Moving Day

The night I met my sweet Jason at a fine drinking establishment in downtown Chicago, he mentioned that he would someday be moving to corporate headquarters for AT&T so that he could continue to progress in his career.  Corporate headquarters was San Antonio, TX.  Little did I know we'd be closing the door on Chicago just 1 year after we were married.

I suppose it all started with the rattlesnake family that was found while the workers dug a hole for our swimming pool ...or was it the perfectly toned, peppy and beautiful red head neighbor who greeted me as we drove up to our house after 22 hours of driving....reminding me of what I heard so many times before we came---  All Texas woman are stunning---inside and out.

Ahhh.  You like that one Wendy, don't you?  I don't bite the hand that feeds.  I know your iphone reminder is going to beep loud and clear Tuesday morning gently reminding you to head off to Las Palapas, purchase 30 bean and cheese tacos with an appropriate amount of brown salsa to match and then overnight that little piece of heaven to me!

Watch out, Patricia.  You're next.

I see a theme emerging in my blog.  There appears to be an abundance of "package delivery" references.  Perhaps I should more appropriately name my blog---Me and My Daily Dose of The Brown Suited Stranger. 

 I enjoy that.

Back to Texas, a nation of its own.  If it wasn't the rattlesnakes being beaten to death with shovels in neighbor's garages each morning or the scorpions lining my baseboards....then it had to be the neighborhood tarantulas that I grew so fond of.  I could often be found in the long line outside Courtney's garage with my spiders clinging for life in an air tight container.  She houses the state's largest collection of frozen deceased spiders.  Including all venomous breeds.  You can quickly identify which spider is threatening your family  and leave armed with all the information you need to treat a bite and/or reaction.  Even my best friend, Jesse, from HomeTeam Pest Defense couldn't do this and I paid him handsomely each quarter to suit up and inject those carcinogens into my walls that 10 days later left a large number of scorpions clinging to their lives on my baseboards.  Yes, homes in Texas have tubes in the walls so that Jesse can visit and fill them up good with murderer juice.

I don't think I've mentioned that I don't forget a date.

July 26, 2004, I was 4 months pregnant with Sophia and I decided that I better start getting more comfortable here in South Texas.  As shocking as this may sound, I decided to check the mailbox.....barefoot.   I was halfway there when Courtney started screaming, "Tarantula!"  And, in Texas there is no crying wolf.  The human race must protect its own from God's animal creatures.  I froze.  Was anyone going to save me?  Surely I had stepped on it and was going to die a painful and untimely death.  My emotional display amused the neighborhood whose screams for the tarantula were in excitement.  Didn't I know tarantula's aren't poisonous, didn't I know they are harmless....did I know they jump.....far?!!!  I saw this one extended up on his hind legs and ready to pounce.  It literally took the breath out of me.

You can say I become somewhat numb to the species after awhile.  Skimming up Mamma Tarantula and her 5 drowned babies from the bottom of my pool every morning isn't psychologically damaging at all.

The day I had prayed for finally came.  In the winter of 2005 I knew my sweet baby girl and dear pug would be safe.  They were forecasting a freeze!  Instead of emerging victorious and considerably larger in the spring.....this year those suckers and their offspring would be frozen dead!

What a spectacle.  The city shut down for 48 hours.  Gas stations and grocery stores were closed.  All main expressways into and out of San Antonio were down and truckers had to sit on the side of the road and wait it out.  Rescue workers brought nourishment to "stranded" cars.  And, my personal favorite.  The ANCHORMAN of the San Antonio news held up an ICICLE on my TV screen and actually said, "Look at this everyone!  This is an icicle!"

I know.  Please take a moment to digest that.

The majority of our dear friends kill innocent animals and then garnish their trappings on furniture or showcase the reindeer's beautiful antlers high on their mantels.  I do have one sweet friend Joe, who after he catches a fish....he throws it back.

He's an anomaly in The Land of Texas.

All that being said, there are days that my heart aches for the 80 degree temperatures in November-February or the hundreds of peaches that would drop from our backyard tree for my birthday every year that provided the neighborhood with peach margaritas like no other and in general, the city where I delivered both my baby girls.

Dallas is much different.  Not nearly as different as the move from Chicago to San Antonio by any stretch of the imagination.

As of January 1st I removed San Antonio's daily weather forecast from my kitchen display.  A small, yet extremely significant move in my quest to plant our roots here.  

I can do this.  I can do anything.