Replacement Parts

February 7th 2014 was a day of packing and getting ready for another weekend of cheer.  We were on our way to San Antonio. We would watch some of the competition and take in a little sight seeing. I had been in a while since I had been to San Antonio, so I was excited to see the River Walk and all that it had to offer. We got to the hotel and unpacked. Now to venture out and have some fun. I remember lots of walking and trying to find the area where the girls were practicing to get ready for Saturday.  They had spent all year  gearing up for this moment. When practice was over we decided to stroll the River Walk to find a place to eat. We all Made our way into the Joes Crab Shack and I remember laughing and having fun with the other parents. We finished up and walked to the hotel and called it a night. We made plans for the next day and fell asleep. Around 5:am Cynthia received a phone call and it woke us up. I could only hear her half of the conversation but I could tell it was one of those calls you hate to receive.  They had to rush her dad to the hospital and it wasn't looking good.  We needed to get back to Fort Worth asap.  We frantically packed up and told the girls to stay and compete for "WoWo" that's what they called their Grandfather. We made it back in 3.5 hours.  We were there for a short while when the family decided to let Tony go home. He passed quietly on February 8th 2014.  That was our last trip to San Antonio.
    This past weekend with yet another Cheer competition going on we decided to make another trip. The last trip 2 years ago, we felt was cursed and we needed to replace parts of it in our memory. We spent the last 2 years dreading a weekend getaway for fear of another catastrophy.  We packed up and left on Saturday and I will say that there was a sense of gloom in the beginning, but with every new memory made we slowly put that last trip in the rearview mirror.  By the end of the trip it was honestly one of the best weekends me and Cynthia have ever had.  We didn't erase that day its still there. What we can say now is this. The last time we were in San Antonio we had a blast. It was not marred by an earth shattering event.  We have to do that sometimes in life replace bad memories with good ones because life doesn't stop until ours is over. Don't be afraid to do something because  of something that happened in the past. Life is chock full of what ifs. Be willing to make new memories.  You will find that the replacement parts shine brighter than the faded broken memories.