Mrs. Bear Dare

Our trip to Lubbock turned out well. On Friday, I was worried about the weather and the drive to West Texas. Although it was very windy and there were a few snow flurries, the snow was not sticking and the trip was uneventful. I was also worried about being bored especially if the weather was bad and we were stuck in the house. By Friday night the snow flurries were gone and all that was left was the cold. Saturday was actually very nice – maybe a bit cool, but not bad for spring. And there was nothing boring about our time in Lubbock.

I did a bit of shopping Saturday morning. Toby would probably say it was A LOT of shopping, but when I found a store that sells nice clothes that actually fit me and they were having a 70% off sale, well, I bought a few things. With my brother’s wedding coming up, I needed a few things. It was the best day of shopping I have had in years.

In my comments Mrs. Bear dared me to tell this storY:
Our friends Bear and Anny met us for lunch. I have mentioned before that when the four of us get together, the years fall away, and it is just as if we were the same four crazy kids that we were back in our college days. It was like that again this time. We went to a place called Cancun’s for some tasty Mexican food. Back in the 70’s when Bear and Anny and Toby and I were all newlyweds, we used to go out for Mexican food in Lubbock. So it was like old times, but this time we had money to pay for our meal. After lunch, we decided to hit some open houses around Lubbock to get a sense of what is in style in new homes – maybe pick up some ideas for building on to our house. For those of you who don’t know, Bear is a contract painter and all around handy man. Anny has a degree in fashion merchandising from TT. Together they are quite the team for designing and redoing a home.

While driving around, we caught up on all of the latest happenings in each other’s life. B&A had recently attended a wedding of mutual friend’s son. Anny explained that a bus had been hired to carry the wedding party around from place to place. After loading onto the bus, the bus driver had announced that the restroom was slightly out of order – and would everyone please refrain from "going number 2" while on the bus. Anny told us that Bear tortured and teased the bus driver by continuously hollering that he had to "go number 2." I’m sure the crowd thought it was funny, but apparently the bus driver did not think so. You would have to know Bear - he can be merciless in his teasing. I can just see him messing with the driver.

We looked at several very nice new homes. Some were impressive; some were gaudy. It was just fun to be with old friends, laughing at old jokes, and being our like youngsters again. So there we were looking through a brand new home for sale, when Bear gets this funny look and announces that he has to "go number 2!" We laughed, of course. No, he meant it! Something he had eaten at the Mexican food restaurant disagreed with him. We laughed harder. Fortunately the bathroom in the new house did have toilet paper. Bear used the new bathroom while we stood outside laughing and hoping no one would come to look at the house. We continued to laugh at him all afternoon. Poor Bear – he was rather embarrassed, and rather put out with our laughing. One thing is for sure, every time we get together with B&A, something crazy happens – something that will go down in our memory books for future laughter and teasing.

Since I told that on Bear – here is one on the rest of us. While driving around looking at open houses, we had to share our reading glasses (another one for the memory books). At the end of the day, B&A dropped us off at Toby’s mom’s house and then went to their son’s home to get dressed for a wedding. Toby left my good reading glasses in the front seat of B&A’s car. We had to drive over to Blaine’s to get the glasses. I was glad for the excuse to get to see Blaine. Anny almost forgot to give me my glasses once we got there, because she was showing us Blaines little house, but she ran out to her car and got them for me. Later that evening, I realized that I did not have my nice glasses case and had forgotten them in the back seat of B&A’s car. I called Anny, and she laughed at Toby, me, and herself for the whole "forgetful" episode, and because no matter how young we feel when we get together, we are getting older.