Native.

A story on the front page of Tuesday's paper sent me down a weird rabbit trail this afternoon. Talk about a strange train of thought...

The story was about the old subway that ran from the Henderson parking lot to the former Tandy Center. Just reading about the long-forgotten subway line reminded me of my pregnant self riding that old car to report for jury duty, praying I wouldn't throw up on the judge. My reminiscing seemed timely because recent visits to downtown Fort Worth have made me a little wistful for the old Tandy Center ice rink there, not to mention the Christmas tree lights that adorned each of the two Tandy buildings. 

It occurred to me that if I get nostalgic for the Fort Worth of yesteryear, it must be really rough for the "Old Timers." And with that thought, I assessed my own standing as a DFW resident. If someone were to ask me where I live, I'd tell them Fort Worth, but to this day, I consider myself a newcomer. And that's after 22 years here! It's strange to think I've lived here longer than anywhere else: longer than my 13 years in Tyler, much longer than my five rather formative years spent in Austin. So why do I feel like such a n00b in my own hometown?

Maybe it's because so many of my friends and colleagues in the Mid-Cities have lived here since birth. They have at least twice as many years here, which means they have much more extensive Fort Worth expertise. They remember the fast food joints that were on Pipeline, the stores that used to fill Northeast Mall. They know the quickest route from A to B in traffic, in bad weather, or during Mayfest. In many respects, I'm a Fort Worth virgin. I STILL haven't tried all the downtown eateries. I STILL don't know all the shortcuts to get around TCU or the hospital district. And if you ask me who is the best doctor/dentist/mechanic, I'm going to have to hit up Google.

The sad thing is, if a tourist were to ask me about Tyler, the town I consider home, I'd be even more ignorant. Best lunch counter? The Spread on the Loop. (Out of business for years.) Best Mexican food? Chula Vista. (Ditto.) Truly, the Tyler of my youth is no more. These days, with all the traffic and chain restaurants, I'd be hard-pressed to separate Tyler from any North Dallas 'burbs. Even the places that meant so much to me no longer exist: Our church building, where I spent countless Sundays and Wednesdays and VBS weeks and youth rallies? It was torn down to make room for a Luby's. Two of the three elementary schools I attended? Razed to make room for new buildings. As they say, you can't go home again. (Well, I COULD, but since strangers live there, it might get a little awkward.)

I guess I should be thankful for the Tarrant County history that DOES overlap my own. The BankOne building's plight from tornado-ravaged to eyesore to repurposed offices and condos. The long gone North Hills Mall on Highway 26, the shopping center with the holiday train and the REAL Santa every year. The Good Eats Cafe that was replaced by Mexican Inn. And how about Italian Inn with the private booths (with wooden doors!) and singing waiters? And Mi Rae's? And Harrigan's, before and after the fire? And Lil' Things?

Regardless, I'm most grateful for all my neighbors, old and new, who have made living here such a blessing: the friends and colleagues who became my family when I moved here, fresh out of college, in 1991. The city itself may still seem a little foreign to me, but thanks to the precious people who make this place a community, I'm proud to call Fort Worth HOME.

Who is Andrea Sloan?

"Who is Andrea Sloan?"

That was my daughter's question as she strolled through the living room the other night. She'd seen my tweets and Facebook posts. She'd noticed how I've been begging friends to sign Andrea's petition. But she, like many others, had no idea who Andrea Sloan is.

Hmmm... How to answer that one. Well, to start with, there's this:


And then there's the backstory: Andrea has been waging war on ovarian cancer for the last seven years. She has faced chemo, radiation, surgeries, and stem cell and bone marrow transplants. Now her cancer has returned, and her doctors say her bone marrow can't tolerate traditional therapies.

Enter BioMarin's BMN-673.

This experimental drug offers Andrea's best chance. Her world-class doctors at M.D. Anderson have seen it work well in clinical study participants, and they want Andrea to have it. The FDA says that even though the clinical trials are full, she can get it if the company will agree.

Therein lies the rub. So far, BioMarin says no. But more than 20,000 of us aren't accepting that answer.

Certainly, many who have signed her Change.org petition did so on principle alone. She's running out of options, this pharmaceutical company has her best chance, and by acting on the "compassionate use" clause, they can allow her to benefit from it. Most people "get" compassion—even when corporations don't—and that's enough to warrant signing an online petition.

For others, though, this cause is also personal. And that's because we know Andrea Sloan.

We know her as the morning herald who greets us, her Facebook friends, with carpe diem messages and encouragement.

We know her as the fighter who, even when discouraged, never, ever, EVER gives up.

We know her as a woman who is hyper-aware of the blessings that have come her way via family, friends, and yes, even cancer.

