Claytie Turned 80, and We Partied Like It Was His Birthday

After the flight down, I was ready to just relax and enjoy the weekend with Cash. And relax and enjoy the weekend we did! Friday he worked half a day, but all afternoon I was feeling really sick. So he actually got to enjoy his afternoon without me talking the whole time. And mwha enjoyed a nice little nap.

That evening we met our friends Kelli and Dean at Osaka's for some pre-game Japanese food. Then it was football time! I was pumped to watch my first high school football game in Midland; I had heard so much about it! Yes, I cheered for Midland High. But the Friday Night Lights lover in me had to smile when I found out they were playing Permian.



Loved it! Came down to the last 9 seconds of the game.

 I was blown away by the grande-sized stadium. At Alma School District we take our extra-curriculars pretty serious. But I had never witnessed anything of this magnitude for high school. 

excuse my nasty face--I have the disclaimer that the wind made me look creepy.

 Of course I just loved having an evening of watching football with Cash! Usually we just get to tell each other about a game we watched or something we did. But to actually be TOGETHER and do something TOGETHER, that was awesome!

Then Saturday morning we headed to Ft. Davis to meet his parents and co-workers for Claytie's Ranch Party and 80th birthday celebration. We stayed at the Hotel Limpia, which was fabulous! It was like staying in an antique house. The town was really neat with some little gift shops. I bought my niece a very minor part to her Christmas present, and I bought my mom some Texas playing cards. Big spender.

But the event of the weekend was the Ranch Party. We got there, signed in, had our pictures taken; then we went down to enjoy the first entertainment: a mariachi band.



mariachi band to welcome guests

Finally, we got to meet up with Ross and Barbara. She is by far the best friend I have made in Midland. We just have had so much happen the same in our lives, and it doesn't hurt that our boyfriends are great friends and the 2 young geologists at work. Our relationships started at relatively the same time, and we both have fallen in love...crazy, knock your socks off, can't imagine life without someone kind of love...with these two hotty patotty guys!


the perfect life

 

Ross and Barbara!

When Clatyon got on stage, Cash explained to me that he recognizes his employees that have worked for 20 or more years. It's not just the Clayton Williams Energy employees; he recognizes all of his farm workers too. Anyone that has worked for any company or property he owns, Claytie recognizes them. I thought that was pretty amazing. How many people that have such a successful career in pretty much every major type of industry remember the people who feed the cattle on their farms? (If you don't know much about Mr. Williams, you can purchase a copy of his biography. Yes, I just made a plug for my boyfriend's CEO.)

Clayton recognizing his staff

Another awesome thing about Claytie is that he loves politics, in particular Republican politics. After his prayer, he exclaimed, "And piss on Obama!" Then he received a sun visor for his truck that had "CWI" on one side and "Piss on Obama" on the other. His dislike for the current president isn't kept a secret. But if you read about his own Texas gubernatorial race, you would find out he doesn't keep a lot of things low key.

You could tell by the amount of people there to celebrate Claytie's birthday that they love working for him. In fact, I heard a lady at lunch Saturday afternoon say, "I've had so many people call and ask me to go to work for them, but I wouldn't go anywhere now. I finally work for Clayton!"



loving life with my sweet friend

Barbara and I love Claytie too! He pays our fellers...and they buy us lunch. haha. But seriously, even though I'm an old country groupie and she hates any country, we both had the time of our lives at the concert. Yep, Claytie brought in a band...you just wait for it!

singing "Elvira" with my sweets

 Cash even got into the concert, but I think he was just itching for the 2nd band to come on so we could dance. That boy loves to dance! ha---only kidding, of course. But he had promised he would dance once the first concert was over.



Cash and Ross enjoying the show



My boyfriend and my friend make such a pretty couple! Luckily, she's taken. haha

posing in front of the stage...jamming out!

