Lubbock: Day One
Aren't I the jackass? I walk into the Double Nickel Steak House in my jeans and flip flops for Joey's rehearsal dinner and pretty much everyone else is in jackets and slacks.
Oops.
I'm here in Lubbock after a half day spent flying, first to Vegas and then out across that vast plain that slowly turns from brown to green. I swear I've looked down at this very expanse of fields three or four times while flying across the country. See the roads down there? The way they link the cotton fields like a strand of DNA? It's now familiar, but I never really knew where it was. Now I do.
Lubbock is flat and a bit ragged at the heels down in the Depot District, but the hotel is nice and just across the street from Texas Tech, which has a pretty, huge, and green campus. We arrive from the airport with a few hours before the rehearsal dinner and link up with Joey's parents, Janie and Joel, in the lobby.
They are my aunt and uncle from Houston and are by far my closest relatives -- even if I hardly ever have the chance to see them. Janie is my mom's sister and it's fun and yet bittersweet to talk to her. She and my mom always were clones. She reminds me of exactly what went missing from my family ten years ago. Later, Christy tears up a bit in the elevator, missing my mom. They always were so close.
Cancer sucks.
But I'm making it sound maudlin and it really wasn't. It was a blast. Joel is full of stories and laughs. I see my cousin Steve --Joey's brother--and his new wife Amy. Steve looks cooked, coming off a 30-hour shift at the hospital in Albuquerque where he's a resident. He's still a funny and truly humble guy and I'm going to enjoy sitting next to him at dinner.
So I'm under gunned at the Double Nickel with my sartorial arsenal, but everyone quickly makes me feel at home. The pressure is further relieved when my brother shows up a few minutes later also rocking sandals.
Joel, no surprise, has chosen some excellent wines and the stories begin to flow. Joey's fiancee Laura seems funny and nice and the wedding tomorrow is sure to be great, a joining of the clans -- the Stewarts and MacDonalds -- and it looks like Laura's family embraces their Scottish heritage with gusto.
The rehearsal dinner, with me in my flip-flops....
Steven, Alan, and Joey. We were super close growing up and shared a ton of adventures right up until 1984 or so. I don't see them nearly enough now..
Joey and Laura (not looking nervous at all).
Doofus and Christy. Luckily Christy dressed up and looked really hot, so my jeans and flip-flops weren't quite so bad.
Stevie and Auntie Janie, who still is a clone of my Mom.
After more than a few glasses of wine, we're ready for the late-night hot tub run at the hotel with Mark and Jennifer.
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