Weekend

 Friday Adam and I headed to Waco.  I wanted to go to the Silos and it was worth it.  Everything was beautiful.  

I loved walking through the shops and just seeing all the pretty things.

I sent this to our kids.  It was an I Spy game of where Adam was taking a meeting.

Emma returned this zoomed in picture.

We went to a hotel Chip and Joanna Gaines had renovated and had lunch in one of the restaurants.  It was delicious and also beautiful.   This was one of my favorite parts.  I could have spent the day there, curled up with a book.

We stopped off in West, TX for kolaches.  Adam wanted to get some for his friends.  Our next stop, of course, was Buc-ee's.  

It was my second time going there, but it was equally impressive as the first time.  It's a whole cultural experience.  I told Adam that if you grew up stopping at Buc-ee's on road trips and then you moved anywhere else, you would always be disappointed wherever you stopped.

I was the kid who never found their name on anything at a gas station, so this was exciting:

I didn't end up getting the t-shirt, but I got this little tray.

I straightaway took a nap when we got back to our hotel room (against all conventional wisdom a nap in the 4:00-5:00 hour is my favorite) and Adam did a little work.

One of us works harder than the other one on these trips....

The alumni party was at the Fort Worth Zoo.  It was getting dark and we didn't go around too much, but we saw the giraffes, which was fun.

We met up with Wes and Scott, two of Adam's colleagues, and the three of them had already arranged to leave early and go get tacos.  They saw their boss and one of them said, "We'll go whenever you're ready."

He said, "I'm ready."

So they hopped to it and we headed out.  Adam always rents a minivan for just such a time as this.  He loves driving people around.  He'd be a great Uber driver.

We went back to Velvet Taco and had a good time.  We dropped them off at their hotel (with the kolaches) and Adam dropped me off at our hotel and then he went back to the alumni party to help get Hootie sorted.  100% not his job, but he is always the good guy and I'm lucky to be married to someone like him.  Also, can we talk about Hootie?  It's the Sprinter van we took to Seattle a few years ago.  I kept calling it Hootie on that trip and Adam was not super enthusiastic about the name, but it stuck and now I hear all these people talking about Hootie and I feel like I have left my mark on the world.

It's the little things.

Saturday morning Adam was up and gone well before I woke up.  They hold two commencements in the day and I stayed in the hotel during the first one, happily with my book and embroidery.  I tried a little family history, but I was in the 1700s and clueless.

Adam picked me up and we checked out of our hotel and went back to the arena where the second commencement was already underway.  We got merrily waved through all the security checked back entrances and they moved cones so Adam could park in the loading dock area.  He had already made friends with all of them in his easy way.  A peek into the commencement team's job is pretty incredible.  One graduate had a broken shoe and they were on it, figuring out how to help.  Another graduate had her name wrong.  An employee came up to Adam and explained the problem and asked, "Do you know where Megan is?"

Adam said, "I will go look."  I was left with the graduate and nervously hand wringing employee and the guys watching all the screens behind the stage.  Megan showed up and whipped out an index card and pen from her bag and talked to the tech guy to change it on the screen.  I texted Adam, "They found Megan."

He later told me, "I had no idea who Megan was.  I'm still learning names.  I was going to try to find her picture on my phone."

I still loved his helpful posture.  It is one of his defining characteristics.

We chatted with a few more people, then found some seats and listened to a bit of the graduation.  I felt this swelling inside me when they had all the masters candidates stand.  I did that!

It is always very inspiring to go to the graduations.  One of the speakers talked about his wife picking up all the slack with their four children while he worked on his bachelors degree.  He said his whole motivation was those four children.  He said, "Now I don't wear work boots and overalls to work.  I'm business casual."

Everyone cheered.

Wes told us later that when he was handing out diploma covers, one of the graduates had the sash that indicated they were the first generation in their family to graduate college (43% of the graduates were!).  Wes said, "Congratulations on being the first generation."

The man said he was also the first high school graduate in his family.

Wes told him that he had changed his whole family.

I can see why those guys like working at WGU so much.

On a WGU high, I bought a sweatshirt.  One of the guys selling the shirts asked, "Who's the graduate?"

I said, "Me!"

We left the graduation and went to the Kimbell Art Museum.  It was amazing.  I love a good art museum.  I feel taller after looking at art.

Adam said, "Wes and Scott have to see this!"

He was going back to the graduation anyway to tell his team good job.  He left me at the museum.  I wandered around happily.

They returned and we only had a few minutes before we were taking them to the airport.   Like the teacher, I showed them the Michelangelo and Donatello.  I showed them the Monet which was one of his first exhibitions.  

I love art.

After dropping them off, we checked into a different hotel in Dallas.  It's kind of strange and not as nice as the photos online suggested, but it's fine.

A change is as good as a rest.

We went on a quest for New Haven style pizza in Garland.  They had a two hour wait so we opted for Tex Mex instead.

Today we're heading home and tomorrow I have early meetings at school.

Back to reality.