Welcomed into the home of my dear friends from LSU, Chris and Leanna, Nola and I settled in with a family of four that included my Goddaughter, Raelee and her younger brother Jakob. It was the first of two weeks in the Lone Star state and how I came to learn what it takes to constantly entertain two kids with boundless energy. Being the Godfather, I decided to make Raelee and Jake an offer they couldn’t refuse: the zoo. There, I learned that birds of a feather truly do flock together, but will flock to you if you hold out a stick with sesame seeds stuck to it. I learned that on a hot Texas day, nothing can entice tigers out of the shade, ducks out of the water or Jake out of his stroller.
The next day, at one of those all inflatable play places, I learned that just when you think all this jumping will wear them out, it’s you who is saying, “I need a break.” Later in the week, when Chris and I took the kids to a Rangers game, I learned what it’s like to watch history in the making as Sammy Sosa slammed #600 over the right field fence. And that the true definition of futility is spending the rest of the game trying to explain its significance to a 5-year-old. By the end of the week, I had a renewed admiration for full-time moms, for disciplining fathers and for my friends who are doing a great job of making it all work.
My second week in a ‘whole other country’ began with my cousin Brian and his girlfriend, Keri generously offering to have me and Nola for as long as we wanted to stay. Which was followed immediately by, “Don’t unpack. We’re headed to a lake party with a bunch of friends in Uncertain, TX.” While in this small town near the border of Louisiana that both time and GPS forgot, we visited the Uncertain Tavern where I learned that sometimes it's the people with tattoos who are the nicest in the bunch, women around these parts like to share peppermints without using their hands, handing me a karaoke mic results in Charlie Daniels showing up and that it takes no time at all to go from a Texas-two step to a Texas no-step when the person you’re dancing with reveals that she’s 14. Yet oddly enough, that doesn't keep her from asking, “So, you gonna be here tomorrow night?” Yikes. It was that kind of place.
Thankful to have made it back to Fort Worth in one piece, Brian and I hung out at a place called Duke’s where I learned that people there are all under dressed and over served while the servers at a restaurant called Bone Daddy’s were all under dressed. Later in the week, I had the opportunity to go to a shooting range and fire rounds from .38s, .45s, 40 caliber glocks, a 9 millimeter pistol and an AR15. It was here that I experienced the ominous feeling of holding a lethal weapon in my hand and thought how ironic it was that I was wearing a shirt that read: “Death Valley”.
Overall, it was a tale of two weeks. And while most people will tell you all the money is in Dallas, I can tell you the where the people with character and family values make their home. Perhaps that’s the reason why this area is called Fort Worth.
