Those Were the Days......part I

These next few blogs will be about our memories of the days we lived in Dallas. They say everything is bigger in Texas, and I guess they are right!  Central Expressway, roaches, oil, huge houses owned by Texaco executives (who only use them as a weekend home), rodeos, and cowboys, just to name a few.

                                          Destination....Dallas
       

                                                Central Expressway..........

  

Six months after getting married, we made the big move to the 'Big D' so that Scott could go to Dallas Theological Seminary.  This meant that we would be 1200 miles from our family.  We knew only a handful of people who were living in Dallas at the time.  We trusted our friend, Joe, to find us an apartment, which we did not see until we pulled into the parking lot behind a U-Haul. Good choice, Joe!

I happened to be driving at the time we reached Dallas, and, let me tell you, I have NEVER seen so many roads going in so many directions!  We don't have this in the country.  We made it to downtown Dallas without any trouble (one-way streets and all) and our first stop was Dallas Seminary. So, THIS is going to be our lives for the next two years.......

                                                                 Dallas Skyline

                                         a welcome sight...

We were given the name and address of a couple that would be our 'big brother-big sister' to help us get settled in. This was another Seminary couple and they lived across the street from the school.  They were expecting us so we thought we would stop over and say hello. We knocked on the door *sigh* and were quickly ushered inside. No introductions yet, although WE tried. We were told to follow them into their kitchen where they had snacks waiting. The only way to get to their kitchen, was through the bedroom!  AWKWARD!!! Now, I said I would not always use real names unless I had permission to do so. This is a rare case. I have googled this couple and cannot find out much about them. I do know they are still living in Dallas but the only way to get any information on them is to pay $39.95.  I didn't feel it was worth the price so I am taking my chances here. You want to google his name, too, don't you? Go ahead, it's OK.  If you do, believe me when I tell you he is NOT the Richard Dickerman that is a physician/surgeon in Dallas (oops! i couldn't keep my fingers from finding his name on the keyboard)!  There is one on Facebook with 10 friends...I cannot see a picture but this MIGHT be him! I must use his real name or this blog will be pointless!  The whole time we were trying to visit, he was picking his nose! This is all he did all the time...sitting in the Student Center studying...pick his nose AND EAT IT, so I gave him the name 'Slick Pickerman'. Get it? Richard Dickerman/Slick Pickerman?  I got so used to his nickname that I forgot what his real name was for years. We quickly made new friends and got settled in, hence, no longer needing their big brother-big sister services.

We were excited and scared at the same time.  I interviewed and got a job at the Seminary immediately working in the Student Information Center.  When they told me that I would have to memorize EVERY STUDENT'S MAILBOX NUMBER as well as the faculty and staff names and departments where they worked or taught, I thought they were crazy!  There were 1800+ students attending here!  I did end up memorizing their mailbox numbers in a very short time and was even able to put the name with a face.  Those that I worked with made the job a lot of fun.  We especially liked pulling pranks on students. I was responsible for seeing that students got mail and care packages from home. Not all students were friendly and it WAS tempting to withhold their care packages and mail but that would be mean, wouldn't it? I couldn't do that because I knew how important it was to hear from friends and family and even though their cookies arrived in pieces, they appreciated the little things....snacks that we could only get from our home towns or foods that could not be bought in the south. But, it was fun to hold someone's mailbox shut from the inside knowing that they were coming and expecting mail...or, scaring them when they opened their mailbox and we yelled, 'BOO!'  Then, there was the time that shaving cream ended up in someone's mailbox so that when they reached in.....hmmmm......wonder how THAT got in there!

I will tell you that the roaches were a bit much!  I never saw a roach until we moved there.  Opening drawers or turning on lights and having them pop out of nowhere.....eewwwwww! And, yes, they were HUGE!

                                               your typical texas cockroaches......
                                                             the LITTLE ones....

                                                            ...and, the BIG ones!

