We are officially Austin residents. The moving truck got here yesterday afternoon and unloaded everything we own. And we got to work.
This is our first move in about ten years, but we have worked out a system that keeps things moving with amazing alacrity. We didn’t even try to get everything unpacked yesterday — we mostly just made sure all the major stuff got here — and then we went to dinner and got some rest.
Today the unpacking began in earnest. Here is our system that we have figured out that keeps us out of each others’ way and making rapid progress: Peggy unpacks everything and I break down the boxes. She needs to be in control of where everything goes and I need to be out of her way. She hates to mess with the boxes and I seem to be particularly gifted at removing the tape and breaking them down. It is a perfect separation of labor. And it goes fast!
We did take a little break to go to lunch at one of our favorite restaurants that overlooks the lake. She’s not a slave driver, as long as there’s a view…
It is now 9:00 and every box that we planned to unpack is empty. Not everything is yet in its final place, but it is all out of boxes. And all of the boxes are broken down, stacked and ready for the moving company to come back and pick them up.
Tomorrow I will drive to Katy to close on the sale of the house while Peggy remains here to meet with the inevitable workmen that have to come to any new home. And all of the boxes will be unpacked.
Have I mentioned that all of the boxes are unpacked?
I had a very pleasant surprise as Peggy came back this weekend to spend one more celebratory, stress-free weekend before we move next week. With the pending move I expected her to stay in Katy, but since everything is taken care of except, you know, the actual move she came to relax a little instead.
We got up early and went to the apartment to make sure all the floor work is done and the apartment has been cleaned. We both signed all of the lease paperwork. That completes everything we have to do on this end before we can move in.
We got done early and had time to get in the pool before watching the highly-entertaining LSU-Georgia football game. LSU lost 44-41, but what an exciting game. We were so excited we went back to the pool after the game.
We really are excited about the move. We haven’t had to deal with a move in about ten years, so we are ready to get it going. And I am ready to have her here with me for more than just weekends.
Since we got all of the apartment “stuff” done on Saturday we were able to just hang out on Sunday and enjoy our final weekend in my home away from home. I’ll be going home next weekend and then the movers will be coming on Monday. It really has been a blessing to have a place we enjoy so much as my temporary home. I am ready for something a little more permanent, though.
And now we will live close enough to come out here anytime we want.
Peggy had to go to Dallas this week, so she came to Austin on her way back south so we can find a place to live.
We have found our new home. It is a two-bedroom apartment in a beautiful property right on the Colorado River that overlooks a nature preserve. It is much smaller than our house, but that’s the point. What we realized is that it’s exactly the same size as the downstairs in our current house in Katy. Since we never go upstairs we shouldn’t miss the square footage…
Even more importantly, since Peggy came from Dallas it became apparent to her how much shorter her drives to see her mother are going to be once we move here for real. She knew Austin was closer to Dallas, but it really had not occurred to her how much easier the drive will be until this trip.
I will go and put down a deposit this week and we will begin the process of moving in a couple of weeks. We are changing the floors in the apartment to hardwoods, so the management company asked for two weeks to get the floors done and then to get the apartment cleaned and ready for us.
That works out perfectly because we have accepted an offer on our house and the buyer wants to close on October 9! Very exciting stuff. Closing so quickly would not have been possible if we were trying to buy a house in Austin, but moving into an apartment makes it much easier for us to get out of the house quickly.
So, we are hanging out at the lake and doing a little celebrating. This is a great place to celebrate.
Peggy will head back to Katy tonight. I will miss her, but it is a lot easier knowing that she will be back for keeps in just a couple of weeks. It’s getting real!
Peggy and Mary at dinnerLunch in a restaurant close to where we are going to live
I have been working in Austin for a few weeks now, and we have begun the process of selling the house. Peggy will move over here as soon as the house is sold. Unfortunately, this is now the second time I have done this to her. When we left Dallas in 1994 I had to be in San Antonio in September; Peggy and Mike didn’t get to move down with me until late December. We are finishing up the work on the house this weekend and planning to put it on the market as quickly as possible. It is a good time to be selling a house in Katy, so I really don’t think it will take that long this time. At least I hope…
Now we have to find a place to live in Austin. We have made the decision to downsize and not buy another house. We are already in the process of getting rid of a majority of our possessions for the move. Our son, Mike, is going to come from Baton Rouge and get the things he wants to keep, but we are serious about this downsizing thing.
