Life is truly unpredictable. You never really know what a day is going to bring
I woke early and let Yvette and Alaya sleep. I intended to put up all my fall decorations. It would be easier while the baby slept.
This was a tradition I have held on the first weekend of September for years now. It’s always so exciting to me, pulling out all the fall decorations. My house is full of pumpkins from this month until the end of November. This is a big deal.
After putting up most of my pumpkins, I went outside to water with the dogs. But oh shit, Roscoe wasn’t looking great. Friday night, his neck was swollen and we had to take his collar off. Saturday, it looked like the wound had busted open and blood was oozing out. I grabbed a wet, warm rag and held it against the wound while fluids drained out. An extremely disgusting ordeal I wasn’t happy to be doing — but it needed to be done.
I stopped to think for a second. If this was Alaya, wouldn’t we bring her to the emergency room? You damn right we would!!! So I called a vet office on a Saturday and asked if they did walk-ins. The last thing I wanted was to bring him to the emergency vet. They said yes.
We loaded up Roscoe, dropped off Alaya at Yvette’s parents, and off we went to the vet. The place was packed!! Goddamn, what a bummer. We waited in the car for two hours before getting the call to bring him in.
The poor bastard had an abscess. They drained more out of it, shaved it, and cleaned it. Ruled out a snake bite, thank God. Yvette would have burned the yard down. Not sure what the cause was, they gave him pain pills and antibiotics. Poor bastard looked terrible, but he wasn’t acting any different. Blessings, I guess.
Better safe than sorry.
After that ordeal, we went back over to Yvette’s parents to pick up Alaya and visit a little while. It was good seeing them and catching up. Mainly, we talked about bullshit at work, which was always something to talk about. Always bullshit.
I bounced early to run some errands — gas, Hobby Lobby, dinner groceries, etc. Fun times.
That evening, we took Alaya out to the pool. Labor Day weekend was pretty much the end of pool season. What am I talking about? It is the end. We figured we might as well enjoy it for one last hurrah. She sure loves her pool time.
To our pleasant surprise, there really weren’t many people there. They also had the Texas A&M game playing at the bar, which I was now invested in with Teegan being present “at that game!” They kicked some ass. He sent a picture that completely blew away how we were watching the game compared to how he was. Lucky kid was having a grand time on the 50-yard line.
When we got home, we didn’t have a key. Laughable. Yvette’s mom unlocked the door and visited a little while. Roscoe seemed to be doing so well, but his wound looked swollen again. He had only just started taking the antibiotics. We all kind of coasted into the evening.
I woke up and made bacon, potatoes, eggs, and tortillas. I cleaned up Roscoe’s wound, which just looked terrible from all the leakage. I put on the movie Children of Men, just to have something in the background.
Jesus. What a compelling film. It’s even more terrifying twenty years after its initial release. Hard not to get moved while watching it. What a marvel of filmmaking. Probably in my top 20 list of greatest films. Do they make films like that anymore? Am I old?
After that, I played my game to put off what I really needed to do — finish my damn fence job. I still had the granite side to dig up. I got after it and completed the job, taking a great deal of weight off my fence line and hopefully improving my drainage issues. I went and made sure all the pickets were nailed into place. God willing, this pain-in-the-ass job will give my fence a longer life and resolve my drainage problems.
Yvette had gone to have lunch with her parents while I was doing some “man work” in the yard, so after cleaning up, I scoured the fridge for a late lunch. Leftovers it was. Not a bad lunch. While eating, I thought about how happy I was to have that bullshit behind me, at long last. It felt like I had been working on that for sooooo long. Now, Labor Day, I actually didn’t have to do any labor. I could chill.
It was time for the final pool trip. Alaya would have to wait a year. It would be gone before she knew it. She really went all out for her last day. She had her boogie board, and she made sure to venture into uncharted areas of the pool never before explored. She even made a peek into the dreaded “deep end.”
Scary place to a kid. Forbidden until a certain age. What an adventurous girl. I was happy to have the moment with her and Yvette. Another summer came to a close..
Labor Day, I chilled. I made myself do absolutely nothing. I slept in a little late, and when I finally woke up to make breakfast, I started a movie I had been wanting to watch for a while now, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. A film by Martin McDonagh, whose previous work I’ve enjoyed. The film was a dark comedy, no question about it, with stellar acting, especially from Sam Rockwell, who won an Oscar for his turn as the racist, idiot cop. The film was pretty great.
The day was certainly lazy and relaxing.
Tuesday, I was sitting, but really I filled in for Seth since he took a vacation. I was busy and happy with that. My only work day until Friday. Haha. Very weird week.
After work, I went to the library and did some reading and started my quiz over Chapter 4. I wanted to get ahead since I would be out of town most of Wednesday and Thursday.
Wednesday was the day of the big concert. It arrived, and since I was off work and didn’t really need to be in Austin until around 5, I worked on schoolwork. I finished up most of my assignments and felt ahead of the game. This was a great feeling to have. No worries during the good times.
