It All Starts with Texas...

One of the truly great things for those NOT living in Texas is watching what the Supreme Court (or voters) will change in 10-20 years. Without George W. Bush, America would not have had the guts to elect Barack Obama. Democrats, you're welcome. Republicans, blame Obama.

Today, the SCOTUS opened the doors to the remaining humans wishing to get married. I can remember anti-sodomy laws in Texas getting struck down in Lawrence v. Texas right before I arrived. With smirks, the legislators just left the law in place. Over a decade later, the legislature still chooses each session to keep that law on the books.

That wasn't the only thing that happened this week. Texas is currently using federal housing money to encourage or even inflict segregation in Dallas. It's called "disparate impact," and mighty Texas lost to the The Inclusive Community Project, Inc. yesterday. This will become more and more significant in the coming months. Mark my words--or mark the words of today's article from Kimberly Reeves.

Texas was involved in fighting Obamacare as a plaintiff, and lost that, as well. In all, our governor has sued the Obama administration over 25 times.  I can only think of one time he was truly "successful."

Yep, we got us a LEGAL statue on the capitol grounds. Probably spent $3 million defending this rock. Texas has a fifteen-story building filled with attorneys, and far too many of them spend their days defending whacky rules and laws coming from the Texas capitol. On the bright side, they lose a lot.

New regulations against abortion led to Wendy Davis becoming a household name in Texas. I look for them to be struck down soon. The immigration challenge against DACA/DAPA comes out of Brownsville, Texas--a fine city.

And in perhaps the most ironic response to today's decision, the kingpin of voter suppression (the Texas Lt. Gov.) had this to say:

I look forward to the day when ALL Texans vote. At that point, Texas will become one of the most progressive states in the Union.  And I will laugh.

Any ideas for laws we could make in Texas that would spur progress in America and the world? Perhaps a ban on flying cars. Mandatory global warming. We could start the ball rolling! Let me know your thoughts.

La Quinta Hotels, Corpus Christi, and Redeeming Love

Corpus Christi may be the "Happiest place on Earth."

This has been an awful couple of years, and this has been intensified by a strained relationship with a dream-come-true girl who is also my eldest daughter. Currently, a car accident has me struggling when under deep stress. That fact seemed to be manipulated this past weekend. "Fathers Day" had me waving good-bye while watching my ex-wife and two youngest children driving away from my home.

Fathers who care have no rights. We need to fix that.  (More on that henceforth...)

NB!--A dad needs to think. Thus, my thoughts are in italics.

On the loneliest Monday of my life, which followed the WORST Father's Day I am capable of surviving, I was visited by a friend. Talking can help after a brain injury (and rest). I sometimes think clearly--like a man capable of the position I used to hold at STC--and may hold again. A lot of my "interrogations" were based on my "ability to drive" and the "new car." No road trip is possible if an adult can't drive and a car can't function.

Meanwhile, I've just been "told" that my eldest will be with the rest of the family in Corpus Christi. All will be reunited on this day--except me.

Fathers who care have no rights. We need to fix that.  (More on that henceforth...)

This is a bad situation...
But I have a car--a 1992 Ford Thunderbird.
I have a brain--no matter what people seem to think.

Perhaps it's just just time to see if THIS brain and THIS car can make it to, say, Corpus Christi...

So, I know this much:

1. My daughter is allegedly in Corpus Christi
2. She's staying at a La Quinta
3. She's attending orientation at TAMU-CC

I drive as far as WHATABURGER FIELD, and...no answer to my texts or calls...

Turn around? Focus on surviving? Prove you can drive and the car works? There are AT LEAST five (5) La Quinta hotels in the Corpus Christi area... Maybe I just turn around.

No. I've done this too many times before. I have sat in my car across the street from this young woman's dormitory in Arlington, just to know a little more of what her life was like. I'm here. I may as well visit the campus. See where she will be attending class.

As I near the campus on the highway, suddenly there is a La Quinta. There's a Rudy's BBQ nearby. That place has great food AND gasoline...

I may as well just swing through the lot. I can't imagine her car would be there, anyway--probably at another one of these hotels.  It would be wrong to just blow past this parking lot. I mean, it's right IN FRONT of me...

Guess what? I notice her Subaru in the lot before I finish the statement in my own head.

I'll just park somewhere near her car. I'll pick up a gift card at Rudy's. That way, she/he can get BBQ and/or gas based on what they need. I'll just leave it at the front desk.  I'll put one of my cards on her windshield. She'll know I was here and cared...

I get the gift card and notice that the USWNT is playing in the "sports bar" between the Rudy's BBQ and the hotel.

Then I realize that I have three (3) things happening simultaneously:

1. I am within 1/4 mile of my beloved daughter for the first time in months.
2. I am on "neutral" territory for the first time in ages.
3. My daughter's boyfriend is walking toward me on the same sidewalk, along the same frontage road, off of a highway in a city none of us really know.

How could this be random? How could this not have meaning? How could I NOT be here right now???

"Hi! Good to see you! How was the orientation? Did you get over to the other college?"

He was walking to "the store" (Rudy's) to get her Gatorade and Chicken Lo Mein. My daughter was exhausted and unconscious. Seems like a good boyfriend. Just sayin'. No other family around...don't care why not right now. Without my asking, it's suggested I wake her to say "Hi." This is the room number. Turns out she didn't reply because she was asleep.

"Look, when in doubt a person should remember this--you regret the things you DIDN'T do more than any of the things you ACTUALLY DID."

My barely-awake daughter greeted me with a hug longer than those of my other children combined. For perhaps the most perfect of 15 minutes, I reconnected with this fantastic young woman who carries half of her DNA from me. It was one of the best Mondays I've experienced in my near-50 years.

As of now, I'm not sure that Corpus Christi isn't the "Happiest place on Earth."