Fortunately, Austin seems to have some really interesting options in terms of apartments that are large enough without being too big. Peggy came to Austin this weekend and we visited some of them, and we will be making a decision soon. I think everything will feel a little more “real” when we have signed a lease. Until then I am living in a temporary home.
I have written previously about Peggy and I renting a condo for all of last summer on Lake Travis. Well, a friend of ours bought two condos at the same place, and I am renting one of them from him until we move into our apartment. It is a pretty long haul to the office each day, but the commute is worth it to be at a place that we love. And when Peggy comes to visit we already have a place to stay.
I like my office and I like my staff. Good thing since they are the only people I know here. But each night I come back to the condo, get in the pool for a little while, and then sit on the back porch to relax. After sixteen years commuting in Houston traffic I don’t think I want to live this far from the office full time, but as a temporary solution it is pretty hard to beat.
The book of Matthew twice says, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign!” I promise I’m not looking for one.
It doesn’t say, however, that you can’t recognize a sign when you see one. So, I’m just going to take tonight’s sunset for what it’s worth…
When Peggy and I got married in 1985, we went to Keystone, Colorado for our honeymoon. We got married in Dallas in August on a day that reached 108 degrees. We wanted to be cooler than that on our honeymoon. I mean temperature — the other was never a possibility. We spent eight days and never saw a temperature above 75. And a tradition was born.
Another tradition has kind of evolved over time, and it is a little scarier. Our lives have a habit of changing shortly after these annual trips. It doesn’t happen every year, but it has happened enough times to be noticeable. To Peggy. Which is really all that matters.
When we came home from our eighth anniversary trip in 1993, my company offered me a promotion that moved us from Dallas to San Antonio. While we were on the Colorado trip in 1997, that same company made the announcement that they were merging with another company and closing many offices. They offered to transfer me to Kansas City. I declined, and a few months later we moved to Houston with a different employer.
When we were about to leave for our fifteenth anniversary trip in 2000, the company that had sent me to Houston announced that it was in dire financial straits. When we got home I began work for another company, and my prior employer went out of business at the end of 2000.
In 2004, I accepted a job while we were on vacation and started as soon as we returned home. Then, in 2007, while we were on vacation, I got a call from my current employer offering me a job. I started the new job shortly after we returned from the trip.
So, the day before we left on vacation this year, the CEO of my company visits my office and tells me he has some plans for the company and he wants me to be a part of what he is planning. He said, “Don’t worry about it — go enjoy your vacation and we will talk when you get back.”
We talked when I got back. After sixteen years in Houston, Peggy and I are moving to Austin. The vacation was wonderful. It will be hard to leave what has become home, but we are looking forward to the next adventure. And, to be honest, I may be just a little bit afraid to go back to Colorado for vacation next year…
Celebrating our 28th wedding anniversary at the same restaurant we went to on our honeymoon. Snake River Saloon, you still got it.Leaving Colorado, as Peggy says, dumb and happy. With no idea of what is coming when we get home…
I have written before about the musical comedy troupe of which Peggy is a part, “Minnie Pause and the Hot Flashes.” It is a group that has brought joy to many folks over the last several years. In fact, the group tagline is “Joy 4 Life’s Journey.”
That journey ended today for Bette Puffer.
Bette is a long-time friend. Peggy and I taught her daughter in Sunday School and watched as Bette bravely battled breast cancer while Courtney was still in high school. Bette’s tough, and she beat breast cancer.
In our wonderful, silly show, Bette played Edie, the shopaholic who lovingly learns a few lessons along the way. In real life, Bette was the one that taught the lessons.
When we found out last year that the cancer had returned everyone was sad, but Bette refused to let that be the dominant emotion. If we really are going to sing about joy for life’s journey, it has to be all the parts of life’s journey. Nobody embodied that better than Bette.
The cancer was in Bette’s brain but she continued to perform. Even when it started impacting her ability to remember lines and dance moves, it only added to the fun of her character. That’s because Bette did not allow frustration to enter into it. When she made a mistake she just laughed at it, and that helped the rest of us to laugh along with her.
