(A note from Heather's husband ... Sean)
Those of you who know me know that living in Dallas/Fort Worth area was a really rough time for me.
Career wise, I went from a place where I was revered to a place where people really didn’t care about my skill set. They didn’t care how talented I was. I either didn’t fit in the Good Ole’ Boy system or some people really didn’t care about quality and just wanted the cheapest entertainment that they could get. The market there hard been ravished by low quality entertainment that though because they could make a balloon dog, they were professional entertainers
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(In no particular order)
1) Four Day Weekend
If you live in the
To many Texans, this will sound stupid. For those of us who don’t live in
In the DFW area, there are a lot of gas stations called QT. If you go into one of these establishments, you’ll see two sets of hot dog rollers. One will have normal hot dogs. The other one will have Taquitos. This is one of those delicacies of
I’m not necessarily a Texas Rangers Baseball fan. However, I love to go watch professional baseball. There’s nothing like it. To me, it’s one of the finest things God created about summer. Even if you don’t like the Rangers, you can see a myriad of other professional baseball teams play. When everything else was going wrong, I could always go watch a game and just forget about it all.
This place and its staff will ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart. Let me paint a picture for you.
It was near the end of the year in 2004. I had moved to
Just when everything was at it’s darkest, a light shown through. All of my attempts to get into the Gaylord Texan had paid off, and I got a meeting with the Entertainment Management.
The meeting lasted no longer then fifteen minutes. The Gaylord Texan was looking for entertainment for their “Lone Star Christmas”. Since I had tried to contact them on numerous occasions, they decided to give me a chance and call me into a meeting. After the meeting, they decided to give me a shot, but just for their Christmas holiday season.
During their holiday season, the comments about me started to flood into guest services. Visitors absolutely loved me. And Gaylord decided to give me a contract for 2005.
One of the comments that the former director of Food and Beverage gave to me was that I was the lowest paid entertainer, but I got more positive comments than any other entertainer that they ever had. I continued to work for them until I left in 2006. I still have a great relationship with the management. They’ve gone to bat for me several times; trying to get me into the Gaylord Opryland. They’ve even told me that if I ever move back to
Keep in mind, for most balloon artists; I had one of the top jobs in the area. It was also a dream job in that the Gaylord gave me the freedom to do whatever I though was appropriate, knowing that my number one concern was making people happy. I really miss the Gaylord Texan and everyone I worked with there A LOT.
This was the group of balloon twisters in the DFW area that met once a month. I loved hanging out with these people. I loved them for their creativity, their wacky characters, and the fact that they were people who understand what it meant to look at a balloon and see a world of possibilities. I miss you guys (Especially Stretch and his family)
Like I said before, I now live in
At one point, I volunteered once a week, until it got to the point where I had to go out and get a real job to support my wife’s education. I worked with this video crew at First Baptist Church Dallas (FBCD) until the summer before we moved back to
I also have to say that I also loved working with Jane Mason and the First Dallas Children’s ministry. I have to say, that God worked his hand of providence when I ended up working with them.
Before I worked with the Children’s ministry, I had a really poor experience with the Singles Ministry at First Dallas (Heather and I were engaged, but not married). I was treated so poorly, I was ready to quit going to First Dallas, despite the fact that Heather was an intern there and had to go to church.
It just so happens that just as I was getting ready to leave, I met Mark & Karen Korenek at a restaurant I was doing balloons in. In our conversation, we discovered that we both went to First Dallas. They asked me if I had ever considered working in the children’s ministry. I told them no, and they said I should really consider it.
I then called Jane Mason to see if they needed any volunteers. She put me in the same class with Mark & Karen. Once Jane saw the talent that I had, she immediately integrated some of my talent into the AWANA program. It was truly a blessing to use my talents for the glory of God
Now that I’m back in
8) Garden Ridge
I know that this will make me a wimp to some guys. What can I say? The creative decorator in me loves Garden Ridge. And the next time I drive to DFW, I’m picking up one of those Chiminea I’ve always wanted.
9) Panda Express
This is my favorite restaurant in the DFW area. If you live in an area where these restaurants are everywhere, consider yourself blessed. My wife and I love Chinese food. We love Panda Express even more.
10) Friends
Despite the fact that it was hard to make relationships in this area, I did manage to make a few close friends that I still contact from time to time. I would list them all, but then I’d forget someone and make them mad. Just know that these friends were an oasis in a place that was otherwise a desert.