Monday, June 1, 2009

God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy

I heard that song 3 times on my drive to New Braunfels Friday night. It 100% sums up the way I feel about my life these days. I mean, crazy isn't always a bad thing, so it's always applicable, especially on the verge of a summer weekend in the hill country. I think the best word to describe the HC is "simple". Everything is just a little slower, a little more relaxed, and a lot more fun. It's about a cotton dress and sandals as opposed to an outfit and tons of makeup. The #1 cosmetic you need is sunscreen. That and lotion are the only ones I packed, actually. You drink beer, you laugh, and you just enjoy life. It's so easy being there.

I'll be accentuating this post with scoreboards, just be prepared for that. They're a necessity (apparently, so is wearing a rubber at all times. HA! You girls are crazy for the Andy.)

My original plan was to leave early Friday morning and have Hula Hut lunch with Libby in Austin. That didn't happen because, well, I was up until after 5am Friday morning doing stuff around the house. So then I slept most of the day Friday, got up in the late afternoon and puttered about doing the rest of the things that needed to happen before I hit the hill country. I finally left just before 10pm. BALLER, I know.

I took advantage of the drive to pray. I just wanted to get the full effect of the simple easy atmosphere of the HC and recharge. I wanted to really feel Him filling each of us up with a happiness that can really only come from Him. He was faithful and came through, big time.

On the drive, I discovered that someone else was just as crazy as me and started a radio station that fulfills my dream. I discovered 106.7 Santa FM. Apparently, it's a station in transition out of San Antonio, but who cares? I got to listen to a crapton of Christmas music with a bag full of shorts and swimsuits in my backseat. That's a win. Whitney wouldn't let me listen to it on Saturday on our way to the river. She apparently does not appreciate the awesomeness of listening to Sleigh Ride when it's 95 degrees outside. I just wanted to feel like I lived in the southern hemisphere!

About an hour and a half into the drive, I realized that I had forgotten my insulin and subsequently wouldn't have enough for the weekend. Eh, whatever. I knew I could just hit a pharmacy in the morning and get another vial. Easy. When I got to NB, my life was SAVED by Ben C. (who was graciously letting us all crash at his house for the weekend). He is a diabetic supplies salesman, so he just happened to have some insulin in his fridge. AMAZING.

Friday night was all about beer pong and just a relaxed party vibe. Unless you're the birthday girl, Whitney. Scoreboard: driveway - 1, Whitney - 0. She is about as accident prone as she is beautiful. She had been at Ben's for less than 5 minutes when she tripped on the driveway and sprained her ankle pretty good. That stuff only happens to her, I swear.


Saturday we got to the river a good 2 hours after we had planned (no surprise there) and discovered just how bad New Braunfels needs rain. To float the full trip on the Guadalupe river would take almost 8 hours. WHOA. We had picked the Guadalupe instead of the Comal because we wanted to float longer (the Comal float typically takes about 2-3 hours) It gives you more time to drink beer and relax. Kids, there was a lot of not relaxing about this trip. They dropped us off past the main bend and told us it would take us about 4 hours to float. What they didn't tell us was that the river was REAAAAAAAAAALLY low. There were a lot of places where it was only 3 or 4 inches deep. What that means is we got stuck on a lot of rocks. And that I got my butt kicked. Scoreboard: Guadalupe River - 12, Suz - 0. I am so sore and have random scrapes and wounds on my appendages. I got minimally sunburned, mostly in a strange spotted pattern on my legs. Partial sunscreen fail. But it was the least burned I have ever gotten on the river, so I'll make that a tie between me and the sun.

The majority of the party people went to see Cross Canadian Ragweed Saturday night but I said my goodbyes and headed up to Burnet for a little bit of Ross time to finish up my weekend. That was pretty uneventful and just generally relaxing. I like spending time with Ross and his family. They're just such good people, you can't be in a bad mood around them. I got home yesterday afternoon around 4:30, was passed out cold by 10:30 and slept all day today. I'm calling it recovery.

I believe that this weekend was so important for me. I needed to just go and kick back with some friends, laugh a lot, remember why I don't like Miller Lite (it does NOT taste better. Bleh! Bud Light por vida), and generally enjoy life. God was quietly preparing my heart because my divorce papers finally arrived today, 5 weeks after he filed. You know what? I was totally fine. I'm walking with God, and trusting Him to make things work the way He wants, which will always be better than what I want.

So there you have it. God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.

3 comments:

Christina said...

mmmm- the hill country DEFINITELY has healing powers, especially PRE-healing powers :) I'm glad you got some great time with friends in the best place on earth!

Alyssa said...

This post makes me very happy.

Anna Williams said...

Everyone needs a Suz in their life. For reals.