So many things to say....

Okay...so I owe the rest of my trip to Indiana....and beyond...

I arrived in Indy and rented my car...received a call from my sister who wanted me to run downtown and see her first off...and of course I did. I can't explain the relationship we have, it's unbelievable that two siblings can be so close without any more contact than we have, but it's there. I love my sister more than anyone in the world. Afterwards I made my way north to my friend Jasons house. He just bought his first house (Jason and I have been friends since middle school, suffering the same fate as the outcasts and eventually banding together by the time junior year rolled around. Little did we know how the boys we would harrass would turn out. One became a cop...one is still in the navy.....) The Northside of Indy is completely the opposite of where I grew up and where my mother still lives. Snooty, the women of Carmel (the city to the north of Indy) and Greenwood (the city to the south, and my hometown) used to have a golf outing every year. The carmel women wore evening gowns and the Greenwood women wore overalls, thus pre-empting the joke...what's the difference between Carmel and Greenwood........in Carmel the diamonds are real and the orgasms are fake...and in Greenwood...you get the picture....Alas...my ingrained despisal of the northside put aside, Jason has a great place that he shares with his boyfriend Travis and their cat Cleo, who answers to the name Kitters. Those of you who know me know that my dislike of cats is pretty strong. I have two nephew cats, Wolf and Eddie, but cats are not really my forte. Kitters, though, is more like a cute doggie. She fetches, cuddles, follows you. Totally a great cat.

We went out to dinner at Marcos, a favorite eatery of Jason and Travis, and were met by Richard and Bill, my two former roommates. Richard and I have been friends since he moved to Indy (at my behest, which is another long story) from Florida some 9 years ago...and he and Billy have been together at least seven years by now. After dinner we headed off to the Unicorn Club for drink and drown. All the well cockails are one penny. Well bourbon sucks. The Unicorn is a strip bar, and a rather seedy one at that. Years ago I tended bar there for a short time and the highlight was A. Country Night and B. my role as the witty bartender who gave all the boys their stage names. We had a lot of Cody's, Austin's and Dallas...all good country boy names. This trip to the Unicorn was fun. Jason and Travis and I had a few drinks, tipped a few boys (including my uber favorite Kyler, who was doing the white man shuffle 2 1/2 years ago when he started but now is the boy that all the other dancers want to be and the one that the patrons want to screw....) but then we went home early. I had to be up early to get to G-Wood to surprise my mother.

I coudn't sleep so when I woke up at 6:30, I was up for the day. By 7:30 I had packed my bags, taken a shower and I was ready to go south. My sister and I had been planning this surprise for my mom for months (Okay, let's get this out of the way...I am wayyyy more of a mommas boy than I would care to admit...and it's an odd thing....I Love my mother dearly but I regard her more as a friend than a mother, calling her by her first name (Sharon) and not taking much heed of her advice about life, but I do need her, I need her approval sometimes, I need her support at times, both emotional and financial though I am loathe to admit that. Since my parents divorce and especially in our adult lives, it's mostly been my sister, Sharon and myself. We have supported each other and the bond between us is incredible and strong. Enought of that.

When I got there, I had told my sister to leave the front door open, it being a cool, non air-conditioned day in Indy. In a previous phone call, I had told my mother that I had mailed her birthday card late and it was unlikely to arrive until her actualy birthday. When I opened up her door at 8:45 in the morning and walked in, unannounced, carrying her birthday card, she was stunned. I think for a minute she didn't know what was going on until I said "I told you that you weren't getting your birthday card until your birthday." After realizing I wasn't some killer that wandered into her camelot existence, she was thrilled and surprised. I think there might have even been a few tears, both hers and mine.

We spent the day together, the three of us, visiting my grandmother, visiting cemeteries where grandfathers are buried (and for those in the know, the ping twins!) and then went to Nashville Indiana, which is an artists community about 30 miles from my hometown. Lots of little shops that sell overpriced crap, but it's cute and sometimes you splurge and buy something. We went to an ice cream shop whose sign claimed that they sold "sweet tea." My grimace, sputtering and exclamation, "That isn't sweet tea!" was obviously too much for the counter girl, who was obviously very offended at my comments, suggesting I wanted more sugar than they put in their tea, but assuring me that by Indiana standards, this was sweet tea.

