadic idea Sunday afternoon that I texted to my sister:
Me: "Hey! So I think you should meet me somewhere and I'll pick up Nora [my 9 month old niece] and bring her back to you this weekend :)"
Mary Beth: "It's a buy one get one free deal."
So I ended up with a 9 month old chubby cutie and also a 3 year old sweet little girl.  Not a bad deal, but about 5 times what I had initially asked for  . . .

Monday afternoon I took the girls and Natey into town and did a little bit of shopping at the local HEB.  There was a sample station with coffee.  Sample stations always scare me because there's a high chance that I might be stopped as "too young."  I take a deep breath, assure myself that I have to look older because I am a senior in college and I have three kids hanging on me as well as a cart with a few groceries in it.
Guy standing next to the sample station with thick southern drawl: "She's too young and too little for coffee!  Look it, she's got three kids bigger than her!" I smile sweetly as the lady suspiciously gives me a cup.
Guy: "Ma'am, you are way to small to have all those kids!"
Me: "They're not my kids, those are my nieces and this is my little brother."
Guy: "Oh gosh, I'm glad.  You scared me there lady!"
I think the sample lady then greatly wished she hadn't given up the cup so easily as I gave Elsa (3) and Natey (10) each some of the coffee.

Later that afternoon we were at Jiu Jitsu for Nate and Paul Haben, the instructor, came up to me.  After greeting me:
Paul: "You coming back for at least a couple of classes?"
Me: "Yes, I'm planning on it, but quite honestly, I'm scared to death!  I'm totally out of shape."
Paul: "Get out of town!"
and then he proceeds to turn and talk to someone else without even a smile.  Ok . . .

At dinner we sit around and talk.  Conversation is wonderful.  Stories are flowing. I'm sitting back thinking about how good everything tasted and how much I love being home.  Such bliss . . .
Mom: "Ok.  Stop visiting now.  That's enough. Time to do dishes.  Chop chop!"
Right.  That's what I was forgetting . . .