A Perfect Autumn Weekend

I missed my weekly visit to Auntie Em's kitchen last Sunday.

Instead, I found myself in the northern part of the state, six hours from home. Mark and I drove those six hours on Friday afternoon, and arrived at the front door of our daughter Rebecca's sorority house around dinner time. It was so GREAT to see her, as I hadn't since the first week of August. Could not hug her tightly enough.

We had plans to take her to dinner, along with her boyfriend Scott, who we had yet to meet. His frat house is right across the street (how convenient) so it didn't take long for him to appear. It was nice to meet him, but the initial hand-shaking perhaps would have been less awkward if Mark had not called him Pat. Pat was last year. Oops!

To be fair, both young men are tall, dark, and relatively handsome. So it was an honest mistake.

The rest of the evening went well. Dinner at Sangria's was fabulous as always, and there were no lags in the conversation. Scott's already-OK approval rating climbed even higher when the topic somehow turned to books (I swear I didn't start it!) and he had interesting opinions on a couple I have read. Any man who can discuss books passes any test I may be secretly administering.

We dropped "the kids" off back at Greek Row around 10:00 (early for them, close to bedtime for us) and headed to our motel room for the night.

Early Saturday morning, we picked Rebecca up and drove 45 minutes to the location of her brother Sam's cross-country meet. He attends a different college, and the two hadn't seen each other since the last week of May. It just so happened that last weekend, his team travelled for a race near enough to her college that we could get to see both of them in the same weekend.

I know she was excited to get to see him, because 1) she was awake, dressed, willing and ready to go before 9 AM on a Saturday, and 2) it was her college's Homecoming and she was skipping the parade, tailgate party, football game, and other activities with her boyfriend to be with us.

That's no small thing for a college sophomore.

The race itself was exciting.

Sam's team finished second overall, although he himself did not finish in his usual spot in the front pack due to the deep-tissue injury he's been suffering all season. He went off to sit by himself after the race. After a few minutes, Rebecca walked over to sit with him. I have no idea what they said to each other, but as their mother, it gave me feelings I can't describe to see them, heads together, away from the crowd, brother and sister.

****And I've been trying to add a photo, but my computer isn't cooperating. So I'd better finish this quick and publish before losing it all. ****

After the race, we got in a caravan line behind the team bus with other parent vehicles and followed them to their lunch destination.

We all sort of took over the restaurant, pushing tables together to make room for everyone. Sam and Rebecca made sure they got to sit right beside each other, extrending the visit as long as possible.

When it was time for the team to get back on the bus, we said our goodbyes and drove Rebecca back to her college, then turned the car towards home.

Total time spent in the car to watch a 25 minute cross-country race?

Nearly 14 hours.

Money spent on gasoline, motel, food?

Don't ask. But what's a week's pay, anyway?

Memories?

More than priceless.