Marlo and ms. wiggins

Here they are part of dan and i's unforgettable ride home from washington d.c. we were in line to get on the bus in the greyhound station and the man taking tickets told us that the buses had just been filled and we would have to wait until the next one at 2.30; (carnalillo queria hacer bronca con el vato pero dijo ni modo y punto; le dije q no valio la pena molestarse, q no era nada inesperable y q hay q acceptar siempre es una aventura viajar por camiones; mejor que lo acepte y disfrute.) so we whined for about 15 seconds and complained to miss higgins and marlo that we were being discriminated against for being the only white people in the station and i threatened to pull a rosa parks and shut down the busline. they just looked at us then laughed real hard. then after introducing ourselves we got ready to sit around and wait; dan found a chair (creo q se la robo de la oficina) for ms. wiggins and i offered her some taquis and a big christmas book about mexican haciendas y gardens. talk about classic, i look over a couple of minutes later and there's ms. wiggins, sentada y crunching on her taquis w/ her nose buried the book, oblivious of the everything else around. then marlo (who used to in D.C. for the govment but now is an accountant for state of texas.) let me borrow her pink phone to call mom but not before adding, in all honesty, 'don't be running off w/ my fone now!' i told her i was secure enough to make a call.....but not enough to run off w/ her phone.

And then there was the classic game; the epic football battle on Christmas day between dad y matt vs. jon y dan; dad and I won like usual. i attribute that to not only superior athetic ability (yes, swimming Is a sport!) but we also had cooler uniforms; it's not just about winning, style points do count. sometimes i have to resist the temptation to not talk trash to other guys my age and ask them if their dad are still tough and resilient enough to play basketball or football with them. dad, this bodes well for many noel generations for years to come. It is always semi ridiculous playing at grandma stuchel’s house b/c she has a driveway that runs thru the middle of the ‘field’, (2 completions or to the driveway is a first down) then there are the organic shaped shrub beds on either side of the driveway; it is just as much an obstacle course as a football game. Jon kept trying to beat me deep, which he did, but fortunately dan always underthrew him; then, it was to the basement to drink a beer in the hottub in grandma’s basement and watch the steeler’s game on tv…..oh, no, that was Sunday…..and glorious; instead we changed and went to look at Christmas lights;

Then, last but not least there was the nephews and nieces; the were cute, naughty, huggable, spankable and fun to live with for the whole week. thanks jon and tarah! your family is a blessing.