Who is that behind us you ask? Besides Carrie Ann in the little (way too little) black dress? That's the one and only OAK RIDGE BOYS!! Yep, a private concert with the Oak Ridge Boys. Life doesn't get much better than that!

ready to sing "Hey, Claytie"

 They even were gracious enough to sing a birthday song to Claytie written specifically for him to the tune of "Elvira." We were a little iffy about it at first, but it turned out to be an awesome song...but darn the luck I have had it stuck in my head all week long!

During the concert this girl umm lady...girl-lady kept staring at Barbara and I. I even saw her sneak in a picture of us. Finally, she walked up and started talking. Cash was pretty excited-HA. If you know my boyfriend, you know he's the shyest, quietest, most modest person you could ever meet. However, he thought it'd be super awesome to get up there and have his picture taken with Black Dress Woman. This is as close as he would get. haha.

She told me that she and her husband are looking for geologists ALL the time and proceeded to give me her business card. That's where I had to draw the line. I was like, "Okay..thanks. Cash does have a job." But she said she was cold, and I felt bad. So I had Cash go grab my other fleece jacket and let her wear it. I do have a heart afterall.

In case you haven't noticed, she wasn't the classiest lady of all time. It was no time before she left, and the 3 of us started cracking up. By no means were we making fun of her; but she was trying so hard to promote her business. And at times we wondered what all that business entailed. In the meantime...the Oak Ridge Boys were still singing away...

And I must admit that I was singing away too. Cash told me later that he didn't know who had the most fun at the Ranch Party: Claytie or yours truly. It was a pretty close race.

Everything about these pictures reminds me of how great the weekend was. However, during the entire concert I kept anticipating the next band who was going to play in order for us to dance on the tennis courts. Don't get me wrong; the Oak Ridge Boys were phenomenal. And part of me never wanted it to end. But a part of me was ready to dance with the one person I would travel around the world for. However, it wasn't Avery's Ranch Party. It was Claytie's. And Claytie was having fun with the ORB.

So Claytie went up on stage and dropped a few K's, a few Grover Cleveland's if you will, and conned the coolest band in America to play for an extra hour. Towards the end they said it was the longest concert they had ever played, and they literally were running out of songs. But none of us would have cared had they replayed some songs. We were having a blast!

However, all good things have to come to an end. The concert was over. Rain started. The dance never began. The Ranch Party was done. And within 24 hours I had gotten on a plane back to Arkansas. What a brutal ending to one of the best weekends on record!

My trips to Texas are my favorite weekends. Coming home has just become one more thing to make me want to get back down there. I hate being away from Cash, away from Midland. I try to keep reminding myself to enjoy these moments. Enjoy missing him and then jumping in his arms when I see him after several weeks. Enjoy being 30 minutes away from my parents. Enjoy my friends I have grown up with. Enjoy my job with the most amazing students in the world. But it's getting harder. Because every single day I miss Cash. And I'm going to end on that sappy little love note...

G'night, and I love y'all!
*Avery*

Plain ol' Plane Failure

We travel a lot. Just not to a lot of destinations most people are itching to go to. We go to Midland, Texas and Alma, Arkansas. That's how exciting it gets around here.

But it gets quite pricey going from the middle of nowhere to the middle of nowhere. While I have made it known that I think it'd be a wise investment to purchase a small plane and become a pilot, I have to convince Cash to do that. Lord knows I'm not becoming a pilot. I close my eyes on the take-off and landing.

This weekend is Claytie's annual Ranch Party!! Cash and I have been planning for months on where we were staying and what the weekend plan was going to look like. So I took off half a day of work yesterday and a full day today. For the first time I was flying from Ft. Smith instead of Tulsa to save on time (but definitely not money--why are small airports SO expensive?!)



the entire FS airport with pretty much all of FS in view--yep, 2 runways



Anyway, we were so excited!! I got to Ft. Smith and through the 1-man security operation. Okay, they had thrice as many people as that. But still they wouldn't let me go through security until the 1 gate on the other side was open. That's hoaky. I love Arkansas, but that's hoaky.



the 1 thing that FS airport has going for it



So I got on the plane and was having a good time listening to this guy in front of me try to talk to the kid sitting next to him. We started to take off, and the plane was literally all over the runway. I kept thinking to myself that I was exaggerating the problem...that it was just me being tense since this was the first time I've flown since the tragedy this summer. I had even driven to Midland twice in order to not fly. To say I had been anxious about this flight was an understatement.

