We started our day with roll call…as we waited for our elevator down to the street Patty called out “One!” and I yelled out “Two!”  Jean and Patti were “Three!” and “Four!” and Trudi and Jane followed up with “Five!” and “Six!”  We were all accounted for.  The day was to begin.

I mean, when you think of it, there are many unanswered questions out there.  But shouldn’t Waco rhyme with Taco?  Why “Way-co?”  We pondered this and many other questions as we drove in our rental car (a suburban, of course) to Waco passing around “carbs” as we call them (aka any snacks we have along with us).  It was an hour and a half from downtown Austin to Waco, and the rental agent, Ronnie,  at Enterprise sized up Jean and Patti immediately as they picked up our large vehicle…”ya going to Waco?”  He knew a group of gals with a suburban were headed to the “Fixer Upper” destination also known as Magnolia Market in Waco, the home of Chip and Joanna Gaines.

We were singing along to Patty’s expert musical selections immediately as we settled in to our drive.

 

“On the road again…”. Crooned Willie Nelson

“I’ve been walking these streets so long, singing the same old song…” sang Glen Campbell.

“Chico, don’t be discouraged…” (the often neglected theme song from Chico and the Man you may remember?)

“Big wheels keep on turning…proud Mary keep on burning…rollin’ rollin’ rollin’ on the river..”  Tina joined us for the ride!

“I’m gonna put on…my my my my my Boogie Shoes…to boogie with you!”  by K.C. and the Sunshine Band.

Patty turned to me and said, “Here’s one of my fight songs…and she put on Keb Mo’s “Life is Beautiful”. That Patty is profound a lot of the time.

My friends belted out every single word of Cee Lo’s “Forget you ”  It’s a new favorite. “Forget you…and forget her too!’

We parked near the famous Magnolia Silos in Waco, and there was a golf cart shuttle over to the bakery and store that was our Fixer Upper Destination.  As usual, we laughed as we learned that the golf cart driver was from Bradenton.  This stuff happens all the time to us.

 

 

That’s a pic of our new friend Dale from Bradenton and a pic of Trudi with Joanna Gaines’ mom…. #celebsighting!

More carbs were a priority, and we ordered “Prized Pig” bacon and cheese muffins and “Shiplap” lemon lavender cupcakes and coffee.    We filled out our request following Magnolia protocol but loved the opportunity to show some creativity and listed our customer name as “Ruth Bader Ginsburg” enthusiastically anticipating the clerk’s announcement that “Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s” order was ready!  LOL

Sadly, there is at least one gal in Way-co who doesn’t know who Notorious R.B.G is…we hope she gets out to vote for Beto O’Rourke anyway!  She announced, “Ruth!”  “Ruth!” several times before Janey prompted..”What’s the last name?”

Sadly the gal responded, “Ginsburg, just Ginsburg..”  Our shining moment came and went.  Alas!

 

 

 

Patty jumped in to help a family with their little photo sesh of their toddler with some decorative pumpkins and squash…

 

On the road again, we decided we needed to try Chuy’s Tacos…an Austin delicacy and headed toward the FIRST Chuy’s restaurant that led toward the chain that now boasts 102 restaurants.

 

 

 

Our evening plan was The Saxon Pub and meeting up with Patty’s friend Vindhya who is an absolute “hoot!”  Actually Patty’s daughter’s friend first, Vindhya is full-on OUR friend now.  She met us at our Airbnb and made us laugh all night long…she joined us as we went to the pub

And we were joined by Trudi’s old friend, Jim Swift, whom she hadn’t seen in thirty years. We also met up with Marcia Ball and danced with her and sang along to some great music.  Marcia had performed at Jim’s wedding thirteen years ago.  Marcia was greeted by so many people who know her, love her, and have been a part of her lifelong music career…everyone knew of her induction into the ACL Hall of Fame.  She was so lovely and generous, greeting so many with warm hugs and laughter…she’d reserved seats for us and talked and laughed with Patty the whole evening..

 

 

 

The Sixtahs with our Vindhya moved on to Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar to end the night carousing with no less than four Bachelorette parties and one group of guys in matching tropical shirts that was either a Bachelor Party or a group of guys in town from the Midwest for a Shoe Company Tech Support Convention.  My money is on the convention; those boys were pale.

Piano Bars are magical.  Everyone raises a glass and sways to “Sweet Caroline” or “Georgia, Georgia, the whole night through…”. Our group stood for Cee Lo’s “Forget you and forget her too…”. I think I mentioned it’s a favorite?

 

 

 

 

Our singing got better all night…and we capped off the evening with Gloria Gaynor’s “I will Survive” in Patty’s honor.  The crowd was told that our group was celebrating Patty’s successful SIX year fight against Pancreatic Cancer…

Oh no, not I, I will survive
Oh, as long as I know how to love, I know I’ll stay alive
I’ve got all my life to live
And I’ve got all my love to give and I’ll survive
I will survive

 

People hugged her and shook hands and gave her words of encouragement…she touches so many in this battle of hers…

The night went long, and in the interest of coherent writing, no blog was undertaken.

This morning Patty told me that Vindhya always asks her “What can I do for you?”  It means so much to Patty.

She said she responds with, “You do enough, you support Julia (Patty’s daughter)…”

And Vindhya apparently responded with “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

This morning we struggled to find an Uber XL and ended up piling into a small “SUV” with all of our luggage as we departed for the Austin Airport and our return to Florida.  The gang constantly teases me about how I like to chat up Uber and Cab drivers.  Today was no different.  Our driver spoke only a little English, so I was the front seat designee, and I nodded sagely when I didn’t understand about 20% of what he said in his native tongue.  He is a Cuban immigrant and super proud of his town of Austin.  My three years of high school Spanish allowed me to understand that he either likes Los Lobos or he owns wolves.  He used to live in Hialeah, Florida.  The traffic is bad in Austin, yes, but possibly the weather is, I’m just not sure.  Many Cubans in Austin work in transportation he said, and Uber is good to work for.   The sixtahs in the rows of seats behind me giggled and snickered as usual because, again, I always befriend a cab driver…and they imagine that LOVE is in the air.  Things hit rock-bottom when I began to hear “That’s Amore!” playing from Patty’s phone.  That would have been bad enough but it was closely followed by, “Marry me” by Train.

I was texted this photo during our trip to the airport…

Jane forgot her phone in the Uber when we got to the airport, and we scurried to call our driver to bring it back…I was able to stammer into the phone, “el telefono de mi amiga esta en su coche, lo siento!”  and he hurried back to the airport curb with phone in hand!  Jane gratefully gave him a tip and he said in broken English, “Thank you for you.”

 

Our trip has ended, Patty… “Thank you for you.”

Let’s get another one on the books…