Spring Break - Part 2 - Arkansas Bound

I got home from my Girl Trip to Fredericksburg (long enough to wave hello and good-bye to Ron and Alex) and then headed for Arkansas to spend time with my childhood friend, Kay Allen.  Ron refers to this trip as a tradition, since I have pretty much gone to Little Rock for the past several years during spring break.

I am always excited to go see Kay.  We can have fun doing anything, everything, and nothing at all.  Our favorites usually turn out to be estate sales, hanging with her friends, or spending time at her house with Alvin Ray, her adorable dog. We are so alike in our spontaneously, easy to please personalities, that everything we do together is an adventure with lots of fun.

Alvin sleeping right next to my leg.

One of the highlights of this visit was that I got to meet a cousin that I found on Ancestry.com/DNA.  It turns out that our great-grandfather had three wives.  So, I started seeing all of these matches and discovering new cousins that I knew nothing about.  Anyway, I started sending messages and one of the first to respond was "my cousin", Karen Bridges.  It turned out that she lives in Bryant, Arkansas, which is just south of Little Rock.  We corresponded via Facebook for awhile and then finally met in person on this trip.  Kay and I met her at BJs at 4:30 p.m. one afternoon and we didn't leave until 7:30!  Karen is cute as a bug and lots of fun.  We laughed a lot and shared some great wine and Brussel Sprouts. ha ha.  I am so happy to have found her and look forward to our future visits when I go back to Little Rock.

Another highlight of the trip was going to surprise one of my former students at her college softball game.  Gaby Vasquez was a student of mine when she was in the 3rd and 4th grades at Central Elementary School.  Patty, my principal, allowed me to Loop with my 3rd graders up to their 4th grade and this turned out to be one of my most memorable classes of my career.  Gaby was always a very special child.  We had and still have one of those teacher-student bonds that will last forever.  Gaby wound up graduating from Lewisville High School in the top 10 of her class.  She won a full athletic scholarship plus other academic scholarships to Arkansas Tech.  She is going to graduate in May with a degree in nursing.  So, when I decided to go to Little Rock, I looked up her schedule and was so excited to see that she had a home game in Russellville on Saturday.  Kay and I drove there and I surprised Gaby!  It was so wonderful to see her.  Even though I don't get to see her often, it seems that nothing changes.  She also has the sweetest mom in the world and she was there, too.  It was a great time and I am extremely happy that it worked out that I could see her.

Moments after the surprise!

Gaby's Senior banner at the softball field.

Gabby in 4th grade.

This is a letter Gaby wrote to me, also, in 4th grade.

I headed home on Sunday.  As I reflected over the past week, I realized that between the Fredericksburg trip and the Arkansas visit, this was one of my favorite spring trips in several years.  I am so blessed.

-Rosie