The Move to Texas

We moved from Utah to Texas just before Labor Day in 1997. Chris had family there (two aunts on his mother's side), and he thought he could get work there in computers. We figured one day from SLC to Albuquerque and the next day from there to Fort Worth. We left at about 7:00 am from SLC in front of my mother's house. There is a picture of the U-Haul w/the car being towed behind. I hoped Brian wouldn't be too cramped in his car seat. I felt bad there wasn't a back seat in the truck to put him in. I know, U-Hauls are not noted for creature comforts, but worrying about things about which I could do nothing was my specialty at the time. I also assured my mother that we were not moving from Utah simply to get away from her. (Now you know where I got it.)

Well, by the time it was midnight that night, we were still in Colorado I think. We did make it to Albuquerque...at 2am the following day, not at about 7:00 pm as we had hoped. We CRASHED until about 10 am and then continued.

We stopped for gas just inside of Texas and I purchased my first of many lottery tickets. At lunchtime we were in A*** and I had my first taste of Pancho's Mexican food. I got to tell them it was my first time, like the sign there said, and they were like "No...really?" I guess EVERYBODY who lives in Texas has eaten at Pancho's at one time or another. That and Whataburger.

By dinnertime it was obvious we would have either to stay over another night somewhere or have a really late night arrival in Fort Worth. I want to say we stopped in Childress, but it could've been Wichita Falls. We called Chris's Uncle Johnny and let him know we would be another day, as we were feeling tired and thought it best. I guess part of me wondered why Chris wanted me to call when it was his uncle. Anyway his mother was there, having flown in from California.

We stopped at a K-Mart because I thought I might be preggers and I wanted to get a home test. I tried it at the motel and it came back negative. The motel room had a king-size bed, so we stuck Brian in between us and kipped down.

When we got to Chris's Aunt Rose's house, his maternal grandfather's motor home was parked out front. We had to go down a street or two and turn around so we would be on the right side of the street and pointing the right way and not blocking (too) many people. I thought there were a lot of cars there for just us...but it was kind of nice.

Later that afternoon, we learned that "Jennifer" was coming over with her family to meet Sheila and Eddie. Jennifer is the daughter of Sheila and Eddie. Sheila had gotten pregnant as a teen and was forced to give up the baby. Through Jennifer's efforts online and off, she was able to track Sheila down and the "reunion" was arranged. Meeting at Rose's seemed like neutral enough territory for this to happen.

Things went well. Lots of people took lots of pictures and we met Jennifer, Jeff (her husband - who btw makes his own wine and root beer) and they children Nick and Kayla. Kayla was a little bundle of atomic energy; Nick was quiet by comparison. They were all so nice that I felt bad for being a tiny bit jealous that they were taking "our spotlight" in meeting the family on the same day we had arrived.

I don't remember if it was that day or the next that most of our stuff was taken to a U-Haul storage place while we lived with Aunt Rose for what would turn into 2 months. Apparently they had been given the impression that I just about had a job lined up for me when I got to Texas and that we would be there for maybe a week...like just long enough to find an apartment.

I also remember Chris's mother waking us up the next morning and telling us that Princess Diana had been killed. I wound up getting up wa-a-ay early later in the week to watch the funeral on tv. I liked the comments made by her brother that their should be no rush to "canonize" her (memory). She was, after all, flesh and blood. I thought it telling that her brother was in the middle of the line of family men who walked behind the casket...going I think Prince Phillip, Prince William, Count Althorp (sp), Prince Harry and Prince Charles.

At one point Chris went for an interview at Warrentech. I walked around the office complex with Brian in his stroller while we waited. There was a sign for "Fort Worth Mission" and I figured it must be for the LDS Church. It helped to ease a little pang of homesickness to go and check. Well it was for the LDS Church. I left my name with the missionaries and they said they would have the bishop of the area we were going to live in contact us.

Brian and I went out to meet Chris for lunch one day and we went to the Mid-Cities Pancho's. There our very attentive, very accomplished and very gay waiter told us that Brian was cute and that we needed another little boy for him to have a brother. Little did he know that I had taken the 2nd home pregnancy test which showed to be positive.