Photo Books and Homecoming

When you take pictures on six devices on summer vacation and then you try to put together a photo book on a Sunday afternoon, it doesn't go as quickly as you would hope. And, when you went on vacation almost three months ago, memory of restaurant names and activities don't come back as quickly as you would hope.

Aaahhh, hope. That should be in the title of today's post -- Hope and Quickly (the two shall ne'er meet).

The plan for today was rest, recovery and be at home with family. Since it is Sunday, a trip to the grocery store and meal planning are also a part of the day. Oh, and some cleaning and laundry are in order. Because Halloween is around the corner, G climbed up into the attic to pull out the bag of spooky decor and the girls spider-webbed and hung ghoul-y characters on the trees.

The Sunday was full of first, second and third part activities. Included in my second part was knocking out the San Diego summer vacation photo book. Now that the pictures from the old laptop were moved on to the new laptop and new pictures were downloaded on to the new laptop (prior activities for third parts), I was ready to make a book.

Oh, yeah, I've only downloaded pictures from the DSLR. I've five other devices to grab pics from . . . and two of those devices are not at home right now. They are off with their owners -- getting a car washed and working. Downloading pictures is not hard, but it is time consuming and I just don't want to take up time today downloading pictures. Ugh.

That means, I can't complete the book. I've put together over 20 pages in the photo book -- clever commentary along with stunning photos of one of the best family vacations ever taken. And, I'm, Not. Done. I have about 30 more pages of pictures already downloaded with some blanks along the way waiting for those future-downloaded pictures. (How many times have I written the word 'download' in its various tenses?)

I had such hopes. Hopes that would have been handled quickly. No and no. Crushed hopes. Nothing quickly. Just 20 simple pages of a vacation gone by.

But, man, it was a great vacation. Looking at the pictures and the notes from the trip are really making me smile. Yes, I'm catching myself smiling and laughing as I put the book together. I'm calling the girls to come in and look at the pictures. I'm telling G 'remember this' stories. (If Chris were here, I would show him pictures of his hair -- oh, that hair. He said he was cutting it this week. One can dream. One can . . . hope. And, that cut cannot come quickly enough,)

We had not taken a full-family summer vacation that didn't involve a basketball tournament since the girls were a year old and we went to Cabo. That's too many years for the Adams not to be out of Texas where there is water and beaches and potentially fishing. That's too much time between planning a day's activities and researching restaurants. That's too long for our family to be our family. Eating together, shopping together and really having fun together -- just us. The five of us. No separate cars to take us to separate places. No friends calling to hang out and meet for a drink. No schedules other than the carefully planned itinerary (I've used the same format for years).

San Diego was beautiful. The weather amazing. The meals delicious. The activities fun.

A fantastically, wonderful vacation.

Something about being together either in a new place or a familiar place. We go to Port Aransas a few times every year, we go out to eat together at least once a month, we attend events together as they present. Our time together is limited, yes, but we do find time to be a family together.

I visited a familiar place this weekend. It was Baylor homecoming. While seeing the bonfire, watching the parade and tailgating would have rounded out a weekend in Waco, I could only get to the football game (and, really, that's all I need for my Baylor fix). We rolled into town right before kick-off, poured a 'walkie' -- actually it could be a 'roadie' as we take it on the bus that drives us to the stadium from our parking spot -- and strolled into the stadium. Baylor had scored by the time we sat.

I also learned a dear friend was at the game before we sat. Through messenger and text messages, I tried to arrange meet-ups with him and other friends during this time of Homecoming. A familiar time, a familiar place in a new stadium requires some organizing. So glad for technology and Facebook and messaging.

I successfully met up with my dear friend who I had not seen in about 20 years. It was such a pleasure and such a joy to catch up. Carving out those few minutes during a game that we were easily winning was not hard, but it did take time. It took some quick planning and some quick typing. We laughed and of course, took a picture. It was posted and will be such a fun memory. One picture is much easier to keep up with than the hundreds I have from San Diego.

I didn't meet up with my other friends who were at the game. I was satisfied with the one visit. Because we were in Waco, at a Baylor game and we were winning by a lot, my season-ticket holder partners and I made our way over to the George's tent for a drink and a burger. Prices are way higher than when we used to eat at George's but the fun and nostalgic familiarity are still the same. Yeah, I drank a Deep Eddy Cranberry with Sprite instead of a Big O, and had waffle fries instead of greasy regular ones. It was still George's -- still the green and white striped tent.

Only one picture from the game with my friend, Robert. A memory for a while.

Only hundreds from the trip to San Diego.

Hopeful I finish the book, yes, but do not want the memories to go quickly.

Hope and Quickly, not really.

How about Hope and Everylasting?