Stranger #4

Wayne Carelock

I met Wayne at the gas station in Houston while we were both filling up our pickups. Just simply said” Hi, how are you?”

“Good, thanks” He responds. “You from Austin?”

I had forgotten I was wearing my “Keep Austin weird” hat. “Oh, no, I just love Austin. It’s one of my favorite cities.”

“Yea it’s a fantastic town” He replies."I live around Austin. I love it.”

He told me he comes to Houston regularly for business. He works for Napo Precast,  a precast concrete company and they do quite a bit of business here in the Houston area.

“So where are you from?” He asks me.

Well I grew up in Lubbock Texas but I now consider my home to be Santa Barbara, California but I rarely go there much.  I tell him about my business and why I’m here in Houston.

“I was raised in Lompoc. It’s defiantly a gorgeous area” He states. (Lompoc is about 40 miles to the north west of Santa Barbara)

“Why did you leave?”

 “My Dad was stationed at Andrews Air Force base but when he was sent to Vietnam my mom moved to Texas and I’ve been here ever since. You know if they could inject an Austin attitude into that West Coast climate, Now that would make the Perfect place.”

“Your kids live here in Texas?”

“I have a daughter here in Houston My son is in New Haven, Connecticut. He doesn’t much like it much up there but He is attending Yale.

“Wow!”

“Yea He’s pretty smart.” He said with pride written all over his face.

As I drive off I begin to think about how we pass up meeting great people every day who are right  there, less than 10 feet away, on the other side of the pump. All we need to do is just open up, start the conversation. What are we scared of?  We have let our mother’s advice, of not talking to strangers, keep us separate from each other.  We have a fear of being thought of as strange or odd, so we just silently stand there and we miss a golden opportunity.  We have to learn to open ourselves up. Release the fear. Don’t let all the negative news stories make us scared of each other. Realize that every person is a wonderful creation of God, with beautiful stories and wonderful gifs to share. All we need to do is ask, reach out. Most people are good decent people.

 And by the way, so are you!

Stranger #3

      Britt Brooks

I met Britt on a flight from Houston to Dallas. So he was a bit of a trapped subject.  As I took my seat I started a conversation. Lucky he was very personable and fantastic conversationalist. He stated he was headed to Dallas to seal a business deal for the company he works for M.B. Environmental, LLC

“Why not just complete the negations over the phone? I ask

“Well sometimes it’s best to look them in the eye.” He states.  

 Isn’t that true?  No matter how well technology has helped  us communicate by using video conferencing, web sites e-mail and phone calls. There is simply nothing better than personal interaction. We seem to get a much better grasp of the other person’s integrity from looking them in their eyes.  The eyes have been called the window to the soul and in my experience anyone lying to me will have trouble maintaining a connection to my gaze during the response.

He told me he grew up in out on a farm in Lynn County, Texas  which is just 30 miles or so south from where I grew up, in Lubbock Texas. We talked at length about growing up in a “dry” county but having no problem as teenagers finding ways to get alcohol.

“We knew that every farmer had a pint of whisky hidden in his tractor cab. We would steal it and leave a note saying that we would pay him back when we get reach 18.” (Which was the drinking age when we both grew up.)

“So did you ever happen to eat at a restaurant located on the corner of the cotton gin yard in Tahoka?

“That would be the Tejeda Café.  My God everyone in Lynn County knows that restaurant.”

“Isn’t it just a regular old house and the grandmother cooks, the mom washes dishes, the kids serve the tables while the Dad watches the cash register?”

“Yep that’s the place; you can’t get more authentic Mexican food than that and you get to eat it right there in their living room.”

I did a bit of research by calling the county clerk in Tahoka and she informed me that the restaurant has moved to the courthouse square in down town Tahoka but is still run by the same family and is still thought of by the town as the best Mexican food around but you won’t have a 10 year old waitress any more. (Somehow that seems a shame.)

Thanks Britt for reminding me of some great memories!