I had never been to Texas before, so it was an experience, albeit a short one. The first leg of the trip was a bit rough on me. I had gotten up at 4:30 a.m. our time (after going to bed @ 11 p.m. & then getting up with Isaac at 3 a.m.). Matt told me I should eat breakfast after my first flight, which in retrospect, probably wasn't the best idea. I get nauseated when I don't eat. We were flying on a small plane. I was sitting in the very front row (no first class on that plane), so I couldn't see out (did I mention I also get motion sickness very easily?) and the guy next to me had some serious garlic breath. I spent the flight praying that I wouldn't throw up.
When I got off the plane, I was in pretty bad shape. The two gals I was traveling with suggested I eat something, so I ate a yogurt. It didn't help. The next and all subsequent flights were better for me because I had window seats over the wing. I was able to see out and orient myself with the wing, allowing me to keep my cookies.
When we deplaned at Dallas Fort Worth airport, the first thing that hit me was the ninety degree humid air and the sight of a big tall guy with a mustache and a 10 gallon hat, although it looked like it may have been 15 gallons. I knew I was in Texas. The airport had these huge cowboy and longhorn bull sculptures that seemed like they were suspended in mid air. I had to take pictures for my cowboy at home.
By the time we arrived in Texas, I knew I needed to eat. After we obtained our rental car, we stopped at the first eating establishment we saw, a Church's Chicken located inside a gas station. The gals assured me that they must serve a grilled chicken sandwich, as I knew I just couldn't do anything fried. We went inside and looked at the menu. Nope. All fried. I asked the guy behind the gas station counter if he knew of any place where we could get food that wasn't fried. He just gave me a blank stare. I suggested, "Subway? Do you know of any Subways?" Yes, he knew of a Subway and told me how to get there.However, it took us a while to find a Subway. We wanted to get on the highway driving toward our destination and we figured we could find another Subway somewhere along the way. By the time we did sit down to eat, it was 4:00 p.m. The sandwich perked me up and we headed on down the road to Waxahachie.
The drive from Dallas to Waxahachie was basically a non-stop traffic jam, being that it was late afternoon on Friday. So I got a good look at all the unusual buildings in Dallas. And I was really glad I wasn't the one driving.
We got to the hotel, freshened up a bit and then headed over to the conference. It was held at a historic church, the oldest in Ellis county. It reminded me how much I miss our old church.
That night we had a terrific thunder storm. When I checked the weather forecast earlier in the week, I saw that thunder storms were predicted after the weekend. However, I prayed that there would be one while we were there and God did not disappoint. I'm telling you, I've never seen it rain so hard. When we got back to the hotel, "extreme thunder storm warning" was flashing across the bottom of the lobby's t.v. screen. Another couple who arrived at the same time we did commented that every time they come to Waxahachie, they encounter some sort of extreme weather. The last two times it was tornado warnings.Upon hearing this, my friend Tammy asked the front desk manager, "So what should we do in the case of a tornado?" The man said, "Well . . . .you'd come down here. Yes, you'd come down here. You'd take the stairs, not the elevator and we'd put you somewhere safe. . . . probably the laundry room because that doesn't have any windows. . . yes, the laundry room. Well, anyhow, we'd direct you to where you needed to go once you got down here." That conversation was really reassuring. Thankfully, there were no tornadoes predicted.
One thing that was really great about this trip is that I had my own hotel room. Do you know how many years it's been since I've slept alone and without interruption? I wouldn't go so far as to say my sleep was blissful (after all, it wasn't my own bed), but it was nice. When I was awake (read: unable to sleep), I had time alone with the Lord, which was nice, too.
We had some time to do a bit of shopping on Saturday afternoon. Tammy suggested we go antiquing as she was looking for something specific. I love antiques so I was happy to oblige. I spotted a picture that I really wanted (it wasn't an antique), but we just couldn't figure out how to carry it on the plane. The other gals offered to put some of my stuff into their bags, but I chickened out. I didn't want to make people on the plane angry by trying to put an unwieldy object into a overhead bin.
Then we went to Walmart to get souvenirs. I know, cheese on. Whenever I see the little souvenir section in our local Walmart I think, "Who would buy that stuff?" But we bought it. Nothing like Texas souvenirs that are made in China. Tammy was the last of the three of us to buy her stuff. The check out lady said to her, "Ya'll ain't from around here, are ya?" I knew my boys would be very pleased with their Texas Ranger badges.
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Sunday morning on our way out of town, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. We didn't eat there, but the gals wanted me to see the general store. I bought some old fashioned candy sticks for the kids as well as a bag of Miner's Gold Nuggets bubble gum.
We got to the airport in plenty of time and Nicole, our driver, breathed a huge sigh of relief. She was glad to no longer be the person responsible if we missed our flight. We knew our second flight was overbooked and our husbands encouraged us to volunteer to take a later flight and get vouchers for our trouble. When we found out that the delay to get home would be two days we decided to bag that idea.We arrived home late afternoon that day. Matt and the kids came to pick me up. I'm sure I was the most blessed woman in the airport when I had seven kids run up to me and shower me with hugs and kisses. They survived without me for a few days, but they were really happy I was home. And so was I.
P.S.--This song by Lyle Lovett ran through my head many times during my weekend in Texas.
1 comment:
I am so glad you were able to do this. What a blessing! I bet Joel really wished he could go to Texas too. Big thunderstorms are one of my favorite things when I go back to the Midwest.
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