Eventually we got off the ground and started ascending. I closed my eyes and could just hear all these sounds you don't really think you should be hearing in a plane. Mind you it was a little prop plane (even a more uneasy feeling), but it was still a little unnerving. At this point though, it was just a little unnerving.



an AA prop plane just like the one that ruined the afternoon



We weren't in the air for 5 minutes when I looked out the window and started thinking to myself, "We should be higher than this. Really, I think we should." And it was at this exact same moment when that same man in front of me looked out the window and said, "We are going down. Yep, we are going down. WE ARE GOING DOWN!!"



These aren't words a counselor-seeking scaredy cat with a terrible summer experience needs or wants to hear while in the smallest plane in use.

It was at this exact same moment a lot of beeping started coming from the cockpit to the stewardess. She then came over the speakers and said, "The landing gear will not come up. Please make sure your seatbelts are fastened securely and as tight as they will go. Please do not get up or unfasten your seatbelt. Please prepare for an emergency landing."

*INSERT SOBS*



I felt the blood rush out of my face, and my hands grew numb. I clinched onto the closest thing to me, even though the man sitting next to me wouldn't let me hold his hand. He was mean. Then I started praying, and my prayers grew louder. I just kept repeating aloud, "Oh, Lord. Oh, Jesus. Oh, help us. Oh, Lord."

The man in front of me? Remember him? Yep. He took his hat off and started praying too.

After all of that we did land back in Fort Smith, but they couldn't get us back to the terminal. We had to walk. I was bawling the whole way.

I tried to call Cash twice, but I knew he was playing golf with some of the VP's from work. So I called my mom to tell her to stay in Ft. Smith and called Cash's mom to tell her I wouldn't be at the airport in Midland at 6:00. I was freaking out with both of them and crying hysterically.

Eventually I got to the ticket counter where they offered to get me on the same plane...yes...I just said the SAME PLANE! in a couple hours. They were going to "strap up the landing gear." I looked at the lady like she was crazier than Obama'a economic advisor and told her in no uncertain terms that I wouldn't step foot back on that plane. Seriously?! I am not a pilot nor am I am a mechanic, but I am pretty certain that at some point in the flight you need landing gear. Reason #2 it was quite hoaky.

Well, I thought I was going to just drive, but I couldn't imagine driving 10 hours back on Sunday. Not happenin'. So they rerouted me to fly out of XNA to DFW then from DFW to Lubbock...2 flat, dusty, windy hours away from Midland. I was to get in at 11:30. Basically, Cash would be getting in bed at 2:00 in the morning and having to get up and be at work by 8. I felt terrible, but he said he'd rather me do that than drive the entire trip.

So Mom and I headed to XNA. When I get there, I realized many more people and planes were there, and I started feeling much better. This is the point where I should mention that we couldn't use another plane at Ft. Smith because that was the only (yes, the ONLY) plane at the entire airport. Ohhpp...hoaky moment #3.



XNA...a little bit busier than FS



 XNA was nice though, and although they couldn't get me on the earlier flight to DFW they were nice enough to check the flights from DFW to Midland for me one more time. Luckily there was 1 seat left for a 9:15 flight to Midland...and I took it!



an AA regional jet

 

Instead of having a 2 hour layover in Dallas and flying into Lubbock, I had about 45 minutes to sit and be so so so excited to fly straight into Midland and see my honey. Plus, I was on a regional jet on both flights instead of 2 prop planes like I originally was going to fly on. Perhaps it was all worth it just for that. I do NOT like prop planes. 



