Houseguests

Martha and Dick have been here since Sunday evening, and tonight, Wednesday, they're getting ready to leave in the morning. The visit has been every bit as much fun as I anticipated, but different than the things I planned. Like a good hostess, I thought of all sorts of options--a tour of this, a visit to that, the Mueck exhibit at the museum, etc. And, always, I thought of where I would take them to eat. Little of it came true. We did go to some of the eating places--the deli that they loved on a previous visit, my favortie bistro. One night we had take-out barbecue--ribs, sandwiches, potato salad and slaw--because Dick really wanted some Texas barbecue. But mostly we ate dinner at home--a potpourri the night they arrived, steak and potatoes one night, and, tonight, leftovers.
We spent a wonderful morning at John's ranch, taking a tour on the mechanical mule where Cindy and I got to sit in the back where it was really really hot. But Martha and Dick loved the ranch and the visit. Then we went into the historic town of Granbury, did a tiny bit of shopping, ate lunch with a friend of mine. That trip was a huge success. And maybe the thing they enjoyed most was a slow tour of Central Market, our wonderful upscale grocery with all its gourmet offerings.
Dick is Mr. fix-It, and he took my barbecue apart and redid it, scrubbed the front porch until it shone (while I napped!), fixed the screen door on the apartment, all those things that are ignored by single women living alone. I'm already starting a list for their next visit--and Martha plans to call ahead so the liquor store will stock lots of Asian beer, which they like because they lived in Singapore. So that means, to me, they'll come back now more frequently.
And mostly we sat on the front porch with a beer or a glass of wine--this in spite of the fact that it was ungodly hot. It's not easy for me to sit and visit at length--I have the urge to be up and doing. But a couple of times Dick was insistent that I just sit, and I did. We reminisced about Kirksville, Missouri, the VERY small town where we all first knew each other, and we talked about grandchildren, and people we remembered, and all those good things that make a mosaic of friendship. At one point I said, "You know, we have a lot of shared memories," and Martha replied, "Yeah, especially considering that we don't see each other very often." That's the stuff that makes friendships endure for 40+ years, as ours has. Jamie had a saying engraved on steins for his groomsmen, and I can't remember all of it, but gist was that "new friends are silver, but old friends are gold." So true!
Tomorrow it's back to work and the real world. Friday night I'll stay at Jordan's house to babysit Jacob, but our Saturday trip to Houston is in doubt. We'll see. I'll be sad if we don't go, but I'm so harried, with so much to do, that it might be a relief. Next week I'm off to meetings in Abilene for two days, with houseguests the night before. My life is neither dull nor slow.
I wish for each of you a lovely day every day.