Crett and Brystal

I spent the last few days in Houston visiting my friends Crystal and Brett (and of course their precious daughter Ellie). Brett is a dentist and was kind enough to take care of some pesky dental work I needed to have done. 2 birds, one stone, BAM! Visit friends, dental work, BAM!

Crystal and her lil' Monkey:


Crystal loves making people feel special and welcome and she's very good at it. She made me a welcome basket for when I arrived with all kinds of fun goodies in it. She even made sure I didn't have to waste space packing toothpaste, toothbrush, etc. by throwing those things into my welcome kit as well! It was so great to spend time with such wonderful people. Damnit! I was supposed to refer to them as Crett and Brystal to change-the-names/protect-the-innocent. Oh well. I jokingly told them if I ever wrote a book I'd change the names and they'd be Crett and Brystal rather than Brett and Crystal.. no one would ever figure it out.



On the flight to Houston I sat next to a man that took a nap starting about 30 minutes into the trip. I really admire people who can fall asleep on planes, I never can. Another thing I admire is creativity. And finally, I admire a good sense of humor. These things all tie together soon, I promise. You see (below) the man sitting next to me not only was able to fall asleep but he cleverly created a light-block by... well, look for yourself:



That's right, he covered himself completely with the airline blanket for his nap. Removed his hat, draped his body in that comfy poly-blend, and went straight to sleep. Well, I hope he was asleep, actually, because I couldn't resist (obviously) taking a picture of him and I would hate for him to have somehow seen that occur. But what good is a picture of him alone? I thought it would be a good idea to take a picture not only OF him but also WITH him:



And then I took it further. You see, I had a funny "what if" visual of me cuddling up to him and taking a nap of my own... like right on his shoulder. I thought the idea was so funny I decided to take a picture of what that scenario might look like.



Then, of course, I got super paranoid that maybe the airline blanket was one of those materials you can sort of see out of if you place it over your head (if for some ODD reason you felt inclined to do something like that). "Oh my God," I thought "what if he just watched me take three photos of him and also witnessed me pretending to sleep on his shoulder for the camera!?" So, and as if anyone who happened to be watching didn't already think I was clinically insane, I discreetly placed MY blanket over MY face to see if you could see out. *WHEW*! You couldn't.

He later removed the blanket in order to eat his meal and then promptly placed it back over his body until we landed. I wish I had that dude's mailing address, I'd send him some blinders. Seems like an easier fix. The entire flight, each time someone would look towards the row we were both sitting on, I felt like making a face to let them know I wasn't in any way connected to the blanket-monster sitting next to me other than via circumstance. You know, one of those "oh THIS guy?! Yeah, pssshht, I don't know either. I mean, Right?! Weird huh? No, pshht we're not even, no, not traveling together, I don't even know who that is" face.

The trip was a very nice diversion and I'm grateful to my friends for hosting me so kindly. I've Said it before and I'll say it again: I wish my dearest and oldest friends could somehow all be closer to me in distance. I'm thankful they're in my life, though, however far they may be.

Anyhow, back in Chicago. Happy Labor Day!
M.db