I'll be arriving in Dallas exactly one month from this moment. I am both excited and leary, for I feel a real disconnect between myself and my family there. I shouldn't be suprised, for I haven't been down there in a year. But I am, despite the distance.
Some of you may not know this, but I lived in Dallas for two years in the mid-'90's. It was the one of the best and worst times of my life. It made as much of an impression on me as anything else had up to that point, and the effects echo in me to this day. It wasn't the place or my job or the times that made this time so magical; it was the people under those circumstances. There will never be a "thing" like we were ever, ever again. I wrote an entire book about those times, but I never could catch the feeling.
Every time I visit there now, a little piece of what was is gone. The city itself is different, growing by leaps and bounds. What was once country is now over-priced housing. The people are different, too; we are all older, wiser in some aspects, more into our careers or families. People have drifted apart, so much so that it is hard to get everyone in one place now. I have said before that I have this unreal expectation that it is still 1996 when I am there. But hell, would I like the me that was there then?
Soon, before any of us realizes it, what was special about Dallas, for me at least, will be gone. No one is destroying it; time is doing that for us. The unity, the loyalty and, in some cases, the friendship, is being driven away by the wind. Soon, there may not be anything left. But God, somedays, like today, I need it to be there. I need it now like I needed it then. I took it for granted for so long.
So you decided to go to the "race" this year? Just don't do the shopping.
Posted by: Erik at March 3, 2004 12:07 AM