AUSTome

When you get the invite to go to Austin, you'll think, "Sure, why not?"When you see the cost of everything, you'll think again.But when you realize it'll just be the five of you, staying in one room, taking the same flights, touring around a hip city together, as a little family - you'll book the flight, write the check, and pack your bags.---When you go to Austin, TX with your friends, you'll switch seats on the flight to all sit together in the exit row. The boys will make jokes with the flight attendant and they'll toast to the trip at 30k feet.You'll tell your one friend how you and your college roommate used to yell "Sir" and "Ma'am" at people in public places. He'll catch on, and you'll randomly hear his voice across a crowded bar late that weekend. Sir!You'll all stand, shivering in the cold, at a brewery with pretty skunky beer, waiting to surprise another friend (and the surprise is a fail). This is dubbed a "Charlie Brown" moment. womp womp.Austin will have the coldest, wettest weekend. You'll all keep saying how awesome the rooftop bars and back patios must be when it's warm, humid summer outside.You'll visit the Capitol Building and watch a group of middle school students pass made up bills, so impressed with their arguments in tiny voices.With 5 of you in one room, you'll all agree to use the 2nd floor bathroom out of courtesy, without any discussion. This is both considerate and hilarious.You and your husband will be so happy to hear live country music you'll both tear up with nostalgic joy.You'll play PacMan, Shuffle Alley and some arcade version of Beer Pong. You'll all pile into a photo-booth only to find it's broken. You'll all play the bar game that involves a washer on a string, trying to get it to hook on to a nail. It'll take you over 40 tries. It'll take your friend 2.You'll eat donuts for dinner, pizza that a very drunk guy hands you, and buffet breakfast at the hotel each morning.Every afternoon you all go back to the hotel, change into sweats, and nap for a few hours. Sometimes you read, or scroll through your phone, but eventually, everyone sleeps. This makes the time change, the weather, and going out all night that much easier.You'll walk in the rain to the pizza place across from the bars. Sitting in the top floor of the restaurant, you'll discuss where you all were when 9/11 happened. Then you'll walk home in a downpour, without much talking.You'll swoon over BBQ and snap your favorite photo of the trip.You'll do your own private bar crawl, get into deep discussions about life and end up laughing in the dark until 3am.---I am highly aware that this time of our lives is short (though I guess *all* of our lives are short given our mortality). But I mean the time I'm in right now, specifically. No mortgages on houses we work too much to enjoy, no children, holding jobs we like and friends that have the same appreciation for life, plus some extra money in our pockets to plan a trip like this.Chatting with my grandma last week, she said, "Do it all. Live your life. Don't worry about how dirty the floor is, about cleaning. Go out and enjoy."Our trip to Austin was exactly one of those times.