Bette’s final performance was our first ever performance at her home church. For years the church would not support the ministry, but they finally came through when we told them we wanted to perform a show for Bette’s friends and family at no charge. More than 500 people showed up that night to have a laugh, enjoy the show and honor Bette. It was one of the coolest experiences in which I have ever been privileged to participate. Bette stayed late and took pictures with everyone who wanted one, and that was pretty much everyone.
We love Bette and we will miss her. The ministry — and the show — will go on. We will not replace Bette’s character, but we will add another member of the troupe and we will continue. That is what Bette asked us to do. And her husband Willis will continue to be a part of the roadie crew with the other husbands.
The other three ladies are going to sing the finale of our show at her memorial service. No makeup or wigs, just three heartbroken women singing to the glory of God to honor their friend.
It will be something Bette would have loved.
Bette and Willis AKA Edie and Bubba
Bette Anne Puffer January 23, 1956 – August 22, 2013
About six weeks ago I wrote about a reunion Peggy and I attended in Dallas for members of the Youth Choir we sang with as teenagers; the group where Peggy and I met.
Coincidentally, three of our friends from that Youth Choir all live in Colorado. They were unable to make the reunion in Dallas, so Peggy and I brought the reunion to them! Another friend of ours happened to be visiting Colorado at the same time, so the six of us and our spouses got together in Idaho Springs and had a wonderful evening together. Here are the six choir members from the 70s and early-80s:
FBC Richardson Youth Choir alumni celebration in Idaho Springs, CO
The group looks pretty good except for the old, gray-haired dude in the back.
We stayed at the restaurant and visited and laughed until late into the evening. It is amazing how funny some of the stories still are after more than thirty years. The husbands were incredibly gracious and seemed to enjoy themselves, as well. At least many of the stories were new to them!
So many things have changed in the last thirty years — children, relocations, divorces, remarriage, job changes — but these are still the same wonderful friends we grew up with. We reminisced about other friends that we would love to see again, but mostly we talked about what is going on in our lives today. All of us are extremely blessed in our lives, and it was great to hear how everyone is moving on.
The whole group including the better halves
Thanks for the evening, folks! I would love to think we would do it more often, but I know how real life gets in the way. So we will enjoy these times when we get them and be thankful. And if we get to see you next year we will be thankful all over again!
Today I was looking through some pictures from last summer. Man, we had a good time last summer. And man, we had a terrible time last summer.
This summer has been different. It has been tough since Peggy has been going back and forth to Dallas a couple of times per month, but at least we know what we are dealing with. Last summer we were on the beginning of the journey with her Mom and we had no idea where it would end up.
Pooling by day…
…and dancing by night
The summer started well. I say “summer” advisedly because my definition of summer is warm weather. I had just returned from a weekend in New Orleans with my group of lifelong friends, and Peggy and I flew to Cancun for a week. We had a blast. Beautiful weather. Beautiful girl. Too much to eat and drink. In other words, everything you could want in a vacation!
We returned home and Peggy immediately went into high gear. She took her Mom to numerous doctor visits until we got the news from the doctor that Peggy’s mother could no longer live on her own. Then it was time to find her mother a memory care facility that was good enough to fit Peggy’s standards.
Peggy was in constant communication with her siblings about timing and how everything was going to work. One year ago this weekend they moved their Mom out of her house and into a beautiful memory care facility right next to the church Peggy’s mother attends.
With Peggy working so hard to help her mother, I rented a condo at the lake for the summer to give her the opportunity to relax. We got a membership at a boat club and spent hours on the lake. We played golf. We hung out. She had some respite from the constant heartache and pressure.
On the lake…
…or on the porch, it was great
Finally, one year ago this weekend, Peggy and her siblings moved her mother out of her home of nearly fifty years. In one week’s time, they got everything out of the house, fixed everything that needed fixing, painted the interior of the house, had new floors installed in the entire house, and put the house on the market.
I picked Peggy up in Dallas at the end of the week and took her to Colorado. We hiked, we played golf, we rode bikes, we had wonderful friends come to visit, all in the incredible, cool weather. The trip was just about perfect.
