What a nice culmination to so much intensity in preparing for it all.  I was bone tired just from getting the new room ready; I cannot even imagine how exhausted the hostess must have been from all the construction at her house, planning both parties and never stopping in her countless family, philanthropic and social commitments.  Someone said she was a combination of Auntie Mame, Elizabeth Taylor and Golda Meier… I think she is one of the most amazing and wonderful people I have ever met!

Then Sunday came and I crashed like the mother of the bride the day after the wedding festivities are complete.  Down…down…down in the bowels of post installation partum… I permitted myself to feel drained and worn out for a day or so… until that little moment of self absorption became too time-consuming.  Life is short, and altogether too interesting to waste time moping around.

So after a lazy long Labor Day weekend, all the work for other clients and little personal projects began to poke thru the fog.  Tuesday I meandered back to work and spent a long time fiddling with emails and Facebook getting reacquainted with life outside of the intensive project I had so willingly immersed myself in for weeks.  By Wednesday morning my trainer Lauren would have none of this lounging around and got me moving a bit faster.  (I can’t avoid her… she knocks on the door and I cannot escape!) 

So I thought life was returning to normal.  I gradually built up speed and focus, meeting with a few clients, conferring with project managers, shaking off the sense of let down in excitement.

Then our attorney called with the fantastic news that we have sold a piece of property!  Wow, this was turning out to be a good week despite my lethargy.  

Still, I was not feeling too good yet.  I had rescheduled a few clients and was trying to work in the office without stress, quietly digging into the piles of work that engulfed my desk.  It rained all day which was a further good excuse to take it easy. 

Until the Tornado hit. 

I am not kidding.  Out of the blue (literally) a tornado appeared near the Trinity River. Someone came into my office and turned on the TV so we could watch the excitement and take precautions should it come near us.  Watching with fascination I suddenly realized that the radar showed the tornado taking a direct approach toward Eveready Services, a company I own in partnership with my son Allan.  Oh. My. God.!!! 

Since the weathermen were saying it was headed toward our neighborhood in uptown near Highland Park I sent the staff into a safer area and stayed in my office glued to the television.  I picked up the phone and called Allan.

“Allan, there is a tornado headed directly toward you!!”

He responded with eerie calm, “yes, there is and I can see it and it is headed right at me.” 

As a mother, my response was unprintable… not for profanity but because it is hard to say in words what a flipping heart and horror at such a danger facing your child feels like…….”take cover!!!!” were the least of the words that tumbled out.

Well, the tornado evaporated back into the sky before it got to my office in uptown.  But ten minutes later I got a call from Allan… ”we were hit!!… it got the building but I am ok!”

Allan sounded considerably more excited than he did when I had talked to him ten minutes earlier!!

Well, from allowing myself to mope around for a few days I metamorphosed into a rapidly moving parent and business partner… I don’t think I ever got from my office to Allan’s so fast.

Thankfully, he was fine.  His vehicle, some of the company trucks and the building itself was not so fine.  It was only Wednesday and the week was really turning out to be unique.

Last night, Thursday, Cole and I attended a Classical Architecture event where prizes were given for designs for Habitat for Humanity houses.  This party was in the home of Lynn and John Muse.  Their house is a stately home, in the sense of a great English country house, or Pile. (Cole loves that the English refer to their grand houses as Piles!)  Designed by Quinlan Terry, it is a stunner. 

Tonight there is a Super Bowl Pre-Celebration with Van Cliburn and Tim McGraw (what a combo!) at Cowboy Stadium… we don’t know whether to wear denim or diamonds…

And tomorrow night is a black tie event for the DSO at the Myerson.

Whew!!!  This week is wearing me out.  But it is coming to an end… on September 11^th… a notable date.  What else will happen?