And a few of us were even blessed to know her as the sassy classmate who struck a pose behind Mrs. Johnson on our last day in Algebra I.

Yep, that's her! Last day of eighth grade.

I've known Andrea Sloan for 30+ years. Through middle and high school, we shared homework projects, club meetings, classroom presentations and graduation brunches. Even though we both ended up at UT, we lost touch until Facebook reconnected us. That's when I first became aware of Andrea's cancer fight. I've been a part of "Andi's Army" ever since. It's been an honor to follow her story, to watch her triumph and struggle and fight the good fight, all while maintaining the sweet spirit everyone saw in her back when we were just crazy GT kids. 

So here we are, less than 24 hours away from her big sit-down with the doctors at M.D. Anderson. BMN-673 is on the premises, and with one little "yes," Andrea can get the treatment she needs to fight this nasty disease right away. We—her friends, her ARMY—are doing everything we can to show BioMarin that Andrea is worth any risk the company may incur. We will post, we will tweet, we will beat down the doors. We will get her that drug.

Because of who Andrea Sloan is.

You can help! 

• Sign the petition: www.change.org/andisarmy
• Join her army on Facebook: www.facebook.com/OfficialAndisArmy
• Follow @andi_sloan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/andi_sloan
• Tweet your support and include #BioMarin, #BMN673.
• RT her tweets (and other "army" members')
• Share posts, videos and links from her Facebook page

Vacation 2012 recap.

My goal was to finish blogging our big Florida vacation before the one-year anniversary of that trip. Just days shy of our departure date this time last year, I have FINALLY posted the last recap!  The 2012 vacation daily summaries are all posted and back-dated:

July 5: The saga begins... (lost dog, New Orleans)
July 6: No place but NOLA (French Quarter, Cafe du Monde, wax museum)
July 6: Road to Orange Beach (Mississippi welcome center, beach hotel, fireworks)
July 7: Orange Beach (beach time, LuLu's)
July 8: Florida (Universal CityWalk, dinner with friends)
July 9: Universal Orlando (Wizarding World of Harry Potter)
July 10: Wild About Harry (return to Islands of Adventure)
July 10: Universal and Disney resort
July 11: Epcot
July 12: Magic Kingdom (park, Disney, resort arcade)
July 12: More MK
July 13: Hollywood Studios
July 13: Even more MK (Extra Magic Hours)
July 14: Animal Kingdom
July 15: Homeward bound (Tallahassee, Destin)
July 16: Texas! (Tyler, Chuy's, cemetery)
July 16: Survivor encounter

Whew! What a great trip!

I'm so thankful for our health and safe travels. I'm also thankful for the loved ones who made this trip possible. This vacation never could've happened if it weren't for some invaluable help. We are indebted to Brett's parents for taking care of our pets while we were gone and checking on the ol' homestead for the nearly two weeks we were gone. We were also blessed to have friends and family checking in on Memaw throughout our absence. They visited, took her gifts, sent us photos and texted updates. Because of Mom's dementia, we were so afraid she would forget why we were gone (and she did), but her many visitors did a wonderful job reminding her how much she's loved.

Of course, everyone's efforts to care for Mom showed us how blessed we are, too. Thanks to our "angels" here at home, we were able to take a break from the world of nursing homes and hospitals and escape to another world. It was MAGICAL.

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Tyler excursion, day 2, part 2: Tyler Rose Garden.

It's funny how certain smells invoke memories. Occasionally I'll pass a water-filled mop bucket, and the odor makes me flash back to my elementary school cafetorium. The stale but clean smell of the back stairwell at school, especially right after summer ends, reminds me of my first day at Bell. And every now and then, in a garden or even at a funeral, I'll smell fresh roses. THAT aroma is HOME.

For many, Tyler is known for roses, and for good reason. As you drive into town, you notice the roadside stands selling the cheap, short-stemmed flowers at a bargain price. You might also catch a glimpse of some of the rose fields where thousands of the plants are loving Tyler's perfect rose-growing soil. And as you venture into the city, you'll come across the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden. At 14 acres, it's the nation's largest rose garden, and if you visit in October in the spring, you're likely to see nearly 38,000 rose bushes in bloom.

Alas, for this visit, many bushes were not in bloom, but it's still a pretty sight, nonetheless. Plus, it's nostalgic, not just for me, but for Brett and the kids, since they remember coming here with Memaw. And I remember countless visits with my parents and grandparents, especially around Rose Festival time.  

My mother always made me pose with
the roses, so I made Katie do the same!

For the Rose Festival each October, this big lawn in the middle is home to the Queen's Tea. My mom brought me to several of these teas when I was little so I could gawk at the queen's dress with its ginormous beaded train.

