Dallas!

So I think this will probably be my last entry, unless I randomly decide to update again after my brother and I go on our annual skiing trip to Squaw Valley, California. It's been really fun updating this blog from home too, since I've gotten into so much of a pattern of doing it over the past few months. Each one of my visits to friends has been unique, and Dallas was no exception. I admit that I probably wouldn't go to Texas of my own accord, but having not seen Taylor for two and a half YEARS was more than enough reason to go, not to mention the fact that I was dying to meet Genna, his fiancee (and now his wife!). It was so amazing to get to catch up with him in PERSON after such a long time and see how he and Genna have made this amazing life for themselves, totally on their own. It was really inspiring.

I got there Tuesday night and Genna miraculously found me at the airport even though we'd never met and I had no cell phone. (due to a typical traveling idiocy moment of leaving it at home. Whoops.) Taylor works a really tough schedule of four night shifts Sunday through Wednesday, which means he leaves at 6:30 PM and gets home at about 7 AM the next day. So I didn't actually get to even see him until Tuesday afternoon! But that meant that I got to have Genna all to myself Tuesday night and get to know her, which was wonderful. Learning about her past was so interesting. There are so many cool facts about this girl that I can not list them all, but one of the most interesting things is that her great great great uncle (or something like that) was Robert E. Lee! And her grandparents like still live on this plantation in Alabama. Oh, the culture of the South…it is so fascinating. Anyway, Genna introduced me to their apartment, which was adorable, especially since they’d decorated for Christmas, and their PETS! They have four cats: Gretchen, Sue Ellen, Cornelius, and Moses, and one rat named Isabella. Sue Ellen is a recluse but the three other cats are all best friends and cuddle and fight all the time. I was basically in love with them by the end of the trip.

On Wednesday, I got up delightfully late (it is SO nice to not even set an alarm). During the week, Taylor and Genna have absolutely crazy schedules. He works four four hour night shifts, and she has to wake up really early to go to one of her two jobs (in addition to school!), so when he’s coming home, she basically already has to wake up, and then by the time she gets home from school and her second job, he has already left for work. Basically, I admire what these two are doing a LOT. I know of absolutely NO one else in the whole Northern Virginia or Duke bubble that is completely financially independent from their parents at what I consider to be a young age. Genna has been since she was like 17! And they have already dealt with issues like health insurance, taxes, buying a car, and, most recently, buying a four bedroom HOUSE in another suburb of Dallas, which Taylor took me to see on Wednesday afternoon! I am just so proud of the way he picked up and moved from here, graduated college in two years, and now has created this very legitimate ADULT life for himself vastly before anyone else. These two are living proof that you can be in the real world, working, happily married, and planning for the future at age 20. I know it’s not something I personally can do, but now I have seen that it can be done, and it was an inspiring lesson.

So, Taylor drove me around the suburbs of Dallas and then downtown for a little while, but unfortunately it was really unpleasant - cold and rainy - so we walked around for a bit but everything closes really early. It was also immediately evident that Texas is so spread out that it is completely impossible to walk anywhere to explore; you absolutely must have a car. And there was a lot of time spent driving around, which was sweet of them since they really have no reason to aimlessly drive around Dallas most of the time…haha. We got to meet up for dinner right before Taylor went to work, and then Genna showed me the campus of her college, the University of Dallas, and then I got to meet her best friend Rachael, who happened to be trying on a wedding dress for her own wedding (she is already engaged, obviously, and her boyfriend proposed to her in Italy!). The picture I am trying to paint for you all here is that getting married at this age might seem ridiculous for people who have grown up the way I have, but in the different culture and societies of certain places in Texas (and other parts of the country too, I’m sure), it really is the norm. I got the impression that most people at UD are engaged, married, or vowing to be a priest or nun. Quite a different picture from Duke, huh? (As in it basically could not be MORE opposite.) Anyway, I really enjoyed spending time with Rachael especially because she is a figure skater too and it’s always fun to talk about skating with someone who knows about it.

Then, we went back to the apartment and I got to bake COOKIES for Taylor! (Because even though he is WAY more grown up than me, I am still going to mother him like I used to in high school.) Genna made him a lunch (because that is what he has at like midnight) and we drove out to his work, which is basically in the middle of nowhere, and got to hang out some more in the middle of the night. I also enjoyed his nocturnal schedule because it meant I could go to bed as late as I wanted (like 3 or 4 am) and when I got up that was perfectly normal because he would wake up as late or later. Yay. :) Thursday morning (well, really it was afternoon), they were out for a little while, so I used the time to conquer their kitchen, clean it, organize it, and make banana bread. I think all people should be warned that when I visit them, I WILL insist on baking in AND cleaning their kitchen. It is a weird thing with me, I’ll totally admit it. Then, because Taylor doesn’t have to work Thursday nights, the three of us got to spend an extended period of time together! Yay! We went to the Palace of Wax and the Mirror Maze, which is in this building on the side of a major highway kind of in the middle of nowhere…haha. It was SO much fun. Most of the pictures are kind of self explanatory, but the one thing I didn’t get pictures of was the SCARY part which had wax figures from all these horror movies. I swear it was more terrifying than any haunted house I have ever been to. I was like clutching Genna and SCREAMING. And the mirror maze was absolutely AMAZING! I have never seen anything like it before, and it was positively eerie because you literally didn’t know what was real and what was a reflection. So much fun!

After that, we did tons more driving around Dallas and the suburbs. I got to see Genna’s neighborhood, and a random hole in the wall tamale factory (I have never had a tamale and the genuine Mexican food there is SO GOOD), and the Grassy Knoll, where JFK was shot, and then we went to dinner at a cute shopping center place. We also drove to where Taylor’s parents lived, which was a drastically different looking neighborhood in a historic area with huge houses that were decorated SO beautifully with Christmas lights. It was very interesting to see the contrast in areas as we drove all around the city. We ended up renting Borat and watching it and it was especially hilarious because some of the scenes in the movie are from Dallas and other areas in the Bible Belt and it is CRAZY. Then Taylor and I basically stayed up till like 5 am just talking about life and religion and theology and the real world. And also reminiscing about high school, of course.

I am just so happy that I got a chance to see an area of the United States that is so utterly different from any other place I have ever seen. It has really broadened my horizons and given me a changed perspective on our sheltered Northern Virginia lives. Seeing the importance of religion and faith in their lives as opposed to the importance of material things was wonderful. Everything about their lifestyles is so totally opposite to what I’ve been accustomed to living around, and I think it is very good for me to realize how many different sub cultures just our country alone contains. As I’ve said before, I think I’ve learned more through my travels about people and society and myself than I’ve ever learned in a classroom. Thank you soooo much, Taylor and Genna, for exposing me to a lifestyle I’ve never seen before and letting me into your busy lives for a couple days! It was so wonderful to spend time with you both and see just a little bit of what Texas is all about.

Now, though, I am firmly planted in Northern Virginia for a while for reunions with my amazing high school friends, which I am also greatly looking forward to. I am very sad that this incredible traveling part of my lifestyle is coming to an end so soon, but I am more grateful than words can express for everything that I have learned. Thanks again, everyone, for reading this and being a part of my personal journeys!

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