One Year

It’s been a year since I spent that last normal weekend with my little brother.

A year ago this Sunday, we went running on the scenic Leon Creek Greenway, followed by the usual breakfast at the Jim’s restaurant on I-410.  A few more cups of coffee at nearby Olmos Perk.  Chris suggested making a trip over to the University Co-Op – he’d just been reading the 2010 Texas football schedule, and decided it was time to pick up a decent Texas Exes t-shirt!  I purchased a tacky Longhorn ‘Texas Outline’ decal for my motorcycle top case.

We went to Barnes & Noble after that to drink even more coffee and read some motorcycle magazines.  It was a very enjoyable and relaxing weekend, as always.  I always looked forward to hanging out with Chris!

We had no idea what was going to happen the next evening, just no idea.

I had all my motorcycle gear on – helmet, jacket, gloves, the full kit – when I got that last hug from Chris before departing back to Austin for my 6:30pm softball game.  Chris showed me a new route back to Austin, via Old Blanco Road (avoiding the rabid cagers on US-281 just north of San Antonio).  It was a great ride home.  I wish I’d have given him a hug first before I’d put all the damn motorcycle gear on.

The entire weekend is etched into my mind, and I relive moments of it daily.  This is very strange, but it always feels like the accident was last week.  Every week, it feels like the accident was last week.

We were all set to have a family Memorial Day weekend in San Antonio at Chris’s apartment.  That never happened.

I drove around San Antonio today reliving the last Sunday I spent with Chris.  I even ordered his oatmeal and fruit combo at Jim’s (asking the waitress to “just bear with me on this”).  Argh, it still doesn’t seem real.

In other news, my dad is set to have surgery to halt the degradation of his spine tomorrow (Monday) at Methodist Hospital here in San Antonio.  I’ll post another update with how that’s going (we need him back on the team for sure!).