The Republic, In-Laws, and Jerry Jeff

(With a nod to Texas singer/songwriter/legend Jerry JeffWalker) Packin’ up our bathing suits and cowboy boots. Hauling in the perch traps and taking up the trot line. Deflating the air mattress, rolling up the sleeping bag, and washing the used sheets and towels. The last chopped brisket sandwich and chicken fry are just fond gastronomical memories. Great grandparents are showered with loving hugs and tear-stained kisses. The dog gets a good scratching behind her ears. The creek receives a final nod in appreciation of its relinquished bounty. A sure sign we must be going home.

I married a Texas gal. It is easily the best choice I’ve ever made. Truthfully, Em really chose me, I guess. Rumor has it that I drugged her and when she awoke she was married to me. Some initially thought I must have come with a monstrous dowry to get her father to agree. But, once they got to know me better, that thought quickly became quite laughable. In any case I certainly out-kicked my coverage. Along with all the wonderful perks that marrying a Texas girl carries – loves sports, especially football, loves cooked meat, loves freedom and independence and all that Texas (and a few other U.S. states) embraces, loves a good time, loves me (thank goodness) – is the opportunity it affords us to spend time in Texas with her family. I’m a lucky guy. I have awesome in-laws.

Don’t believe me?

My wife’s father is an ex-Marine. His mere presence quietly demands respect. Other than that, though, you’d never know of his military background. The man tears up at Hallmark Card commercials. But I’m not about to make fun of him. Anyway, he interviewed me and hired me for my first job in Texas. Soon thereafter I began dating his only daughter.

He didn’t shoot me.

He didn’t even fire me.

I think he teared up a little. I like to think it was out of joy.

Even more impressive was his reaction when I dropped by to see his “little girl” after I had just been to a tennis tournament at Fairway Oaks Country Club Tennis Pavilion in Abilene to see Andre Agassi. Just for kicks, I had borrowed a long clip-on hair extension from my sister that matched my hair color perfectly, clipped it in my hair, and covered the clip with a Nike tennis cap. Donned in a Nike windsuit, I resembled Agassi (from a distance) and I waltzed right into the tennis pavilion to see what kind of reactions I could get. Even though I didn’t have the eye brows to really pull it off, stares, whispers, finger points, and a couple of camera flashes while I hovered near his private SUV made it worthwhile. Afterwards, when I knocked on the door to Em’s family’s house, I was greeted by her suddenly troubled and befuddled dad. He is typically on the contrary side of piercings, tattoos, and long hair on guys. So, at best he wasn’t really sure how to take me, this different, albeit likable, guy who is dating his daughter.

Maybe he was deciding how to dispose of me before Em came out of her room.

As the moment became increasingly awkward, I tried, unsuccessfully, to explain why I looked the way I looked. He simply replied, “Uh huh.”

He found a way to accept me and my colorful ways, though, gave his blessing for our marriage, and we get along wonderfully. Not only is he my father-in-law, but he’s a true friend and confidant. We’ve rubbed off on each other. I wear a cowboy hat while working in the yard and he’ll put on a Hawaiian shirt and go to a Jimmy Buffett show with me.

“Sure,” you may be saying, “winning over dad is one thing. What about the dreaded mother-in-law?”

Get this: my wife and I moved to South Carolina when she was eight months pregnant with our first child, which also happened to be the first grandchild on either side of the family. Actually, my mother-in –law claims that I snatched her daughter from her and stole away in the dark of night, robbing her of that first proud grandmother experience in the most sinister of ways. She probably has every right to grab my eyelids and yank them right up over and around the top of my head. But, somehow, she loves me. She’s the best. I love it when she comes to visit. That’s right, guys, I said “love”. We get along incredibly well and laugh a lot, usually at ourselves. She will also go to a Buffett show, but it’s not really a stretch for her.  She has a magnet on her refrigerator that says “I don’t spoil my grandkids, I’m just very accommodating.” Spot on. As close to a perfect grandmother as one can get. Not too shabby as a mother-in-law, either.

So, my in-laws are fantastic. That’s how we are able to spend nearly a month of our summer vacation with them in their home on Sandy Creek, which runs into Lake Livingston, just outside of Trinity, Texas, every year.

Our summer Texas whirlwind tour is always a blast. This year’s was no exception. My son enjoyed his 6^th year attending CampOlympia, a fabulous summer sports camp. We compared the football stadiums of the University of Texas, Texas A&M, and LSU – all from first-hand views. We took a Hummer limousine to watch a Texas Rangers game and to two Arlington-area restaurants, one before and one after the game.

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset beside a gorgeous 99 thousand-gallon infinity pool surrounded by palm trees and iron gas-powered tiki torches in the shade of an incredible natural rock outdoor living area…in west Texas!  

We did the food truck lunch (la Barbecue is the best ever), swam in a natural spring-fed pool that remains 62 degrees year round on a 106-degree day, and joined a sea of good-timers for a concert at Blues on the Green in Austin.

 

We stood where legends have played in Gruene Hall and then floated the Comal River. We dined in luxury (best clam chowder ever) after a chasing tennis balls at the gorgeous Abilene Country Club. We took in “Wicked” and treated a couple of special “girls” to hair appointments at American Girl in Houston.

I fished most days, accompanied by snowy egrets, blue herons, pelicans, wood ducks, cormorants, and a couple of small alligators.

 

We paid homage to the Mississippi River, the gulf coast of Mississippi and Alabama, Mobile Bay, Lulu’s Restaurant at Homeport, The Chimes in Baton Rouge, Joe Allen’s in Abilene, the windfarms of Snyder and Sweetwater and big Sam Houston in Huntsville. We swam, watched fireworks on Lake Livingston, took in numerous youth baseball tourneys, hit the cinema a time or 2, and enjoyed loving fellowship with friends and family all over the state of Texas.

 

How can a family of 4 on 2 teachers’ salaries manage all of this? Simple. An incredible blessing of loving, generous, and kind friends and family.

So, when we get back home to Carolina, to another set of family and friends who are just as generous, loving and kindhearted, and they ask us what we miss most, we’ll just smile and say, “We loved it all!”