More Austin, and BB King Speaks to BB

A few days ago I was flipping through the terrific book my father gave me last summer, The BB King Treasures. Oddly, on the same day Dad gave me this book out of the blue, I'd brought him a new King CD, a greatest hits compilation.

Anyway, in the book King talks about how he ran away from his father's home at age 14. The bicycle ride back to Kilmichael, Mississippi was about fifty miles. "But on my way there, I got so hungry. I was so hungry I didn't know what to do, because all my money was gone."

He describes getting about 10 miles from his destination and seeing an elderly lady on a porch. With his hat in his hand, he asked her if she could give him something to eat. She smiled and brought him some fresh biscuits.

He never forgot it, and made it a personal policy to always help the hungry.

***

Austin was a pretty doggone good trip. I left work Friday afternoon at about 3:45pm. I needed to make this trip on the cheap, so I had made plans to crash at Toland's place. I packed a cooler full of food since the conference wasn't going to feed the volunteers. I brought my guitar and my suitcase too, and was ready to roll.

I made good time getting down there, though hitting Austin traffic at 6:30pm wasn't fun.

I finally made it to his apartment, and Michael, Liegh, and Maria took me to my old haunt, El Jacalito.

The company was good. We had some laughs, talked about whatever, and ate. I must say, it seemed like El Jacalito had lost a step or three though.

***

That night we visited until late. Maria eventually headed back to Kyle, and he and I dragged out the guitars. That Yamaha 12-string of his always did sound nice. We had a fine time swapping songs. I know we did stuff by Merle Haggard, Porcupine Tree, Anders Parker, and one Michael Toland. Good stuff all. Must've been pushing 1am by the time we shut it down.

I didn't sleep well, but that's been the case rather often lately. I did manage to get up not feeling like I'd been hit by a truck for once. I headed for campus.

***

The conference building stands on what, I believe, used to be the south mall. I think a squirrel once clawed my leg long about there.

Anyway, I found the volunteer coordinator, got a briefing on my duties, and headed for the first presentation.

I knew the presenters, and said a quick hello to them. They discussed a book they're publishing this coming spring. It looks like a good project.

The second session was about substance abuse treatment from the perspective of solution-focused brief therapy. At the time I thought it was a bit more esoteric than necessary, but I actually took the most notes at that session.

On my break, I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the parking lot. The weather was beautiful. Life as good.

The afternoon plenary sessions were pretty interactive, though I kept getting partnered with social workers who weren't familiar enough with SFBT to move along at the clip I would have preferred. It was somewhat useful, but not incredible.

I WAS thrilled that the presenters had video of SFBT guru Steve DeShazer's final session, done in London. It was amusing and brilliant and poignant all at the same time.

***

After the sessions ended, I headed out for a long walk around campus. I walked through the student union, up and down Guadalupe, around the tower, and almost to the school of communications. I felt most drawn to the library, actually. It still smells the same. One semester I had this great break between classes, and I'd often hole up in that library with a book and just lose myself. I loved that.

I really love having no sense of urgency and a bit of freedom.

It was getting cold. I walked across campus back to my car, got in, and headed north, where I promptly got lost.

(Try to contain your surprise).

But I found a bite to eat up on Burnet Road, then stopped in a comic book shop and some deserted coffee shop for a while.

I hit the road later than I meant to, but I'd gotten hung up texting buddies about the UFC fights going on. Gonzaga won, fine. Kenny Florian too, fine. More on that later.

***

At the intersection of 183 and 35, as I waited for the light, I saw a woman holding a sign that read, "Humbly asking for help with a meal."

The light turned green, and as I sped past her I realized that I hadn't eaten even half of the food I packed. It was still in my cooler.

I couldn't exactly turn right around. I exited at Braker, put all my neat little baggies in a big bag, and turned around.

Even as someone who works in a social service agency, I struggle on how to deal with the homeless. While living there in Austin I'd certainly had bad experiences, like getting cursed out by homeless teens on the Drag. I've probably given money to folks who got high or drunk with it, and I've probably ignored people who just wanted a meal, I'm sorry to say.

But her sign touched me, and the BB King anecdote was going through my head.

The light was green when I passed her, but I slowed down almost to a stop and got her attention. I told her, "Ma'am, I packed this lunch for today and didn't need it."

She sounded relieved as she thanked me and blessed me.

***

It was time to hit the road.

***

Funny thing about coffee... one cup coffee = three trips to men's room. I'd gone the whole day on a sleep deficit, and I needed to find said men's room. I figured I'd look for a Starbucks at some freeway exit and find relief of a couple different varieties.

I was all the way to Bellmead when I found one. Ever find yourself trying to stroll casually into the restroom when you really want to RUN LIKE HECK??

Anyway, God bless the USA and Starbucks.

I had my coffee, tried to shake the cobwebs out of my head, and hit the road again.

***

At some point the texts started coming in: Brock Lesnar had defeated Randy Couture. Heartbreaking. I think this is bad in a few ways, but I won't go on about that now.

***

I sang. Sang and sang and sang. Yeah, God bless my iPod too. My voice was hoarse by the time I hit Tarrant County.

***

I was exhausted and wired when I got home. I blogged a bit before crashing. Thank you to everyone who made my trip the success it was.