Spring Break

This morning Ryan flew to Georgia with his girlfriend. They are at her sister's house for a week, but now I'm really wishing he hadn't gone.

He wasn't sure he wanted to go; her mother bought the tickets, and he felt like he couldn't say no. But. He's not entirely sure he wants to continue the relationship, so it's a bit awkward. I've been telling him for the past couple weeks that I'd pay her back for the ticket if it turned out he didn't want to go.... but he didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, so he went. I think he's going to regret it, and the only reason he did go (IMHO) is because tomorrow they are driving to Chattanooga to meet up with my aunt and uncle and spend the day with them.

Ryan and my uncle have become extremely close in the past few years; he's truly the closest thing Ryan has to a father. We're still not sure why it took so long for them to "discover" each other... my uncle (Jamie) lives in Nashville and is a very successful country music writer. He's sort of separated himself from the rest of the family, though does still participate in things like weddings, etc. But for the most part, they have their life there and the rest of our family is here on the east coast.

Anyway, a few years ago, Ryan and I went down to Atlanta for a Mets/Braves weekend of baseball, and my aunt and uncle drove down to meet us. They hit it off immediately. Jamie never had children of his own, though my aunt has a son from her first marriage. Jamie was a jock in high school and college (football) and is a total sports fanatic. You can see how this was a match made in heaven, no? Ever since that first weekend, we try to get together at least once a year, and talk on the phone often. My aunt is almost as much of a book whore as I am, so we sort of break off into teams of two; when we went to Nashville a few years ago, my aunt and I went to a book festival all day, while Ryan and Jamie drove go-carts, played golf, went to the gym and played basketball. Topped off by a night at a Nashville Predators game. I don't really get the whole hockey thing, but they are absolutely crazy about it. Whatever.

Two Christmases ago, my uncle gave Ryan a replica of his high school football jersey that had been presented to him when he returned to his school for the dedication of the football field being renamed for his old coach. It has his name on the back, and initially I had to pry it off of Ryan and demand that he showered. Last Christmas, he gave him an authentic Vince Young jersey; same issue.

So tomorrow, they will spend the day together, and I'm sure will have a wonderful time. There's no way to really describe what it's like watching them together; Ryan absolutely "blossoms" around him, and Jamie is all of a sudden 19 again: throwing a football or frisbee around, acting silly and joking around. It truly makes me so happy to see them together. I'm sorry I won't be there tomorrow.

But then, Ryan goes back to his girlfriend's sister's house until next Friday, and I'm thinking he's going to be disappointed once the visit with Jamie is over.

Though we got through the first hurdle, which was getting that kid on the plane. He is terrified of flying. He was before September 11, but ever since then, it's taken on a life of its own. This morning he was downing Tylenol PM in the hopes of sleeping from the minute he sat down on the plane till the minute he landed. I kept trying to reassure him that nothing was going to happen... but when you have that fear in your head, you don't really listen to anyone. I felt bad for him. Especially when we started talking about Chicago and it dawned on him that we'd have to fly there in June, too!

I can only hope that he and his girlfriend have a great time together, and he changes his mind when he gets back; I like her and hope she stays around for a while.

Minimally, I know he'll have a blast tomorrow :-)