the best gift

I'm a terrible daughter. I had all these great things planned for Father's Day. but ended up deferring most of my errands to my sister. luckily she loves to shop.

part of my negligence towards my daughterly duties was due to wanting to go see my grandma before Father's Day dinner, and part of it was because I drank way too many vodka drinks/margaritas the day/night before and had to sleep in and nurse my hangover.

sometimes I think I have too many good friends... ok, perhaps that's not possible, but I was overbooked this weekend. and I tried frantically to fit it all in.

it started off rather low-key. my parents' dog C had to have surgery Friday and had to stay at the vet overnight. my mom stayed at my house until she could take C home. after visiting C at the vet, we grabbed dinner and both feel asleep on my couch watching Finding Nemo.

Saturday morning, TheDog woke us early, begging to be taken for a walk. so, we combined that with our coffee run. then, after picking up C (who came through surgery like a champ), my mom headed home.

I, of course, was running late and had to hurry to meet a few girlfriends to eat lunch (and drink greyhounds). we chatted about trips and guys and life. after lunch, we walked around looking at the street art (and drank vodka lemonades). the artists were enduring the 90+ degree heat to create incredible pastels on the black pavement.

my lunch&art friends had enough of the heat, so I headed over to the music festival to meet up with my music friends (and drink more vodka lemonade). we watched the Nadas, who were great, as usual. but unfortunately I had to leave before my music friends' cute friend was able to join us. (bad timing?)

I hated to dance around and run, but I had to leave to meet up with yet other friends at one of their houses to have dinner (and drink margaritas). the gathering was sort of a joint bachelor/bachelorette party for my friends who are getting married next weekend.

dinner was amazing (as were the margaritas). we chatted about life and friends and marriage and kids. my friends R&J even brought their little 2 week old by for a quick visit!

after dinner I was planning to head back to the music fest (in hopes of catching up with not only my music friends, but also their cute friend), but when I called, they were leaving the festival. (bad timing?)

as it was obviously time for me to get some sleep, I stayed at the b/b party. we moved up the street to a mexican restaurant/bar (and drank many more margaritas).

at the mexican place, we put some tunes on the jukebox so my soon-to-be-married friends could show off the new swing moves they've learned. soon after, the rest of us started dancing around. some of the at-first-disapproving regulars even joined us. the waitstaff and most of the bar-goers thought us insane. we were and are.

definitely not your typical b/b party, but everyone had a great time. I had a great day/night except maybe for the amount of vodka drinks/margaritas I consumed. that was not so bright. I had to crash at my friends' for a few hours until I could get myself home.

when noon rolled around on Sunday, my head was pounding, my mouth felt like I'd been chewing on dry pine needles, and I realized I had only a few short hours to do the 8 hours of errands I needed to get done before dinner.

think, think, think! what did dad say he wanted yesterday? oh, yeah, for all of us to get together for dinner. he doesn't need anything, or want anything. just to hang out with his kids and granddaughter.

but I can't show up empty handed, surely my sister's thought of a fantastic idea. she has. and she offers to buy a card for me, too. that bit I think I can handle.

one errand off the list, I run around tackling a few more, then cut the list short as it's time to head down to my parents' house.

once I get there and get TheDog happily settled in playing with the 'rents' other dog, my mom and I head over to my grandma's to visit with her. she's not feeling very well. she's not up to going to dinner with us.

we chat and catch up, and I ask her what she wants to do for her birthday which is in 2 weeks. (she'll be 90!) she says she doesn't want anything, doesn't need anything. just wants for the family to all be together.

again I can't show up empty handed, and I'm sure I'll think of some great thing for her.

but her answer made me think. it was nearly identical to my dad's.

and I think I know what they both mean.

the best gift is to be surrounded by the people you love. whether that be kids and granddaughters and grand dogs on Father's Day. all of the various flavors of friends on a random Saturday. or your entire family when you're entering your 9th decade.

friends and family are truly the best gift. for any occasion.