Later we went out to dinner at St. Elmos Steak House in downtown Indy. It's a rather nice restaurant, in business since 1902, cooking up steaks for the well to do and those on corporate credit cards. They seated us in what had to be the coldest table in the place. The food was good, especially the shrimp cocktails, full of horseradish, enough to cure the most vehement of sinus infections. Steaks, a bottle of wine (or so) and we were all spent.

After dropping my momma and sister off I headed downtown to spend the night at the aformentioned Billy and Richards house. Richard joined me in a jaunt to Metro for Karaoke which was lots of fun. There were a lot of good singers and several friends showed up, Jason and Travis (who sang for me, twice, and has an excellent voice and is so much fun to watch. He really enjoys performing and it sooo comes through in whatever he sings.) Michael P. showed up after a while and Dannon was running the show. It's hard to look back and think that the boy who owns the karaoke company was the same 17 year old who rollerbladed past my house some 12 years ago...After Karaoke I went to the 5 to have one last drink with Michael before heading home. My plan was to see Momma in the late morning (12 ish) and then see my friend Glenna in the afternoon. When I was loading the rental car with my bags, my sister pulled up to the house. We got to talking and she said, "What time do you leave today?" I didn't really know, but remembered it being sometime around 4:30. I checked my schedule only to realize that I was supposed to leave at 1:52 pm, having confused my arrival time in Atlanta as my departure time from Indy. Nine minutes from that moment. Needless to say I didn't have time to drive to the airport, stop at a gas station and fill the rental up with gas, return it, take the shuttle to the airport and make my gate. So I missed my flight. Amazingly, I missed my flight. I always thought people who missed their flights were complete and utter morons, and perhaps my thinking should still be intact. I went to the airport, worried that Delta wouldn't be able to get me home that night. After explaining my situation to Jody, the CSR or whatever they are called, she went right to work to get my on the next flight to Atlanta, which would still get me there in time for my connecting flight to New Orleans. It would have, with no difficulty, if the plane had been on time. It was 45 minutes late. I ended up with 5 minutes to run to the train, go to the next terminal and then run to my gate. Halfway there I realized I didn't have a boarding pass and prayed they didn't send me elsewhere to get one, as I would miss my flight. Luckily the very nice young lady at the desk (who had a googly eye and I could never figure out if she was talking to me or someone else) gave me a boarding pass and I was safely on board, on my way home to New Orleans.

I have always been fortunate when it comes to traveling. (knock on wood) I usually fall asleep long before my seat mate has joined me and sleep throughout the flight. This time I was sat next to a younger hispanic man who seemed about as interested in conversation as I did. We both went to sleep pretty quickly, but not quickly enough. One row over and one back sat a customer, not really sitting, slouching his huge hulking frame into a seat meant for a toddler. Immediately upon seating, he thrust his big paw hand out to the guy next to him and said, "HI, I'm (insert obnoxious christian name here) and I'm from the christian athletic fellowship. He proceeded (what I could tell from my infrequent awakening, to be giving this man the entire history of Christian athletics. Thank god, so to speak, it wasn't me.

Home in New Orleans, I went out to see friends I hadn't seen in days. I had a good time, but seriously, aside from people whoa know that I care about what happens to their daily lives, why do people come up to me to confide their problems?

Back in town and working all weekend. The pub seems to be picking up again. There are several cute tourists in town, from Philly and Jackson, MS.

I came home this mornign (albeit very late) to happily find the dishes and laundry done. I have to say that Jeff is much more the suzie homemaker than me. I try to get things done, but I'm just really not that much of a housekeeper. Thank god he is...

Another boy I know shipped off to Iraq today. I can't express my concern, worry, anger, helplessness and fear that go with that departure. He's not a close friend, in fact I think he's very odd, but halfway across the world he goes, with promises to all of us that he will keep his head low and be safe....Southerners take their word for oath, so let's hope this one is fullfilled.