Bodacious Boomer

Well, I’m back home. I’m back at Evelyn’s house. Doug and I went to San Antonio last Thursday night to work for two days, then on to Austin to work at the kite festival. The event in San Antonio was new, but had promise. It was being held at Old Market Square, a popular tourist spot. Being the first weekend of spring break we assumed the city would be flooded with tourists eager to spend money on their kids. Alas, we were wrong. Ninety percent of our customers were locals, most of whom were financially challenged.

Late Sat. night we packed up in San Antonio and drove to Austin, about an hour away. By the time we got there, checked in and finally were settled in it was about 2:30am. My wake up call was for 6:30, just 4 hours later. At 3:15, just as I was really getting to sleep the young  (20 somethings) in the room next door rolled in, making enough noise to wake the dead and then some. I assumed they literally rolled in for I know that they were waay too drunk to have driven or even walked.

Of course Doug, AKA Doug who nothing wakes, slept right through all the commotion. I waited 5 minutes to see if they would settle. They didn’t; so I called the front desk. Thirty minutes later, they were still at it so I called again. This time the security guard paid them a call. I finally got to sleep about 4am. When the wake-up call came at 6:30 I was sure it was a mistake; it really couldn’t be time to get up. Sadly, I was wrong.

As I was brushing my teeth thought-I used to be able to party with the best of them. I drank 151 proof daiquiris on the rocks and danced til 4 am- no problem. What happened? Of course when my mind finally cleared I remembered that was almost 40 years ago. Life happened. As I was dragging my happy ass out to the car I paused for a minute in front of my room. Then I leaned over, made a fist and pounded on the door next to ours like my life depended on it.  It probably didn’t even wake them, but it made me feel good anyway. Yeah, I know it was childish. In the car on the way to the event I realized I’ve become one of those grouchy old people I used to make fun of. That sucked.

The kite festival was fantastic. The weather was perfect. I painted steadily from 10am til 5:30, without  1 break. By the end of the day, I thought my arm might just fall off. It didn’t of course, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had. The Exchange Club takes 30% off the top, then sends us a check for the rest. That really hurts financially; however at least it’s for a good cause.

On the way to the Red Roof we stopped and had dinner. My shoulder was throbbing and I had already taken 4 Alleve and numerous Advil during the day so I ordered a liquid pain killer at Polvos. One Long Island Iced Tea did the trick. I didn’t feel any pain for a couple of hours., and was quiet when we got to our room. (At least I was a considerate drunk).

I noticed yesterday while packing to come home that somehow, the shirt I’d been wearing after having my liquid analgesic  was spot-free- no small feat on a regular day. (The whole big boobs thing you know). But remaining spot-free after a meal of queso and fajitas when I was blitzed- that’s more of a miracle. Where’s CNN when you need them?