FULL TURN - 7 years later

July 29 2019

Yes, I left Austin, I moved to Alba, I built, I fished, I did the garden thing, I mowed and mowed and mowed and raked leaves.  I cleared a few acres, picked up a hell of a lot of limbs and set enough fires for a lifetime.  I loved every minute of it.  I still feel I didn't get all the fishing out of me, before I die I want to catch a 10 lb bass (who doesn't).  I now have 6 grandchildren, 3 girls and 3 boys, ages 13 (in a couple of months) to 5.  In order of age Tatum (12) Cross (11) Tinsley and Cannan (10) Banks (8) and Bevo, that's right BEVO (5).  Life is more than full, my cup runneth over.

Not sure what pushed me over the edge, but I wanted to come back to Austin. So approximately a year ago I moved back.  I once again have opted for the city life. I still have my cabin in Alba and just knowing it is there is a good thing. My building in Alba consisted of my casita and a bunk house for the grandchildren.  The casita looks like a fishing shack with a sense of style and the bunk house looks like an old general store with a great porch.  I also built a "tool/garden shed" which is probably the best built of the three.  The garden shed also has a small porch and I let my sister pick the exterior color, it would fit right in on the beach in the Bahamas.  I love all three and enjoy just looking at them.

I was just about to pull the trigger on my next build, which would have been a real house for myself when I made a visit to Austin. Older son Cord asked if I was sure that was what I wanted to do and of course I told him I didn't have a clue as to what I wanted to do. He said "let's go look at a few places" and that afternoon we wrote an offer on my new digs. Am I flexible or what? One of the places we looked at just felt "right" and that is where I landed.

If anyone bothered to read the first post you would know I gave away most of my furniture. As luck would have it Cord had sold a large home in Austin and the owners left a massive amount of furniture, rugs, art, drapes and lights and asked him to get rid of it. Mamma an't proud and I love to  dumpster dive. Dumpster diving in a multi-million dollar home felt a lot like shopping at Neiman Marcus.  I only had to buy 2 beds, a desk and dinning set and I furnished my entire home.  I love it and it fits me just fine.  No more lawn work, I have a HOA that does it and no more swimming in the pasture pool, I have a lovely community pool almost in my backdoor and most times I have it all to myself and my grandchildren. I have not eaten a chicken fried anything since moving back and have enjoyed having a variety of restaurants to choose from. I never could make myself get sushi from the gas station in East Texas so I have been eating it on a regular basis since returning to city life.

I will not miss having to drive 30-40 miles to the nearest cinema as I love the movies. And with that in mind I will close for now as I am going to see "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood " in a few minutes.

BUT....I do miss rocking chairs on the back porch, lots of cold sweeeeet tea and Jeannine, Kent, Sarah, Janie and her brood (especially Kyle) and all the friends I made.