Our first stateside visit was in December of '89. Jonathan was just a couple of months old. I remember Aunt Becky picking us up at the Amarillo airport. She had an ice cream tub full of puppy chow for us to snack on. This would be the first real memories I would have of any of my relatives. My grandparents house in Borger, TX would also become the only thing in my entire life never to have changed. This first trip would last four months (while we were out of school) and would involve lots of visiting, shopping for our crate and eating out. My grandparents owned a Christian bookstore that was part of their home. I loved looking around in it. And they had an intercom to the house and I thought that was so cool.
Some of my favorite thins on this trip? Going swimming at the college, eating at Mr. Gatti’s Pizza Buffet, going roller skating, and playing dress up in MaMa’s old dresses and high heels with my cousin Amy. We would play for hours on the back patio, pretending that we were flight attendants and that the pilots of the plane where our boyfriends. We would go to the park and watch our brothers do tricks on the swings. Someone loaned us a brown suburban. We would load up and drive to Amarillo to go shopping. Amy and I liked to ride in the back facing backwards. I was amazed by WalMart and Toys R Us.
Going to church and visiting the school was a little intimidating for me. I felt out of my element and uncomfortable with my grasp of the English language.
We would also go to DFW area and visit my Mema and then my Papa Bill. I had no previous memories of them before Chile. Joel and I would ride in the back. We would sit facing each other with the side windows to our backs. We would pretend that everything we saw out of the window in front of us was ours. This would entertain us for hours. We would have to take turns listening to each others music, and for some reason my music seemed to annoy the boys (mostly Amy Grant and Sandy Patti.) These trips were fun and in a way a whole lot slower paced than the Dietz side of the family. And on this side, I had two girl cousins, Anna and Abigail, and my brothers had no boy cousins! Yay for me! Mema lived in a cute little house in Arlington and Papa in a mobile home in Irving. He had trains and bar stools that swiveled.
This trip was a fun one. Just long enough. By the time we would head back I believe we were all ready for some routine again. Only we would be moving back to a new city: Punta Arenas, Chile located on the tip of the southern cone.
Some of my favorite thins on this trip? Going swimming at the college, eating at Mr. Gatti’s Pizza Buffet, going roller skating, and playing dress up in MaMa’s old dresses and high heels with my cousin Amy. We would play for hours on the back patio, pretending that we were flight attendants and that the pilots of the plane where our boyfriends. We would go to the park and watch our brothers do tricks on the swings. Someone loaned us a brown suburban. We would load up and drive to Amarillo to go shopping. Amy and I liked to ride in the back facing backwards. I was amazed by WalMart and Toys R Us.
Going to church and visiting the school was a little intimidating for me. I felt out of my element and uncomfortable with my grasp of the English language.
We would also go to DFW area and visit my Mema and then my Papa Bill. I had no previous memories of them before Chile. Joel and I would ride in the back. We would sit facing each other with the side windows to our backs. We would pretend that everything we saw out of the window in front of us was ours. This would entertain us for hours. We would have to take turns listening to each others music, and for some reason my music seemed to annoy the boys (mostly Amy Grant and Sandy Patti.) These trips were fun and in a way a whole lot slower paced than the Dietz side of the family. And on this side, I had two girl cousins, Anna and Abigail, and my brothers had no boy cousins! Yay for me! Mema lived in a cute little house in Arlington and Papa in a mobile home in Irving. He had trains and bar stools that swiveled.
This trip was a fun one. Just long enough. By the time we would head back I believe we were all ready for some routine again. Only we would be moving back to a new city: Punta Arenas, Chile located on the tip of the southern cone.
1 comment:
I am impressed. God bless you.
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