It's all in the family (ew...)

I'm still in Texas, hanging out with the fam.

I came down for my cousin Landon's wedding, which was both beautiful and a whole lot of fun. Tons of folks were dancing, even (or especially!) on the fast songs. My cousin Brittany wanted me to get out there, so I said okay and we started dancing up a storm.

I didn't realize it at the time, but I seem to have made quite an impression. Apparently, an 8+ month pregnant woman doing "Shout" on a dance floor is a spectacle. My Aunt Mileta said that people kept saying, "Have you seen your niece dancing out there??"

Oops. Oh well.

Anyway, I'll get you details on the family shower later, but I did have one disturbing little vignette to share. When we were driving back to Salado on Monday (by "we" I mean Mom, Dad, myself, the two dogs, and all our luggage and all the shower gifts - we looked like the Joads and I had the Beverly Hillbillies theme song stuck in my head since the trip up on Saturday), we stopped at the Bell Mead Starbucks. Mom had been trying to take a nap all the way down, so she stayed in the car while Dad and I went in to go to the bathroom and grab a drink. After we'd used the facilities, we got in line to order. The girl in front of us was getting an employment application, and when she got it, she turned around and asked me "how many months" I was (no one has ever asked me quite like that before). I told her, and she smiled and said, "Congratulations. I'm so happy for you both."

Excuse me??

I laughed and said (very quickly), "Yeah, this is my dad." I was nice about it, but I wanted things cleared up right away. She looked horrified, and I tried to reassure her, but I'm not sure that I did. The barrista who was on the register heard all this and was laughing, too. I told him that I felt bad if I'd made her feel awkward, but seriously. There is a 29 year difference between my father and me.

When the barrista took our order, he wrote our names on the cups. He told Dad he was just going to write, "Granddad" on his.

Dad was quite pleased, however. He has declared that his new Nivea "youthful" face stuff is working and was quite proud that she could have been thus confused. I was horrified.

Moreover, my hands had felt a little tight that morning, so I hadn't put on my wedding rings for the drive home, so not only was there a near-30 year age difference between us, but we weren't even married!

We decided that Mom wasn't going to stay in the car anymore...