Wrap up

Just a few items from the last couple of days in Texas:

• The Upas house has a rival--a smaller but mostly comparable house in Mission with a screened porch, fenced yard and great curb appeal. Less room for bookcases and an office, but it's newer and has a better kitchen. The fresh paint in some rooms looked like a rush job to get it listed.
• We haven't seen the inspection report on the repo, but we're both thinking no on that one. I get exhausted just thinking about the work it needs. I still want to see the report for curiosity's sake.
• Saturday night we partied Turkish style with Mike's colleagues and some of the PhD students from the business program. Great food & good conversation--and so many new names to remember!
• We went to the McAllen First Ward Sunday. There was a deacon posted at each chapel door; they refused entry to anyone who showed up after the sacrament hymn started and held the doors shut while the sacrament was passed. No deacons went into the lobby to pass the sacrament to latecomers, either. Struck me as hard core and unnecessarily exclusive. Is this the work of a Utah transplant or a local trying to out-righteous Utah?
• Sacrament meeting kinda freaked me out. In Sunday School, Mike pointed out we had a woman gospel doctrine teacher. Nice. (Then she read almost the whole lesson right out of the manual and talked over people's comments; less nice). Mike stirred the pot a bit with one of his comments--disarming one's enemies by loving them as Christ taught rather than, say, starting wars. In the joint RS/PH meeting, we got a lecture on emergency preparedness, a FEMA/DHS handout on emergency planning and watched a glossy, emotionally manipulative church video. On the plus side, many people introduced themselves and we even got a dinner invite from the young couple we sat next to.
• Further proof there are only 2 degees of separation in Mormondom: I met a guy in the McAllen ward who grew up in my old stake--Los Angeles East. His oldest sister is close to my age and his mom and my mom were big into the roadshows and stake plays back in the day.
• I called my mom to tell her about the old stake connection in McAllen and she had a sighting of her own to report. Mom and dad left church early (building was freezing cold) and went out to dinner. They saw a couple come in--didn't think much of it. When the couple got up to leave, mom said she could feel someone staring at them. The guy came over to their table and asked "Where do I know you from?" It was my ex-boyfriend, Jim. Mom said (with some glee since she knew who he was) "We're Mary Ellen's parents." Jim looked sorry he'd asked and made a hasty retreat without asking anything further.
• Mom reports my cat has been a terror in my absence--making new mischief daily. He's also been cozying up to mom, dad and even brother John and letting them pet him and climbing up on their laps. He'll be especially glad to see me.
• I'm going to keep wearing The Ring, even to work. I figure I can deflect invasive queries until closer to the time I'm ready to reveal my future plans in mid-June.

Well, I need to pack the last of my things for the trip home. :( Will miss Mike terribly. Looking forward to ending the long-distance relationsip and settling down together here in a few months.