...And Then We Slept Til Noon

Quote of the Weekend: "I've always dreamed about sleeping til noon!" ~ said by Alex Sunday morning when she discovered that I had indeed let her sleep til noon.

That was really the high point. Friday afternoon I received word that my Uncle Jack had died. He's been sick for a long time and had gone into the hospital earlier in the week, but no one expected him to die quite that fast.

By now the whole weekend seems like a blur. A mix of trying to carry on with regular life and keep my aunt and her family feed with lots of food and moral support. Saturday morning was beautiful. Thirty five thousand people came out to walk and run in support for a cure for breast cancer. Fifty of Becky's Angels were a part of the crowd. We were all decked out in our pink to walk with her family and to carry on her memory. It was beautiful to see the feel of solidarity among the survivors and their family members, and unlike most October mornings in Texas, the weather was actually beautiful. We have been having cold fronts that are usually reserved for December. It was 57 degrees this morning! No humidity! Of course, with all this clear air my body is freaking out and I've been sneezing like I'm Sneezy the dwarf.

After dinner with my Aunt and cousins, Alex's Aunt Bea spent the night at our house. She turned the big 14 last week and to celebrate her entrance into adult hood we watched "scary movies" like Disney's Hocus Pocus and Neil Patrick Harris' Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long. I'm not sure what time we finally got to bed, but I wasn't able to pull myself out of the soda and junk food stooper until well after 9:00 the next morning.

I had to get the girls up at noon, I had the best treat in store for the birthday girl. Aunt Bea plays the violin, and has for years, but she hasn't had the chance to see great soloist at work. By luck, my favorite violinist ever was in town so we head to the symphony to see the matinee performance of Joshua Bell playing Mendelssohn. I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing that concerto. Its one violinist love to play because its flashy, but it also has a lot of lyricism. I guess that's why audiences love to hear it, and I don't think the fact that Josh has that baby cute face hurts him any. Aunt Bea was as excited to dress up and walk around downtown as she was to see Bell play, but his performance kept both girls captivated.

Oh yeah, and somewhere in there Alex got a new fish. The old fish (that she never officially named) died last weekend. He had been looking rather tired. Alex tried to declare him dead several times only for me to double check and find that he was still swimming, be it slowly. She had a friend over when I finally declared the poor thing officially gone and both girls cheered as they took him out and buried him by the creek that runs behind the park.

Okay, now you have a full account of my weekend, or at least I've hit the highest and lowest points...