Enablers

 (aka “Best Laid Plans”)

Of course, if you build something up in your own mind, the reality is bound to be a disappointment… I had high hopes for my little “Mommy & Me” weekend, when Victoria was traveling to a bachelorette weekend in Florida. The possibilities were endless: Z even mentioned a quick “return to Vegas” weekend but that was a little too high-stakes for me; Mommy suggested a road trip. Then of course it’s my own damn fault for envisioning/half-planning a West Texas trip: a return to Balmorhea & Fort Davis, where we toured when Zach was 12. (I bought day passes to Balmorhea since their entries are limited, but in the end that was just a $14 donation to TPWD. Thank goodness I hadn’t made hotel reservations!)

Originally, I had hoped Zach would be able to cut loose by Thursday night, but he got held up by complications at work & had to putter around most of the day Friday. In the end, we decided on an overnight trip to OKC - where Z travels quite frequently for work; he wanted to show me some of the sights. Unfortunately V was not having a great time in sunny FL & Z was having to field many calls from her… (9 girls in a bridal party sounds huge, so obviously there were many opportunities for interpersonal conflict!?!) We stopped to have a nice dinner along the way, where I gently asked Zach how many times had V called him today? He admitted “5 or 6” but I guarantee she had tried to call at least 10 or 12 times - if he didn’t answer immediately, she would call back again - a very annoying habit in Val’s book! (I had to disabuse P of that habit years ago when he was traveling - he also would try to call me multiple times; when I called him back I would say I’m no more likely to answer the second or third time in a row you called than I was the first!)

At any rate, by the time we made it to our hotel (we stayed in the historic Fordson which was very nice), V had worked herself into an intoxicated lather, so poor Z spent over an hour trying to calm her down… I tried to tell him there’s no reasoning with drunkenness! That should give them some good material to thrash out with their couples therapist [sarcasm]. But overall I think we made the best of it - OKC was very clean & quite impressive: we had a great luncheon at the historic Cattlemen's Restaurant & doodled around their stockyards & farmers market a little bit. I bought Twoie a new halter & upgraded my wallet - everyone was enchanted by Tina Fea, the tiny dog in her tiny carrier 💕 Fell into my own bed exhausted last night & slept for 9.5 hrs - unprecedented!

I will post a few photos after I go through the tedious transfer processes - I titled this post thusly as I continue to fret about things that are outside my control. One could also posit that P enables me since he is tasked with being my farmhand - I couldn’t keep up with my place without his help. A few friends competed in yesterday’s Tevis ride as I ponder when & where I’ll make my next meager 25-mi attempt.

I also got the sad news that my friend Carla‘s dad has passed away (age 97) so I’ve got to squeeze in an appearance at his memorial service Monday…