Our trips to Tyler are rare, but I'm thankful for the chance to revisit these nostalgic places from my childhood and share them with my family.

Tyler excursion, day 2: Cemetery.

After our hotel breakfast Tuesday, we drove the short distance to the cemetery. This was my main motivation for this trip; we hadn't been here since the graveside service in August. We replaced the faded flowers with these brighter ones. (Of course, we had to have some orange blooms in there!) I was disappointed to see that the "2012" date plate still isn't there; guess I'll be making a call!

It's sobering to think that not even a year ago our foursome was here to see Daddy's grave, and now Mom is buried beside him.

Even though this cemetery is right off a busy Tyler street, it still seems really peaceful. I love that we can always see and hear birds when we visit.

And now for a quick flashback: Not long before we moved to Tyler in 1974, Mom, Daddy and I were in town to get our bearings. We were fascinated by all the pine cones on the ground. We never saw pine trees in the Rio Grande Valley where we lived at the time, so pine cones were foreign to us. Mom was inspired to fill a couple of bags with cones to take home to her kindergarten students and my classmates back in Premont. I can still picture my mom, scavenging for pine cones in the grass near our hotel room.

As we stood at the my parents' graves, I looked up to see this towering pine, overloaded with pine cones! Perfect.

What a blessing it was to have this moment to honor my mom and dad—and to have my sweet husband and kids there to help dry my tears!

Tyler excursion, day 1: State park.

Not long after the last bell rang to start our summer break, we were all itching to get out of town. Combine that with my need to see my parents' gravesite, and we had ourselves a quick trip to my hometown.

Before going into town, though, we spent the day at Tyler State Park, a pretty little recreation area. My parents were not all that outdoorsy, but the few times we pretended to be the camping type, we stayed in the state park's screened shelters. More frequently, my parents brought me here to swim or picnic, often with out-of-town relatives. I can remember laughing with my aunts, uncles and a cousin or two while gathered around one of the wooden tables here. Our church youth group had camp-outs and cook-outs here, and one year, my Girl Scout troop did an overnight stay.

In spite of all my history with this place, it'd been nearly 30 years since my last visit here. It's crazy that in all of our Tyler trips, Brett, Ryan and Katie had never experienced our state park. Better late than never, right?

First stop: a picnic area near this fishing pier.

View of the park store, bath house and swimming area

Love those pine trees!

It was nice to find a table so close to the water. We're no strangers to these on-the-road picnics. In fact, on our typical (much longer) road trips, our tradition is to load down a cooler with sandwich fixin's and have a bunch of snack foods on hand. Apparently I'm out of "road shape" because I forgot the tablecloth. Oops. At least I remembered the Pringles! Pringles have become our go-to staple for picnics since those cans hold up much better than bags of chips.

Dining companion

We decided this would be the perfect setting for a horror film.
Creepy screens, lots of bugs and no doors on the stalls?
Yeah. TERRIFYING.

After chowing down, we began our 2.1-mile hike around the lake. I remember walking this same trail years ago when our Girl Scout troop camped here.

This trail is labeled "easy," and it would be for anyone not as clumsy as I am! Just a few weeks after falling in the school parking lot, I took a nice little spill here. This time, at least, I fell over a wicked tree root and not a tiny pebble. Embarrassing!

This log was loaded with turtles—
until they heard us approach, anyway.
We figure this big guy was too deaf
to hear us or too big to move!

The trees provide a nice canopy for most of the trail. It was a warm day, but in the shade, the heat was bearable. Still, we had this trail mostly to ourselves on this, the warmest day of the season so far. (Near the end of our walk, we were in full-on overheated, sweat-dripping-in-the-eyes, I'm-gonna-die-if-I-can't-find-some-shade mode. but at least we didn't start that way.)

My nature buff LOVES hiking, and he was quick to spot cool natural wonders, like this branch/large vine that ran most of this tall tree's length.

Tarzan yell not included.

Beaver pond

Ryan spotted this teeny-tiny frog.

We're talking TEE-NINY. 

My loves

And another, this time wider shot of my loves
(Brett's smile in this one cracks me up!)

Nice view of the bath house and swimming area

Not sure if he's Zacchaeus or a monkey.

By this point in the hike, I was MELTING.
Brett and Katie were cool enough to enjoy
this little peninsula, but I stuck to the shade.

After our hike we cooled off with some A/C and ice cream from the park store. Then it was swimming time! We had a blast just floating around and skipping Katie's new "wave-runner" ball across the water.

With our picnic, hike and swim complete, we were ready to pack it in. One of the nice things about Tyler State Park is its abundance of tent sites and all those screened shelters, but for our overnight stay, we opted for Comfort Suites! I am my mother's daughter, after all.