I never realized how superficial Dallas was before I was able to start traveling.  She is vain to the nth degree, has always carried delusions of grandeur, harbors no love for history, values only that which is shiny and new, and is very much a superficial town.  Having said that, she is still home.  Now I just know all her flaws, whereas before I only suspected them.  The snobbery continues right down to the help, sort of like a butler in Victorian England.  I had so many invisible markers growing up that I thought if I’d hit I would be part of being accepted:  when I graduated from SMU, when I got my Rolex, when I bought a Land Rover.  My daddy taught me never to hate or envy; simply to aspire.  And so I never resented anyone who had money; I just wanted to have it, too.  He also taught me a valuable lesson:  there will always be someone younger, prettier, smarter, or “better” than you somehow.  That was not meant to run me down, rather it was meant to show me the futility in striving to please others.  It is truly ironic I wound up marrying into a wealthy family.  The name is fading but old timers still know it.  In college I was taught to study hard; not get an Mrs degree.  If you have a house someone else has one which cost way more than yours.  If you have a nice car, there is one out in front of you twice as expensive, as pictured here.  I can still remember what a privilege it was just to GO to the movies as a kid … and we rarely ever went.  I snapped this picture when we were getting out to see a show.  By the way I LOVE this car and would drive it if I could!  But not to impress others; I just think it’s a sweet ride.  The Swiss-German artist Paul Klee once said:

“Beauty is as relative as light and dark.  Thus, there exists no beautiful woman, none at all, because you are never certain that a still far more beautiful woman will not appear and completely shame the supposed beauty of the first.”

I am trying to impress upon my little one how lucky we are to be able to go see a movie on the big screen.  She doesn’t fully understand now but I intend to make sure she does as she grows older.  Some snotty kid will be bragging about going on vacation and trust me another kid will have gone some place more exclusive.  Meanwhile so many people never get to go anywhere at all.  So whereever you are and whatever you have, be thankful.  Trust me; it’s all relative.