rossells [part 3]

part 3 is the part where, after enduring a chaotic hour of the dallas fenlaws packing up a suburban full of kid gear, we traveled south on I-35 to the motherland. austin. god bless austin. as soon as we hit georgetown, my mind begins to race with memories, mostly from the 17th year of my life. for some reason that year always stands out [slash haunts me]. we reached the pink brick fortress that has been the austin fenlaw home for 20 years now and were greeted by becky. i received a quick hello, then she jumped to hug/hold/kiss/smother her grandkids. this is par for the course these days. i don't mind one bit.

reid joined us the next night. i went to pick him up at the airport, as per usual. i saw him coming down the stairs, and we began making our usual dumbass "happy to see you" faces at each other. as he neared the bottom of the stairs, he barked at me which invoked hilarious reactions from those around. to say reid is the spice of our family is an understatement. everything's more fun when he's around, simply put.

whenever the three kids are in the same place at the same time, we quickly revert back to the same shit we did when we were little and living under the same roof - punching, teasing, tickling, mocking. it's as though time hasn't passed. at least twice a day i was on the ground squirming away from a double team [rossells. long story]. we just hung out, played with the kiddos, watched football, played pool, and laughed. a lot. friday night we had a party for dad's 60th birthday full of hyde park people who were beside themselves that they were getting to see all three of us at once, my sister-in-law, niece, and nephew being the icing on the cake. saturday my grandparents and my [insane former-hippie] aunt joined us for more celebrating. then saturday night reid and i headed downtown to meet some friends. anytime we're together, we must hype [booze]. it's a fact of life. but to our pleasant surprise, we were joined by our older brother and his wife. she kept bumming cigarettes off me, to which i gladly obliged. it was a funny night. i even ran into my beloved partner in crime from high school.

sunday we all went to the big baptist church together. a pew full of fenlaws. what more could you want? after some good texas barbeque, the afternoon brought goodbyes as we all went our separate ways.

family has always been important to me, but i somehow realize this more and more with each passing reunion.