Valentine's Day

Deep in the heart of Texas

Had to go to Austin for work which luckily allowed me to see my high school friends. If you're single on this most commercial of days invented to sell all things romantic, it is best to leave town and go visit with a 3 year old. Giggles and energy are always welcome. So M, Z and the little ball of energy, C took me out for some good TexMex food which I always long for living in New York. NYC has some of the greatest and varied food one could ever hope for but they just can't get TexMex right. Yum - chile relleno, rice and beans, even simple but good tortillas are so comforting ... unless co-opted by TacoBell or their ilk. And for dessert, a heart shaped linzer torte cookie from la Madeleine. Better yet was the good company.

I must admit that my high school years were not easy for me. Luckily I had M and D and a few other friends to carry me through the awkward moments. I was this very skinny girl, ran cross-country, had short hair and loved math and science. In the strongly southern social circles of my teenage years, Texas gals had big hair, wore lots of make-up, flirted, had boyfriends, cared about fashion, and did not play sports - they joined the dance squads or, if lucky, became cheerleaders to be close the the football action. Football is king in Texas. So I survived and actually had a rather fun time with M, D and several others. What is truly nice is to quickly fall back into easy conversation with M and Z. Of course there is always the catch-up gossip - who's married, who was at reunion, who got divorced, what happened to the nice guy I took to our dance (had to import him from a boy's private school - he really was a great guy; wonder what happened to him?). Strange thing is that if I had to give an update on my life, it is all basically leaving Texas, studying, working, moving around the country. Not a bad life but sometimes I think I'm just the same as when I graduated from high school, searching for my next learning endeavor, never really able to commit to the adult world of marriage, family, settling down, growing up. Ah, maybe one day I'll feel grown-up. Until then, I'll revel in evenings spent with good friends and huggable kids because that really is time well spent.