Wouldn't you much rather be on a regional jet too?



Long story short I got into Midland a little over 4 hours later than expected and missed the play I had taken a half day off work to see with Cash and his parents. But I was safe. And I was in the Permian Basin. And that's all I really cared about at that point.

Cash stopped and got me some Whattaburger (we are fancy eaters) and came home to finish up some work. And I played with Jett. Sleep never looked so good after such an eventful day! Tonight he's taking me to my first ever Texas high school football game: Midland vs Permian! I am so excited and even brought a purple shirt to cheer on the Bulldogs in honor of Cash's alma mater. Tomorrow is the big ranch party!! Can't wait to see Barbara and Ross...and have a great time with Cash!!

Prayers for safe travels home Sunday would be awesome. See you guys next week (hopefully ;) ) and can't wait to tell you all about my weekend with my favorite!

--Avery--



Hog Wild, Law School, and Amanda Knox

Life has been so much fun! This past weekend I got to meet up with my favorite Texan and his family in Arlington. It just happened to be the same weekend that my beloved Hogs were playing at Cowboys Stadium. And Cash's sister-in-law just happens to be one huge Aggie fan.

Now, I love Jeanne. Thanks to her I met Cash and have 2 more beautiful little nieces. But I do wonder about her adoration of A&M. ;)

Only kidding, of course. We were quite respectful during the game, and I honestly tried to be humble aftewards. After all, it wasn't pretty for either of us. At dinner that night, though, I did have to call the Hogs with some fellow Razorbacks who were sitting right behind us. It was my Uncle-Cousin as the Pullins would call him and his friends.

Jeanne and I right after the game

I do so much love Cash's family...have I ever mentioned that?! For those of you who have known me for a long time, you know why they are so precious to me. It's been the biggest blessing in my life to date someone with such a wonderful, wonderful family. But I'll tell you what, that Cash can just stop my heart. He's just it... the whole shebang. I pray everyone gets to feel as giddy and in love as I do with him. (But not you with him...I'M the only one who can be in love with him. Got it??)


The most handsome man in the world with baby Toby

He's the best uncle in the world. And the most handsome uncle too! Lena and Toby love their Uncle Cashy!! He's so great with them...and he's so great to Braeson and Addison too. Braeson tells me how he's going to move to Texas with his Aunt A and be a geologist with Cash. He's OBSESSED with rocks, and he's always saying, "Ask Cash about this rock. Tell Cash I got a new rock." And on and on and on. It's so sweet!

Anywhoodle, the weekend was amazing. But it had to come to an end. Like always I started crying before I left even though I will be there Thursday evening. (Yay for short weeks and getting to see Cash!!) I was so exhausted from the 5 hour drive home and still had to go to Ozark and pick up Bequette. It was a late night for both of us, and he was tuckered out when I got him home.



tired little Bequette




BQ!

 My roommate, being the sweetest girl in the world, had put a message on the 'fridge that I saw when I got home. It's so fun living with one of my best friends! The past 3 years I've lived by myself, and I was so proud of that. Since my need for a roommate was urgent, I didn't have much time to think about getting one. But it took letting go of a lot of pride to come to the realization that not only did I need to live with someone, but it was okay to live with someone too. She's been the greatest roommate...and friend!



My sweet roommate had this waiting for me!

Speaking of letting go of pride, I finally decided an official "no" on applying to law school. This is something I dreamed about growing up. I never really let that dream die, and I took the LSAT almost 2 years ago. Since we started talking about more serious issues in life, Cash has been so encouraging of me to find the path I wanted to go. He's told me numerous times he would support me no matter what, and it's been such a relief to kind of just figure this out in my own heart.

I wrestled with the decision of applying all summer long, and Cash can vouch that I would change my mind literally every single day. Finally, I told him that I would not. And I settled on that decision for several weeks until Wesleyan in Ft. Worth sent me an application fee waiver yesterday. We both thought, "What the heck? Why not just try?"

