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Texas - Fate Fairies - book version
This entry was posted on 12/12/2011 1:45 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies:Fate Fairies - book version.
Two long departures from Wisconsin now stand out in my life. One diversion was a stint in the Army in Germany, but, the longest foray was in..., Texas. It's a big place that Texas. Heide once said, "Hey, let's take a little weekend jaunt over to Phoenix and see my brother."
A quick scan of the road atlas revealed Phoenix sat a good 1100 miles from Dallas.
Now after 20 years' absence from Texas, a few things linger at the surface of memory. There were countless long and beautiful North Texas evenings. The summer seemed to spill well over into December. For a few years we lived just over a hill from Tenison Golf Course in the old East Dallas area. That was a pleasant neighborhood with big old trees and old houses. Urban legend suggests pro golfer Lee Trevino cut his skills there as a young golfer. At first I would hunt golf balls after work while taking a walk. Soon, I bought a couple of clubs and hopped on the Fifth Hole and golfed the first Nine. Later I actually took up the game. One could easily golf year-round in Dallas.
There was the endless summers that seemed to usurp a fall and a deep winter - suddenly it was spring again. There were however, cold snaps. Our pipes froze one winter at our apartment by the golf course. Years later when I stumbled onto Dallas Cowboy season tickets, one winter it got so cold it froze the stadium pipes; portable toilets were quickly rolled it, the endless lines of people wrapped around the area waiting to pee. I went to the parking lot to relieve my bladder, a cop pulled up behind me, gave me a dirty look and just shrugged.
For me, the summer heat became intolerable, it is something a Northern boy just will never get used to. It stayed near 100 degrees from March to November. In mid-summer, the asphalt was still 90 degrees at five in the morning when I left for work - that was not a good sign for the pending workday in the Texas outdoors.
When we first got to Texas, you could drive with a can of beer in your hand. What a strange sight for a kid from nanny-state Wisconsin to see on the Dallas freeway.
"Seen a guy with a beer driving down the LBJ Freeway; he was not even hiding it." I told a co-worker the next day.
The co-worker looked perplexed and said, "Nothing illegal about that, son."
Over the years though, Texas caught up, and to me became more nannified than Wisconsin. Soon the beer at the wheel became only the passenger could have a beer. Later, alcohol left the motor vehicle for good. Soon emission tests were required. Insurance became mandatory to even get a license plate sticker. I have faith that no doubt in the 20 years since my departure, Texas has added a few more gems of control that keep purist Libertarians sleepless at night.
Texas, has boasted no State income taxes for years. What they don't tell you is every other Tom, Dick, and Harry agency and administrative authority office, tax you every time you turn around - city, county, school, transit, college, sales, et cetera, et cetera. Fees are rampant as well.
Heide's job that lured us to Texas, moved to California in anther economic downturn in the mid 1980s - that infamous Savings and Loan Scandal. We did not want to follow her company to the Golden State. And, not much of an offer was made anyway. And I, well I, was tiring of working in 100 degree sun for nine months out of the year. We lingered in Texas just a few more years.
The proverbial straw that breaks the back of camel is well named. It is after all the little things that take their accumulative toll. We could deal with the fickle jobs, I could have toughed out the heat, the taxes would await us in any next venue, but something else about Texas always stuck in my craw.
You can never be a Texan if you where born somewhere else - no matter how long you live there. After ten years of solid work experience and a good work record, I was passed over for promotion dozens of times by 21 year old kids just fresh out of Texas A & M, Texas Tech, and any State school of your choosing.
The final dagger came one day when a good ol' boy at work told me to go fetch co-worker Kent.
"Which one? There are two Kents working here you know," I queried. I had befriended one of the Kents. He was a native Texan, born over Fort Worth way, yet he had a few Wisconsin ties and we could compare notes. The answer to my question however was deeply ingrained in Texas culture. A culture I then realized I would never be able to breach.
My good ol' boy co-worker gave me a crooked grin, scratched his chin, and said, "You know ol' Kent? That old boy with them ol' mommy and daddy that comed out of West Consin."
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" - book version Category is a work in progress. The original vignettes are being edited for book form. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology of the book vignettes (chapters).
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