Coming to our home in Sherman, Texas is a bit of a Twilight Zone experience. Not scary in any way, but almost as if we live in an alternate universe. We forget when we’re in California just how many people we know here, how wonderful this house is and just how much work there is to be done. We arrive and, after visiting with our friends, we settle into the day-to-day work life of everyone else. We start figuring out how to deal with repairs on the house, when we’re headed to the landfill with a load of accumulated junk, and who is going to man the lawn mower to tackle the growing grass. We head down to our building (a former Savings and Loan that could have been in “The Jetsons” with its space-age look) and start working our way through the antiques and collectibles that are stored there, separating them into garage sale, eBay and antique mall piles. We cook dinner, visit with more friends and watch television. In other words, we settle in as if we don’t have another complete life 1500 miles away on what many people here call the “Left Coast.”
After a few days, that coast starts pulling at my heart. I get a little throb and start missing my kids and grandkids. Then it’s almost time for our bi-monthly homeless breakfast and we feel as if we absolutely have to get back for that. Plus, our dogs start pulling us westward. So, we’ll hop back on a plane and return to another life with friends and a home and work. Until it’s time to come back here.
Back and forth, Texas and California. A way of life for us now since 1994. Two very different places, each with unique benefits. We are very fortunate to have the chance to enjoy both.
But I will admit it never stops being just a tad surreal.
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