lupe the icebreaker

The weather in Houston this past weekend was...weird. Weird in that it wasn't 105 degrees with 90% humidity. It was 89 degrees with 45% humidity which is what I can only imagine Antarctica must feel like. 

But really, it was cold for a Houston summer day. Cold here means not unbearably hot, just so we're all clear. 

We did what any sane-we've-been-living-in-our-own-sweat-for-three-straight-months kind of people would do and went the freak outside. You see, summer in Texas means you are pale because you spend all your time inside places where the AC is blasting, and the sun is not shining. But Sunday, oh this past Sunday, it was dreamy! Cloudy. Breezy once every three or four hours. We might have even sung Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, won't you please not shine down on me! 

JK we didn't sing that, but now I want to rewind so that we can sing that. Rick does love to sing with me. Not. 

Anyways, us getting out and about went down how it goes every. single. time. we decide to do something outside. 

Rick: Wanna do something?

Em: Chyeah!

Rick: Wanna bike ride?

Em: Absolutely not.

Rick: You never bike ride with me.

Em: False. Read my blog for Example A, B, C, and D. 

Rick: Let's go for a walk!

Em: ...interesting. I can get down with a walk.

^^^I was eating my words up there when we were 3 miles and 1.5 hours into the walk and Freddie decided he wanted to go just a little bit farther. 

And then just a little bit farther. Suddenly the Antarctica type Houston weather felt more like real Houston weather.

And oh, we are so close to insert bar name here that we might as well just walk there! That's when any trace of the day feeling nice out vanished, and suddenly I felt like we were walking through water. Hot water. 

By the time we got to said bar and could sit down and get a drink I was over it. I was over the sweat. I was over the fact that I had showered that morning. What a waste! Why do I keep washing my hair in Houston's summer? Over it.

And that's when we made our new best friends. You see, having a dog is (I'm assuming) like having a child. Suddenly everyone thinks they can come over to you because your dog/baby happens to be the best ice breaker. Everybody wants to pet your dog/hold your baby. Everybody wants to hear your dog/baby stories. In this case, everybody happened to be two very happy (read very intoxicated) people. 

We heard about their dogs. We heard about their trips. We heard about their 25th wedding anniversary. We heard about his dad's fourth marriage, and her parent's divorce and then remarriage to each other. We heard about their trip to Cancun. We heard about how they save to go to Cancun. We heard about how years one and two were the hardest in their marriage.

And to think! We found out all this information about strangers because of our dog! So lucky!

We finished our drinks and started the hour plus walk back in the heat-but-not-heat, only for it to start raining within minutes of our return, which honestly kind of felt like we won the lottery. Lupe and I passed out and somehow Freddie took this cutest picture ever that I love. I don't even care how ridiculous...ly cute it is. 

And you know what? Up until I sat down to write this blog I was on the side of the fence where I wanted to complain about strangers approaching us because of our dog. Because people definitely did not come up to us to be our new best friends when we were dog less. 

But now, now that I'm typing it out and reliving it in my head you know what?! I jumped the fence and I'm now on the side where while I think it's pretty weird that strangers approached us and told us their life stories over beer, who cares. They were friendly, they loved the Lups, and most important of all, they were having FUN.

May you all go out with your dogs and have some real, good, genuine FUN on this hump day. 

The end.