Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Culture Shock
I was thinking back to the time 9 years ago (could it be that long?) that we moved to South Texas. My husband and I and both our kids were all born in Texas and lived here until '95 when we moved to Ft. Wayne, IN. We moved so that my husband could attend the Lutheran Seminary there. Although we had dreaded moving north of the Red River, we found that we LOVED the mid-west. Indiana was an awesome place to live. The people were so friendly, and the city was so clean. We loved the four seasons, especially the winter. But the day came 3 years later that we were called to come back to Texas - South Texas this time. The night before we were to head out, I took our beta fish out to the car to see if the spot I had prepared for its bowl to ride would work. The bowl fit perfectly! For some reason, I was called back into the house, and forgot about the fish bowl in the car. Keep in mind that this is the first Friday in June. When we went out to the car in the morning, I realized that I had left the fish all night - and he was FROZEN. OOps - one less thing to move. So our temps were down to freezing in June. It took us four days to make our way down to Texas. We stopped in Ft. Worth where our family lives the third night. Our car at the time had no air-conditioning (no need of it in IN). We hit the road very, very early that fourth morning so we could get as far as possible before the sun got up and going. My sweet husband in the moving truck never ran his A/C (he told me at the time that the truck was overheating with it on - the big fibber - he said he wasn't going to be cool while I was melting behind him). My 8 yo son rode with me that day. We stopped at one point for bottles of water. He was convinced we had to ration it and only allowed one drink every 15 minutes. He saw the palm trees and wondered when we came to the desert. When we pulled into the driveway that Tuesday afternoon, it was 114 degrees. So in four days, we went from 32 to 114. It's still hot, and I still wonder how we got to the desert :) Oh how I long for crisp, cool days!
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2 comments:
Can I EVER relate! I am a Mid-westerner, raised in Missouri! I LOVE the heartland of America. Our 2 youngest children were born during the 4 years we lived in Lincoln, Nebraska. My heart soars when I see farm fields with endless rows of corn, soybeans, etc. We've been in North Texas for almost 14 years now. I miss the Winters, we usually get one good ice storm a year here and that hardly counts. It's still only in the 80's here but that won't last much longer. Every summer we go on vacation out west so we can escape for a t least 2weeks. This year however, we're taking 3 weeks for the first time. We're going clear up to the Canadian Rockies. With our luck, some phenomenen will give them freakish hot temps while we're there! Ha Ha!
Connie
Travelling with beta fish seems to be fatal on their part. Our vicarage was in FL. When the time came, we packed our beta, a bird, our most needed possesions, and ourselves (I was pregnant at the time) into our small Chevy and headed south. Unfortunately before we got to our destination we were in a car crash that totalled our car. Luckily everone, fish and bird included, were not severely hurt. A week later, the fish jumped out of its bowl and died. Maybe the crash was a little traumatic for it.
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