JUN-B-7
ANNIVERSARY/FATHER’S DAY/PRE-TWINS BIRTHDAY VISIT
WITH MICHAEL AND JUDY
JUNE 12—14, 2001
Welcome to San Antonio, where I arrived on the record hot day of the year. While the Houston area I just flew over in making my preliminary stop is flooded out from the residue of tropical storm Alison which is still hanging around the area ten days after the big flooding damage has been done, a thirty minute flight away in San Antonio there has been 0.02 inches of rain this month and the hot dry temperature is soaring to a record today. Today also, by no coincidence, marks the eighth anniversary of the ceremony at Evans Farm Inn where Judy had played as a child and got married with Michael on a pretty summer day. I had dropped them in the airport for their honeymoon trip to Turks/Caicos as I went on to South Africa and the Congo (then Zaire.)
The weather has caused some havoc in San Antonio, however, as well as Houston, since at the first of May, Michael and Judy in the large rearrangements of their lives that precede the birth of the twins had traded in the pickup truck and bought a 2000 Mazda Quest van. This top-of-the-line van had everything, including, ironically, the TV set that had made this model the coveted one that Kathy had so wanted that she had wanted to convince Donald to trade in the Explorer—the one vehicle that is paid for. (In another irony, Sally bought the very Escape model I had looked at and driven as a test.) But four days after this purchase, a freak hail storm hit this very local area of San Antonio for the second time in about ten years, and golf ball size hail stones hammered the houses and cars—all of which sustained serious damage. Both houses need re-roofing, which happened just at the time that Michael and Judy were thinking of selling their previous home which they are now renting—although the tenants have signed another year long lease, so that is now postponed for a year, along with the re-roofing there. But, the new Quest, which they had had for four days, needed a new windshield and much of the plastic around it, such as the roof rack, is broken. But from the rush of calls, their Allstate insurance could not even answer for weeks, and all that has been fixed so far has been the Quest windshield, and all repairs to the Jetta or both houses have been put on hold.
I got picked up by Judy in the van, which I had not recognized, since I did not receive the email they had sent on Monday night, and we went home after picking up the Baskins and Robbins anniversary cake, which might have lasted about ten minutes if left out of the freezer in the San Antonio’s 98* record heat. I noted that the gasoline here is at least fifty cents cheaper than in Maryland. We talked of the changes, recent and forthcoming, as she rested at home. She has had at least four baby showers, and they have a full line of the top Graco products for twins—car seats, strollers, baby jogger, and all the appurtenances. It seems that most of what they might need has been put away for the event as best as can be predicted, should be happening at some point in July.
We went out for their anniversary dinner at Joe’s Crab House, where we had seafood dinner amid a raucous group of a thirteen year-old birthday party and periodic interruptions as all of the young waiters and waitresses would shuffle off for a silly dance number—a disco eatery. But, it was good fun to assemble again in San Antonio as they are awaiting the changes, which will be more cataclysmic than a major hailstorm!