I feel like before I write anything else I need to apologize to anyone who may have been in the San Antonio area over the past weekend and nearly been run off the road by a large white truck. And then also may have seen that same truck double-parked at various establishments all over town. P left town on Thursday afternoon in the stay wag leaving me with the choice of attempting to drive his truck or sitting home and doing nothing. Clearly, the latter option wasn’t really an option at all and I determined the only thing I had to fear was being yelled at by other drivers since I was the biggest thing on the road.
Oh, and I may have gently grazed the order sign at Sonic trying to back out.
Anyway, P headed to the coast to fish in a tournament with several of his friends. The actual tournament wasn’t until Saturday, but they always leave a day early to pre-fish. This is the part where I would like to mock and make fun of the concept of pre-fishing. However, they won the tournament and so I obviously know nothing about the proper mechanics of catching fish.
On Thursday, Caroline and I went to Natural Bridge Caverns with Mimi and Bops along with my sister and niece. My dad had taken my sister and I there about twenty-five years ago, but she had no recollection of any of it. Meanwhile, I felt an enormous amount of pride that I remembered the difference between stalactites and stalagmites and even one particular formation called a fried egg. It’s a shame that none of that knowledge helped me score higher than a C when I took Geography in college.
(Several people have now pointed out that I probably meant Geology instead of Geography. Yes, yes I did. But it was late when I wrote this and I did the best I could.)
Also, in what is sure to be one of the nerdiest things I’ve ever shared here, those formations grow at the rate of one inch per one hundred years. I find that fascinating. Or as our articulate tour guide totally understated, “You guys, it takes, like, a really long time for those things to grow”.
Before we went in the cave, we received a long lecture about the importance of not touching any of the rocks because the dirt and oils in our hands can cause them to quit growing. I was amazed that Caroline was so careful about not touching anything, until we walked out of the cave at the end of the tour and she mentioned she was so relieved she didn’t accidentally touch anything because she didn’t want to stop growing. Apparently she misunderstood what the guide said, but it totally worked and I may write a letter telling them that the most effective method to preserve the cave would be to tell little children they’ll quit growing if they touch something.
We spent most of the day Friday doing nothing with a side of nothing. And then a little more nothing.
But on Saturday Caroline was ready for some fun. She asked, “Are we going to get wild like girls do?”
Note to self: Find out where she learned this concept.
Her original desire was to go to the mall, but I convinced her there was no way I could park P’s truck in the mall parking lot and also informed her there would be no buying of anything while we were there. We ended up calling her friend S and I took the girls to the pool for most of the day.
A new pool era was born because it wasn’t crowded at all and so I sat in a lounge chair WITH A BOOK while the girls swam and played for the better part of three hours. Every now and then they would come over to get money for ice cream or mozzarella sticks and then head off again. We were all GIDDY with the freedom.
Later that night, P arrived safely back home with about fifteen pounds of fish and my beloved stay wag. I’m pretty excited about eating fresh fish all week.
But I think I’m even more excited to be able to go to Sonic without hitting the menu.