Peggy made it home for my birthday. Her sister, Susan, came to Dallas from Tucson to relieve her at the hospital, so Peggy was able to come home on Friday. Her Mom is really sick, so Peggy will be going back soon. She just really wanted to be here for my first birthday in Austin.

My birthday has been an interesting day. When Peggy got home last night we unpacked a few more boxes — we’re in the strategic stage now, so the last boxes will be unloaded a little at a time. When Peggy woke up this morning, she said her lip felt weird. When she went into the bathroom it was quite swollen.

So, our first stop of the morning was at an urgent care clinic. The doctor determined Peggy must have gotten into something while unpacking that caused some kind of allergic reaction, so she gave her some steroids and a topical treatment and sent us home. We went and got breakfast and headed back to the apartment.

We continued unpacking until the LSU-Florida game came on television at 2:30. It was kind of an old-fashioned SEC slugfest — in other words, not particularly exciting — but the good guys won, 17-6. When it was over we started getting ready to go out.

We went to a really cool place in Austin called Chez Zee Bistro. They are famous in Austin for their desserts and other bakery items, but the rest of the food was really good, too. It’s got kind of a funky, Austin vibe. We took some pictures that Peggy doesn’t want me to post since her face is still swollen. So, I’ll wait to post this when she’s not looking…

All this birthday stuff had me thinking tonight. I lived in Katy for birthdays 36 through 50. I have never lived in one place for that long in my life. A lot of life happened in those nearly sixteen years. When we moved there Mike was in the third grade — he has now been out of college for two years. We are really excited to be moving on to this chapter in our lives, but we will certainly miss the friends we have left behind in the Houston area.

The half-centurian is now older than a half century. If it is all the same to you, I’ll keep going.