I decided to leave Alex with his grandmother, since he would just get bored while Jim and I talked.
The plan was to chat with Jim and his wife Claude for about an hour, then return to Jarue's to run some errands. After about an hour of chatting with Jim, though, he suggested we walk up to a gyro restaurant and grab some lunch. It was such a nice, crisp fall day that a walk to campus sounded great, especially since we could chat and continue to catch up.
During our walk and lunch, we talked about all kinds of things...the reader's/writer's workshop that I've been teaching, changes in Gainesville, the people who are still around at GHS and in the district, our new dog, Cristina's plans, the kids' schooling...
By the time we got back to Jim's house, I realized that I'd been gone more than 3 hours. As I was getting on the bike to come home, my phone rang. It was Alex, wondering where I was. Jim had wanted to show me a mural on his classroom wall that a student had painted, but since time was short, we decided he'd send me a picture instead. I finally said goodbye to Jim and Claude...and then the bike wouldn't start. I had left the lights on and the battery was dead. Luckily, I was now a pro at jumping motorcycles. Jim had cables, I hooked it up to his truck, and it started in no time.
Back at Jarue's, Alex was ready to run errands. I had considered using Jarue's car, but Alex really wanted to ride on the motorcycle, so I agreed. Without a full-face helmet or a windshield, riding the bike for any significant distances is not the most comfortable ride for me. Anything over 35 mph and I'm squinting severely due to wind. Tears flow freely and my face gets all red. But I'll take one for the team.
My errands consisted of delivering DVDs of our summer pictures to 4 people. I had phone numbers for them, but only 2 of the 4 answered. We delivered those 2, and then went to the house of one of the others (Cristina had given me directions). Though they weren't home, I left the DVD on the wreath on the front door. Alex swinged on their swing a little bit, helmet still on. It looked funny, like an overprotective parent sending their kid to play with a helmet on, just in case.
Because I had unclear directions of where the 4th person lived, I gave up on them. We returned home.
Elena had requested that I cook something for them while I was there. I asked for requests, and she asked for quiche. I had made a shopping list for them, and when I returned, they were ready for me to cook. Elena could do some of the prep work, so she did a lot of the chopping and cooking while I was gone. Her boyfriend Jamie was there as well as her friend Leigh. We were going to play Scrabble while the quiche cooked.
Scrabble was fun. Though Alex can't read yet, he busied himself with tile distribution (he tried to help me cheat once by handpicking a letter I needed, but the others caught him) and he helped me with a few words. The quiche finished right around the time the game did. I think Jamie won.
The quiche was pretty good and I made 4 of them, so there was enough for everyone to eat their fill. My biggest complaint about ordering quiche at restaurants is that the portions are always so small, and quiche is not exactly a very filling entree. So I prefer to make a bunch of it at home and pig out. Elena made brownies, too, which were yummy.
The next day, Monday, was packing up and flying home day. After breakfast, though, I decided to run up to GHS to give Jim that last DVD that I hadn't been able to deliver. I hadn't planned on giving him one, but it seemed pointless to take one back home. Plus, he would probably enjoy it.
I got a visitor pass at the office (still a weird concept) and went to Jim's room. He was surprised to see me, but he was glad to be able to show me the mural, which was a spectacularly nude rendering of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Jim teaches Humanities). I asked if I could hang out for a little while and watch his class. They were wrapping up a documentary on Vietnam and then analyzing the lyrics to Springsteen's "Born in the USA" (which, when you really pay attention to the words, is not the patriotic-anthem-used-to-sell-bluejeans that you might think it is). He asked his class if any of them had me or knew me. Only one kid raised his hand and asked if I had been the golf coach (I had). I had coached his older brother. Pretty wild.
I gave Jim the DVD and said goodbye again. Before heading home, though, I wanted to see a few other GHS people. I popped in on Wiley Dixon, the principal, who was happy to see me. I chatted with Mary, the secretary, for a good while, as well as Ruby Baker (my old department chair) and Shari Shaw (the media specialist that had once taught TV Production there before I came). Finally, I headed home and packed.
Alex and "Wita"Alex requested to play at a park, and knowing that we had about 10 hours of traveling ahead of us, it was a great idea. So we went to Westside Park for about 20 minutes. While there, I saw one of Cristina's old friends who had moved away but is now back in Gainesville. I got her contact info for Cristina.
We met Elena at Ward's Supermarket, because I wanted to get a couple of things to take home and on the plane. As if Gainesville wanted to make one last point that my connections there ran deep, I saw yet another former student of mine as she was getting into her parked car right beside ours. I couldn't remember her name, but she got out of her car when she saw me and we chatted.
Elena arrived late, so we had to get out of town quickly. I wanted Zaxby's one time before leaving, though, so I grabbed some from the drive-through and ate it while I was driving. It was delicious. No Zaxby's in Arizona.
I failed to do two things during this brief trip to Gainesville: get some Krispy Kreme doughnuts (the closest KK to us is Las Vegas...a 6 hour drive) and eat at Maui Teriyaki (a request my sister Mary had made). Oh well. Other than that, though, the trip was a complete success. I pretty much did everything I'd set out to do, and then some.
From the time I got on I-75 at 39th Ave. to the time I stopped at the departure gate was 1 hour 45 minutes. That's pretty good time, If I say so myself, and I didn't get a speeding ticket! Despite a long security line, we got to our gate with time to spare. I didn't know if this flight to Cincinnati was oversold, but just in case, I told the guy that if it was, we'd volunteer to get bumped. He looked relieved and asked "Are you the two heading to Phoenix? I've already been working on an alternate route for you." So instead of flying to Cincinnati and then Phoenix, we got 2 $200 travel vouchers, flew to Atlanta, and got to Phoenix only 30 minutes later than previously scheduled! A perfect bonus to the perfect weekend.
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