But, they were also a delicacy to foreign students.  I would not have believed it but I saw it with my own eyes....huge cockroaches with their legs still moving....were being eaten over rice by a student who was from Hong Kong who just happened to be sitting right next to me!

                                       cockroach hall of fame
                                                                                  

         

I will leave you with the images of the cockroaches for now.  But, yes, there really is a Cockroach Hall of Fame in Plano, Texas.  Never been there and never intend to go there!

Join me next time as I tell you about the 'scary man in the long trench coat' and how we brought home our first puppy.

                                  

It's All About the Choppers (or IS it?)

As a licensed minister, Scott was honored to be asked to assist with an ordained minister at what would be his first wedding in 1980. Scott was not yet ordained.  How exciting, huh?  His first wedding...

Of course, you want everything to be perfect...what could go wrong, right?

The night of the wedding rehearsal, the best man came in drunk and things quickly went down hill from there.  He came awful close to passing out several times and the groom was very nervous as well.  Scott and the ordained minister wondered how they would EVER get through the wedding the next day, or, even if they COULD have a wedding.  They were warned to not come drunk.

On the day of the wedding, the groom came in looking as good as he could in a tuxedo that didn't fit. The effects of alcohol from the night before were still clearly visible (along with numerous 'love bites' adorning the bride as she walked down the aisle). *oh, boy*

In my opinion, if ANYONE should have attended this wedding drunk, it should have been the bride!

So, picture this......a half-soused best man, the groom in a tuxedo that isn't fitting, AND NOT A SINGLE TOOTH IN HIS MOUTH!

So, just prior to the ceremony, Scott looks over and sees the groom sporting a new set of pearly whites.  Scott is wondering where he got them but thinking it was a nice gesture to want to look nice for the wedding (OK, as nice as he could...but, surely the teeth will help!)

But, the groom told Scott before leaving the basement and heading into the sanctuary, that the teeth didn't fit right and he was nervous so he didn't think that he could wear them.  Scott convinced him to keep them in his mouth.

Needless to say, part-way through the ceremony, YES! I SAID THE CEREMONY, the groom decided to do away with the choppers in front of Scott, the ordained minister, the bride, AND ALL THOSE IN ATTENDANCE!  The groom couldn't take it any more.  He was afraid they would fall out when he had to speak.  So, I will let YOU decide....IS IT ALL ABOUT THE CHOPPERS?

You wouldn't think that a set of choppers could be such a big deal, but the story doesn't end there....although, this would have been a good place for the story to end.

Isn't it the bride who is to have something old, something new, something BORROWED, and something blue?  I don't think they were referring to teeth when this tradition came about.  But, I could be wrong on that....

What I am about to tell you will probably knock the choppers right out of YOUR mouth...THE FALSE TEETH WERE NOT HIS!  THEY BELONGED TO HIS BEST MAN!

Did he ever take them out of the pocket of the tuxedo before returning it?  We will NEVER know...and we don't intend to ask!  Scott said that only God knows where those teeth have been and he prayed like crazy to just get through the ceremony with a straight face.

So, now that you know the whole story, IS IT ALL ABOUT THE CHOPPERS?  You bet it is!  If you, or the men in your lives, ever need to rent a tuxedo for a special occasion, PLEASE BE SURE TO CHECK THE POCKETS!

In The Beginning...

I am new to blogging. I feel like this is a safe way to share my feelings without getting into trouble and just being able to share my life experiences (for what they may be worth).  You will find that I do have a sense of humor and some of my blogs will be funny.  Others will be serious.  Still, others will be somewhere in between....and, still others may just be what I am feeling on any given day.

Have you ever wondered what 'really' goes on in the life of a pastor's family? I regret not keeping a diary from the time we got married so that I would be able to quote people word for word and share some of the special moments throughout the ministry...but, in these blogs, let me be perfectly clear from the beginning....I will NOT use real names, as I do not want to offend or embarrass  anyone, but YOU know who YOU are! 

So, stay tuned for It's All About the Choppers (or is it?) which will be appearing soon.