what is the word

I just finished an English muffin. I think it was the first thing I've eaten in five days that didn't involve queso. That's because I suddenly found myself in Austin for the long weekend. Spur of the moment Melly called me on Friday afternoon, a bit drunk from margaritas at Trudy's. "You have to be here this weekend," she said. "Can you come tomorrow? I'll put it on Skot's credit card."
A couple of clicky transactions & a phone call to my boss & the next morning at 5 a.m. I was in a car rushing to La Guardia in dark lanes empty of traffic thinking about how it had been five years since the last time I was in Austin. Five years away makes it a place before major heartbreak, a place of promise & potential & the last part of my life that felt like a step on a straight path. A place before even this silly blog. I sat in the back of the cab holding Austin in my heart like Buk's bluebird, wanting to protect it just the way it was but impatient to be there again too.
Anyway Melly was at a luncheon of sorts when I arrived so I had some time to myself at first. I told the cab driver to drop me by the University. I left my bags at By George & set off to wander around in the blazing heat sweating in my black shirt & under the strap of my bag. I walked down Guadalupe & crossed over to the campus side, trying to remember the names of the buildings on my own & then checking the signs to see if I was right. I walked in the shade of the live oaks, I circled the tower, I went down a great staircase & stumbled upon Speedway, the first street I lived on in town, & five years seemed like an eternity away. But then Skot & Melly showed up & everything was just the way it had always been. M & I went to Curra's to catch up. We sat there with a mound of queso & a dollop of guac between us, not to mention margaritas & a plate of enchiladas chiapas, licking the salt off the rims of our glasses & getting misty-eyed & more than a little drunk.
Anyway thanks to Melly's amazing spontaneity & Skot's credit card with actual funds available, I had a perfect weekend in one of my favorite cities ever. Mexican martinis at Trudy's? Check. Queso catfish at Shady Grove? Check. Way too many drinks at Club de Ville? Blasting Bales of Cocaine late nite with Melly? Smoking a joint in the car between bars? Spontaneous Leslie sighting on the drag? Check, check, check, check!
Anyway I'm back to mountains of work. But I'll post pics when I have them. Unfortunately there aren't any shots of Leslie, but I think they're still pretty good.