Here's the excerpt of my short trip to Houston to commune with my past. It was a very memorable reunion with some good close friends and I wanted to share it to all of you. And here it goes:
Day 1 ( March 23, 2010; Tuesday): I was working the night before but since the census was low I volunteered to be flexed because I barely had packed my things to be brought for my trip to Houston. I left at 2:30 am hoping that I can stash some more clothes for my trip but I really felt so tired that time so I opted to take a little nap and had packed an hour before I left. At 6:45 am the airport shuttle had come to pick me up and dropped me off at the airport. It was still dark on my way to the airport and when the shuttle had dropped me off at Terminal 6 where the Continental Airlines was located I immediately lined up my two baggages and checked them in at the drop section punching and entering my e-ticket confirmation number. After all my baggages were been checked in I went up to the gate I was assigned to after lining up and passing the airport inspection area.I then waited for my boarding time at 9:10 am. After boarding the plane left at 9:30 am. The flight was about two-and-a-half hours long. It was a very boring flight and I was napping the whole time after eating the lunch they had served which comprised of a box of salad, a hotdog on a bun, a small chocolate the size of a matchbox, and a slice of cheese. Better than the usual pretzels and peanuts offered by the other airlines. At least this one is real food. I arrived at Houston at around 2:30 pm (they were two hours ahead of the pacific time zone). After I gathered all my baggages I went outside the private car area section for my pick-up. My best friend Jovi couldn't able to pick me up because she needs to pick up her two sons from two different schools so my other college friend Sally volunteered to pick me up bringing her parents who I also know off when we were in college and were currently vacationing in the US. I waited outside the airport for them to see me when they arrived. After waiting for almost half an hour (they were stuck in a traffic) I was so excited to see Sally and her parents and we started to hug each other and gave our hi's and hello's. It was a very exciting reunion indeed. We drove towards Pearland passing downtown Houston and stayed at her house while waiting for Jovi to come home after picking up her two kids from different schools. When Jovi phoned that they were home we immediately went to their house where I suppose to stay and waited for some of our other friends (Eden and hubby, May and her kids and mom) who were suppose to come for a potluck dinner in honor of my visit. When all were there we excitedly talked, hugged, and greeted each other promptly then enjoyed the food that they brought and prepared for this little reunion and meeting. Then it was around 10 pm when we all disbanded and call off the night.
Day 2 (March 24, 2010; Wednesday): I woke up early at around 8 am and prepared myself for the day's activity. Jovi had just got home after dropping off Jonah and Julian to school. We talked at each other for a while and then she informed me that Amy (my best other best friend) will come to pick me up at lunch so that we can have some quiet time while waiting to pick-up her son Nicholas form school. Amy got there thirty minutes after lunch then we headed to First Colony where she lived and we passed by at Cafe Adobe for us to eat a light lunch for I told her that I just had a little brunch with Jovi. We talked a lot about our individual lives and then we excitedly reminisce about our past experiences when we were still together during our job hunting days and our times when we lived together at McAllen, TX where we had our first jobs. It was really fun to reminisced everything from our past. After our light snack we went to pick-up Nick at school then headed home for Nick to change and get ready for his swimming class. Amy and I drove him up to his swimming class and waited there until she's done then we went back to their house and there I saw Ruel, Amy's hubby. We talked and talked until it was dark. It was around 9 pm when Amy drove me back to Pearland at Jovi's house for me to pick-up my clothes and then she drove me off at Sally's house where I will spend the night off because we will be leaving the next day to McAllen together with Sally's parents, for Tatay to met his long time friend. Sally arrived at quarter before 11:00 pm and then followed by her husband. She happily introduced me to her husband Rudy whom i met for the first time. We talked for a little bit then we went to sleep after that for we will have to leave early the next day for our trip down south.
Day 3 (March 25, 2010; Thursday): I woke up at around 4:30 am and took a warm shower in preparation for our trip down south of Texas together with Sally, her hubby and parents. We left at exactly 6 am after seeing to it that everything were been okay. When we were at Rosenberg and was talking about immigration papers we just realized that the two tourists on board had left their passports at home so we have to go back and get it which wasted our time a lot. But in order for them to be safe we decided to go back and get them. We left Houston at around 7 am and drove back to Highway 59 South going to McAllen. Sally's hubby drove all the way down south while we sporadically talk each other inside the car about our past experiences and laugh at it at times. The drive was long and very smooth and boring. There was no traffic and we feel that we own the road. Texas plains were all green at this time because of the approaching Springtime and some wild flowers had sprouted on the sides of the road blanketing it with colorful and enticing hue. Texas bluebonnets were seen sporadically everywhere and the plantations were all tilled in preparation for the next planting season. each time we passed by the populated area of each town we have to slow down being wary to get issued a ticket for speeding and when the area appear uninhabited we cranked up our speed beating against time. It was a long and tedious drive down south and I feared sitting for long hours had probably gave me a deep vein thrombosis for assuming the same position for some long hours. I felt a little calf pain but I totally brush off the idea of a deep vein thrombosis. We arrived at Rio Grande Valley at around 2:30 pm which was about five-hours-and-a-half drive. Rudy was still very cautious about his first long drive meticulously following the instructions of the ever reliable GPS. We arrived at our college classmate's (Jo-Ann's) house and we met her there. It was another happy reunion to see our classmate from college. Jo-Ann prepared some treat for us to eat and we talked a lot about our experiences form college and about the ones when we were working together at McAllen. Tatay Dado (Sally's dad) can't wait to see his long time friend so Jo-Ann called him and told him that Tatay was already here. The two met up so poignantly and dramatically with matching emotional hugs and tears. Harris (Jo-Ann's hubby) came down and met us up. After that the two old men talked very intently at each other while we went to Amparo's (our other college classmate who was marrie dto Jo-Ann's brother) to drop off some food. When we came back at Jo-Ann's house the two old men were still talking intently at each other. Harris had invited us to go to the Civic Center for the Mexican Food Festival but before that we passed by the hospital to visit Tatay's friend's wife who was admitted in the ICU for a lung complication then we head to the Civic Center for the Food Festival. The event was so packed and we enjoyed the free food being offered. It was a very satisfying night and we had our fill. We came out of the building all full, heavy, and burping. After that Harris showed us around the area and we noticed that McAllen had developed so much after ten years when we were gone. Various developments were seen all over the place and a lot of establishments had already sprouted everywhere since we were gone. After the drive Harris brought us at Amparo's house and there we get to see Amparo and family and also Auntie Abet. We we all happy to see each other. The two old men were still yacking continuously as if the night seems endless. We were even poking fun at them but they completely ignored us. It was the best night for us to talk and reminisce about past experiences. And it was nice to be back at McAllen again.
I have to stop for here now and will continue the remaining two days of my trip on my next blog. Thanks for your continued patronizing for this blog and I couldn't help coming back here to blog all my thoughts. I just wanted to ask a big apology and pardon to all you because of my infrequent visit here. It's just that I was so busy lately and I am always in a complete bind with my job. But my thoughts was always here trying to think what to blog on this blog site. Hopefully, all is well and everything were kinda okay despite of my very limited blogs lately. Sorry about that. I just won't make any promises right now but I will try my best to put some entry here once in a while. Thanks a bunch!
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