Getting ready to kill some brain cells

San Antonio, here I come!

It's early Thursday morning. In 32 hours I will be on a plane to Texas for a much-anticipated girls' weekend. These are the ladies I refer to casually as "my internet friends" - and then I change the subject, hoping that the listener won't find the whole concept as bizarre as people did 5 years ago. (Aside - man, has it been so long since the last big Delphi "convention" I attended? But that was a different age, mostly different people, and most of the rest of us were different people too. Growing out of our newlyweds phase and into motherhood sure has changed us; at least it has me.)

Back to the point. San Antonio weekend. Internet girlfriends. Every precious one of us armed with our children's photos, but none toting the actual children themselves. Woo-hoo! I'm hiding it pretty well, but the closer the hour gets, the more nervous I get about leaving my girls. Just tonight, while I was up with my crying Busy girl, it occurred to me that I'll have to post the pediatrician's phone number on the fridge because the GIH/SDG probably doesn't even remember his name. Or the fact that we have a pediatrician. Or that babies in general sometimes get sick. Oh crap, what if she has an ear infection? And BTW our ped isn't in the office on Thursdays. Oh double crap.

Back to the point again. And BTW again, it's a Good Thing I won't be the only one blogging about this. Look for other updates and recaps from one of these ladies: Kelley, Ang, Sara (hasn't actually updated her blog since friggin' MARCH, but she did go on to have a gorgeous second girlchild, so let's be forgiving), Lori, 007, Susanne, Pammy (who has an even lamer blogging record than Sara, without even any children to blame, but she's an Indiana chick that I'm just dying to meet), and the inimitable Diva (who belonged to this organization with me ... and then six years later we found each other on the Internet! Just like that!)

Oh yes, the point. San Antonio weekend. On the agenda: Shop. Drink margaritas. Eat. Drink Texas beer. Minor sight-seeing for those on a first visit to SA (Alamo, Riverwalk). Laugh like crazy. Drink whatever's being served.

This compulsion to drink is a relatively new thing in my life, and I can't say I'm especially proud of it. Even though I went to college in SA, I know almost nothing about the hip bars, nor do I have many especially fond memories of cool hangouts. At that phase in my life, I was all about my schoolwork and my (thankfully ex-)boyfriend. Drew and I did a bunch of goofy stuff as a couple of young kids in love, but I am too embarrassed by the dorkiness to recall most of it. This trip is like a chance to relive those wild college days that I never had. Kind of sad and stupid when you put it that way.

So maybe the agenda should read: Shop. Eat. Drink margaritas. Laugh like crazy. And learn, as I did from the first convention in 2000, how much I appreciate my sane and boring grown-up life back home.

But that won't stop me from putting those Southwest Airlines drink tickets to use the minute we have wheels-up.