Hello friends!
I'm back from our quick trip to Amarillo to watch my eldest son's college graduation ceremony. Mum and I flew in on Friday a.m. in horrible weather. Don't ask me what Amarillo looks like, I have no idea. Horrible fog and rain we could barely see in front of the rental cars hood!! Amarillo is desert like and they rarely get rain. The locals were excitedly talking about the rain (much to my amusement, it's only rain after all, right?). But apparently this was a relief to the citizens (with the recent outbreak of wildland fires) and the farmers.
We checked in to our horrible little hotel (what a scarey place that was!) and then made the drive out to Clarendon to visit with the soon-to-be-grad!
The ceremony began a little after 7pm and they all looked smart in their green caps and gowns and of course my son, the comedian, did his best Rocky imitation as he punched the air and jogged in place waiting for the Dean of Students to announce his name and he jogged across the stage. As he received his diploma from the President of the Board of Regents he gladly took it and then 'man slapped' him on the back and gave him the biggest bear hug ever seen as his friends in the audience and the other parents and family members laughed out loud.
My boy is a college graduate now. He received his Associates Degree in Applied Sciences and is moving on to Texas University in the fall. At least Lubbock is a little closer to me.
Weather never improved as we got caught in a horrible hail storm (hail the size of ping pong balls) we decided to forgo the flight home and kept the rental car and then drive home to Houston. Uhhh....1400 plus miles....9 3/4 hours....and Mum and I ran out of things to talk about somewhere outside of Ft. Worth. I got so tired of saying, "Oh look Mum...baby cows!!" The humor in that phrase just does not translate here, so I'll leave it at that.
We sang at the top of our lungs with the radio, shared stories of our Benjamin, and of Mum shared some lovely stories of when she was younger, and of course along the way we enjoyed the scenic vistas of Texas and relished watching as the landscaped changed from plains with no trees, no people, no cars and being able to see farmland and 1000s of livestock for miles and miles in the Panhandle to arriving in the rolling hills just below the Red River and entering civilisation somewhere west of Ft. Worth and then the lovely lush, thick Piney woods and hills of East Texas...ahh...home is nearing. Trees became more abundant and so did the traffic and at last we entered our home county...home at last...
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2 comments:
So nicely written Liegh, I felt like I was there with you, watching your son proudly and enjoying the reaction and obvious delight of his frirends and Dean, must be such a likeable young man, eh? I think EVERYONE should do one road trip a year, it's so good to even run out of conversation sometimes, as it forces you to reach deeper and gives you time and space to think aobut things. What lovely quality time with your mum, well done mate. {{{{bear hugs }}}
Great story Leigh, I enjoyed the read.
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