amarillo by mornin'

i spent this past weekend in amarillo, texas. coming straight from a city like new york, amarillo proved quite the culture shock: the smell of fresh manure, big trucks, men in wranglers, women in wranglers, open fields, mullets and bad perms, outdated clothing, and screen doors, just to name a few. god knows i was missing my city. i was thankfully distracted by people i love: my favorite younger girls from school, a beautiful bride (two years my minor!), my parents, and kitty and paw paw.

3010 brentwood. it still smells like it did when i was five years old. everytime i walk in that back door, i take a deep breath, and i look around the office, then the living room, taking note of paintings and pictures and knick-knacks that have been consistent year after year. among my favorites are the painting of my dad as a four-eyed teenager with a flat top, the spread of poster size picture prints lining the office walls, and the collection of 1980s trucker hats hanging on the door. the house is full of love and memories and things that need to be thrown out and lots of pills that old people take. the best part of the house is the deck where as a little girl i ate dirt and picked cherries off the tree, but these days i stick to a cup of coffee and good conversation.

kitty and paw paw are possibly getting funnier with each passing year, but i also noticed something else this time. something i've chosen to previously ignore: they are aging. paw paw walks a little slower and looks tired. kitty remembers less and repeats questions more often. don't get me wrong, they are in pretty good shape for a couple in their early 80s. but i can see them heading for the end. not to be morbid, but it's inevitable. so for now i will call them more, write them more, and love them more than ever for as long as i can. until their time is up, paw paw will continue to take more pills, eat more strange things, and make stuff up. sweet kitty will keep going to the beauty shop once a week, have occasional get-togethers with "the quilties", and repeat questions she asked 2 minutes prior. whenever i see them paw paw will hug me and refer to me as his champion hugger, and kitty will come in and scratch my back before bed while subtly asking about my love life.

my affection for amarillo is based purely upon two of the most incredible human beings i know. other than that, its redemptive qualities are, well, absent.