Deep down it wasn't about wanting to go to law school or even be a lawyer. I knew that. My love is politics, and I'm getting a master's in Public Administration already. To be honest, for me it was about the pride of getting accepted. I wanted to prove to myself, and everyone else really, that I was smart enough to get accepted. That I was a teacher AND I am intelligent.

Last night I sat down, wrote out my personal statement, had the application filled out for 2 law schools in Texas, and I changed my mind. I had absolutely no peace about it. And, truth be known, I knew it wasn't something I really wanted to do. I really want to be in Midland with Cash. I really want to transfer to UTPB, finish my master's, and concentrate in politics. I really want to be a city organizer, governor, or some other public official. Sometimes I even toss in the idea of being a corporate trainer, which wouldn't be a far cry from what I do now. None of my goals really align with law school...at least not to an extent which vouches for hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to do what I can do already.

So, bottom line, I let go of the pride of everyone seeing "how smart I am." And I decided to concentrate on living out my dreams of being in the political field...and concentrate on loving Cash. Because those 2 things I'm good at.

ANYWAY...I'm sure you really needed to know my reasoning behind law school...or lack thereof.

This whole ordeal with Amanda Knox has put me in a tension basket. I mean, I seriously have had anxiety attacks over it. I got tears in my eyes watching her come home. It's so real to me. It hits so close to home.

Remember me mentioning a few things about my summer trip to teach English? Well, it didn't go as planned. It ended up as the most traumatic event of my life.

all this garb in 130 degrees

I got to wear this attire in a humid 130 degree heat, and many times I had to walk with my head down so that I wouldn't make inadvertent eye contact with a man. I was in the Middle East...my first trip ever outside the USA.

I'm still not sure if now is the right time to tell you the details of my trip. But I will tell you that it was oppressive being there as a woman. I had no rights. No freedoms. It was the saddest lifestyle I can imagine having.

To top it off I became overly frightened of men, especially locals. One day, at the right time, I will tell you all about it. But right now I can say that after a terrifying experience, I stayed in the capital city for 2 1/2 days waiting for a flight back to the US.

You don't think about if you can get a flight when you're in America. You know you'll get one. But halfway around the world I was completely alone except for a few Americans I had met within the week. No family. No friends. No one to look after me.

My family finally helped get me on a plane, and I travelled for 30 hours back to Dallas. I remember that flight so vividly: I could barely breathe. I had an anxiety attack for 7 solid hours on the first leg of the trip. In Amsterdam the flight attendant took me to the doctor who ended up giving me a handfull of pills to relieve the anxiety on the way to the States.

God put his giant wall of protection around me the entire time. But on the way home I felt it the most. I knew I would have Amerian soil under my feet again...that those people who tried to hurt me overseas would never find me...that I never had to go back.

Bring that to today as I watched Amanda Knox put her own feet on American soil for the first time in 4 years. I sob with her knowing the feeling of "finally" when you breathe your first breath of American air in what seems like an eternity. Truly there is no place like home...our home. What we have in the United States is so uncomparable to other parts of the world. We have freedom, equality, justice, and liberty. I took that for granted my whole life. However, this summer made me so grateful that often times I will kneel to kiss the ground I'm walking on. I wonder if Amanda Knox did that too.

I can't speak for her. But I can say that her heart must be exhausted from enjoying the rest and peace she has found back home in Seattle. My heart goes out to her for dealing with this unthinkable circumstance. My heart goes out for the family of her friend she sadly lost. And my heart goes out for those outside of our borders who may not even be able to dream of the privileges we have here.

Every single day in 2nd period I make sure my students are being respectful while saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I am so proud of our military and our country. We will never understand why we were blessed to be here. But God did bless us. And He blessed the United States of America.

Peace, Love, and Sweet Dreams---
Avery