We were back in Dallas today celebrating Mary’s 85th birthday with her this morning before heading to Colorado for this year’s vacation. It was a fun time with her. She knows us and seems to really enjoy every visit. Peggy is a wonderful daughter and makes it a point to visit Mary as often as possible.
Happy Birthday breakfast with Mary
The visit with Mary this morning is what prompted the review of the pictures from last year. It’s funny — I don’t know if we have ever had more fun than we had last summer. And I don’t know if I have ever watched someone work harder or have more heartache than what I saw Peggy go through last summer. It was wonderful and it was painful.
I know I run the risk of losing some of you by opening with that statement, but it’s the truth. I love dogs, too — Peggy and I have had at least one dog for the past twenty-five years — but I get cats.
One night my brother and I were driving back late at night from a business dinner with a couple of other guys in the car. We were tired so we stopped at a truck stop. After walking around a bit I sat on the curb outside the building, and a big white tomcat came out of nowhere and jumped in my lap. I petted on him until the others came out of the truck stop. When the other two guys saw the stray cat sitting on me, my brother noticed their confused looks. “That’s been happening to him since he was a baby,” he told them.
Today we had to put down the feline matriarch of the family. We got Pepper from the vet’s office when she was a kitten. We had just lost a cat (to coyotes, I think) in San Antonio, and Peggy thought she was too cute to leave with the vet.
From the very beginning we were convinced she was some special breed of cat. She is the most intelligent cat I have ever known, and the vocabulary of words she understands is ridiculous! If you talk she knows she is supposed to answer, so she tries to involve herself in every conversation. And I have never seen a cat that jumps as high as she does. We have nine-foot ceilings in the bedroom — she jumps from the floor to bat the chain on the ceiling fan!
She was never a mother, but she has raised four kittens since we got her. The first two she even “nursed” for a few weeks (she had no milk) before “weaning” them. It was just natural to her.
Pepper owned me from the very beginning. Every morning when I get up she stands on the bathroom counter, puts her paws on my chest and rubs her head under my chin. She likes to stand on my shoulders and rub her face in my hair, and I can’t shave without her jumping up to sit on my shoulder. If I sit down in the house she gets on me, and she fusses at me every time I make her get up.
At a little over six pounds Pepper is the smallest cat we have ever owned, but she is fiercely protective and does not like strangers. More than one person has told us they were afraid to enter our house when we were not with them because of the “crazy cat”. Once we got a call from Mike’s babysitter, a 180-pound high school athlete, that he was stuck in the laundry room because Pepper wouldn’t let him out.
She has mellowed somewhat with age, but she still has the same reaction to anything that scares her — instead of running away she runs toward it. What a great life lesson from a cat. Attack the things that cause fear instead of running from them.
Pepper turned 18 in April (all of our animals are rescues, so we celebrate all of their birthdays on April 15. It gives us a reason to celebrate the day). Up until the last few months she had been her usual active, spry self. It became apparent lately, however, that she was suffering and in pain. When the doctor told us today there was nothing he could do to alleviate the issue or her pain, we made the decision. She is the sixth pet for whom we have endured this, and it never gets any easier.
I will miss her tomorrow morning when I get up and she is not on the bathroom counter to greet me. It is amazing to be loved like that.
Rest well, Pepper.
Pepper sleeping with Shoody. She’s really that small.
I don’t post a lot on social media. This blog is my outlet, so I don’t have a lot of need to post pictures of what I am eating or funny pet videos (though I enjoy a good pet video as much as anybody).
My favorite aspect of social media, though, are the “memories” that pop up reminding you of something that you posted about previously. I always enjoy seeing the comments and pictures with the benefit of time passing.
The memory that popped up today was this picture:
Ironically, the name of the place was Blu’s
This photograph, besides being a picture of an absolutely stunning woman, evokes many memories. But not from that night. Even though that night was memorable in itself.
The dress and necklace that Peggy is wearing were both from our 25th anniversary trip to Santorini Island off the coast of Greece in 2010. It was truly the trip of a lifetime. At least to date…
We hope to go back sometime in the future, but we created enough memories on that one trip to last forever. And seeing this picture this morning made all of those memories come flooding back.
Thank you, social media, for this delight.
I’m going to have to suggest that she wears the dress the next time we go out.