The road to Austin was fine until I got to Austin. Damn Mopac. I was at a standstill for thirty minutes. I guess I should call myself lucky that that was the only traffic incident I met, but it’s a pain in the ass when three miles becomes thirty minutes.
I arrived at my brother Chris and Emma’s new house. Yep, he has a house now! And a fiancée!! I am happy with that new development. Proud of him. He never thought he would get married again. Neither did I at one point. You just don’t know when you’ll meet that person who changes everything for you.
Anyways, Keith was already there, so first things first — a beer to decompress. I got the tour of the new house and the plans that they had for it. It was nice, yet still a mess from the move and the remodeling, but I could see around all of that. Lots of potential.
It was time for dinner before the show. For some reason, Chris thought a place that is known for its chili would be a good idea before hitting a three-hour outdoor concert in the late-summer Texas heat. I guess we didn’t really object, and the chili was indeed good. Texas Chili Parlor. A famous joint.
The restaurant was even featured in one of my favorite movies, Planet Terror by Quentin Tarantino. I geeked out. I sat down at the bar where one of my favorite actors, Kurt Russell, sat in the movie. How fucking awesome is that?
After dinner, all of us a bloated mess and probably rethinking the chili, decided to hit up this speakeasy. This was the state capital, so of course a place like that existed. It was in an alley down some stairs. The place was fucking dark, with only shaded lamps to illuminate. I could tell it was a place the politicians probably attended after ruthless sessions. I’m sure some shady exchanges had been made in such a place.
After a strong drink to lube us for the night ahead, we were off to the concert.
Jimmy Eat World!!!
Jimmy Eat World. A band I grew up listening to in high school. Over the years, the subsequent albums have all shared important moments in my life. Chronologically, I match a life event with an album. Crazy, but true.
The night was the 25th anniversary of Bleed American. An album that I remember fondly. Off the top of my head, I think of July 2001, out at the lake with old high school friends home from college for the summer vacation. We were drinking. It was a cool evening, and we jammed to the demo version of the album, for the album had yet to be released.
The opening bands were also some of my favorites. Minus the Bear and Sparta. Both bands I had seen before. All three bands I never thought I would see again. It really had been twenty-five years since I had last seen Jimmy Eat World. Crazy that so much time had passed me by. Really had me reflecting upon the years. Wow.
I had traveled to Austin twenty-five years ago to see these guys, not even old enough to legally drink, and here I was with my brothers seeing them again at the age of forty-five and drinking Bud Light. Again… wow.
I remember the city on the night that I first saw them so many years ago. I had driven with friends from Lubbock, Texas, while attending Texas Tech University. I was just a child, only 20 years old. The skyline was so different on that night. You could still see the stars. So many skyscrapers and so much light pollution have taken that away. A luxury of the past that I miss.
The venue was much smaller and intimate back then. Really just a hole-in-the-wall bar that happened to be a venue. A much different crowd because, at that time, the band really was underground. Kind of a secret that we felt special to know.
Things sure have changed.
This was an actual venue built to host bands. They were no longer playing at dive bars. These guys made it big post-9/11.
So much has changed over the years…So much. The band. The city of Austin. Myself. Twenty-five years….
Back to the concert, it was pretty amazing, and we actually found a nice little spot to view the bands. We only caught the last few songs by Sparta, but Minus the Bear fucking killed it (might have stolen the show).
Jimmy Eat World once again reminded me why I have been listening to them for thirty years. They started the setlist strong with four songs from the album Clarity. An album that lives in my heart and was cherished when I was in high school. After that, they went into the main event — playing each song from Bleed American in the order they are on the album. That was so cool. Following those eleven tunes, we were treated to an encore of songs from the following album, Futures. Another album I cherish, and one that I never actually got to see performed live until this night.
I was in such high spirits being there with my brothers and seeing the band again, I honestly got a little teary-eyed. We are all changed in twenty-five years. Time just slips away, doesn’t it?
Grab each moment you can.
After the show, we went back to the house and had some drinks to wind us down for the night. We stayed up too late and felt it the next day. I did not want to make the drive home. Of course, before hitting the road, we went and had BBQ. Another poor decision, but damn if it wasn’t worth it.
I struggled the first half of the trip, but found my groove after a stop to stretch my feet. I grabbed some dinner and decided to try a different road home. It was the right choice, and I made good enough time that I could stop by a ghost town I had always passed just off the highway. Melvin.
It was nice to be home, and I had missed my sweet wife. Home is truly where the heart is.
On Friday, I went back to work for just one day. Why? I don’t know. What else would I have done?
It was 9/11. The 25th anniversary. So many people lost. How things have changed. How I have changed. How the world changed after that day. A day I will never forget. A terrifying day full of uncertainty.
So, that’s that.
A lot of change can happen, whether quickly or gradually. Time is a circle. Make the moments matter.
Happy Friday!!
Jalapeño.
En Fuego 