A couple of weekends ago I had the chance to pay a visit to my old stomping grounds - Tyler, Texas.  For those of you who know me, you know that I'm pretty proud of my home town and that I don't get to go back very often since my family has all migrated to the Austin area.  So, when I had the chance to drive Jan and a friend to a retreat in Midlothian for the weekend I decided I'd dart east to Tyler for the weekend. 

I got to spend some good time with some old friends - Jeff Heimer, Laura and Eric Roberts, Allison Greer, and Catherine Chesley.  It was really great to catch up with all of those good folks and I hope to keep in touch. 

A few highlights from my trip:

• Eating a #6 and a #7 and a longneck Pepsi at Taqueria el Lugar.  This was my favorite place to eat in Tyler.  It's a hole-in-the-wall run by a family from Mexico, and they serve up fantastic Mexcian food that I've yet to find anywhere else.  A true gem.  They actually have two or three locations now.  You must go if you ever visit T town!
• Shooting hoops in my old gym.  Growing up the son a recreation minister had its privileges.  One of those is access to a basketball gym pretty much anytime I wanted.  The gym and Family Life Center at my old church Green Acres Baptist was where I spent countless hours growing up.  It was a big part of my growing up and the place of many cherished memories of being a kid shooting hoops with the older kids, playing ping-pong, refereeing basketball, and having birthday parties.  I have no way of measuring this but I'd estimate that I've shot more baskets in that gym than anyone else.  No trophy necessary, just something I like to think about. 
  
• Taking a driving tour to my old houses and schools.  Talk about nostalgia!  I was able to get pictures of all my old houses...well, almost all of them.  I sent my family all the pictures and Jana asked "where is our 3rd house?"  I can't believe I completely forgot about our house on Huntington.  That neighborhood was by far the funnest one.  Kids would always be playing football in the front yard, or riding skateboards, or riding bikes in the awesome trails that were nearby (which are gone and developed now I've heard.)  What a great neighborhood that was!  We weren't there too long, which may be why I forgot about it when I was taking my tour.  At any rate, it was really neat to see the other landmarks, especially our house in Flint which is where I lived the longest.  

Enjoy some nostalgic pics of B-Dub's Tyler.

It's not just a new cheesy Fox drama coming this fall...it's also the real deal for me as I attended my 10 year high school reunion this past weekend in Tyler!  Robert E. Lee Class of 1995 baby.  It was a blast getting to see everyone that was there.  It really was like stepping back in time as there were so many people that just seemed the same to me, only they either had less hair, more gray hair (myself included in that category), kids (some of them 3 and 4!!), or all of the above.  It was amazing to me how many people lived in Tyler and several that were in Austin. 

There were a handful of people that I missed seeing there - Cory Turner, Ryan Goff, Sarah Garza (Hunsley), and Eric Smith.  I've lost touch with the first three, so if anyone knows how I can get touch with them and you are reading this then shoot me an email (don't post here.)

The biggest suprise of the night came when this guy came up to me and I immediately knew who he was even though he never went to my high school.  It was actually someone I went to Baylor with and had not seen since he left sometime in '98 I think.  Who was it?   None other than Brandon Welch!!!  Whoah!  What a random meeting seeing him at my high school reunion.  It was great seeing him and getting to talk quite a bit with he and his wife Holly Brady who I went to school with.  All of you Segues who don't believe me, I'll post a picture here shortly to prove that it was indeed Brandon.

UPDATE

Here's B-Dub and Tiny Brandon...