Monthly Archives: November 2020

Remember “Dallas”?

In the late 70s a new television show came on the air and make quite a stir. The adventures and financial dealings (and mis-dealings) of the Ewing family became a must-watch for much of America. The show built to a crescendo in its second season when the main character, JR Ewing, was shot in a season-ending cliffhanger, and “Who shot JR?” became a buzz phrase all over the country.

Side note: I traveled to New York City that summer of 1980. When people in New York found out I lived in Dallas, they all asked if I had some insight as to why JR had been shot and by whom. Like a 17-year-old kid would have insight. Like it was a real news story instead of a frickin’ TV show. But I digress…

In the last episode of the show’s eighth season, the “good guy” character (and JR’s brother), Bobby Ewing, was killed when the actor who played Bobby had a contract dispute with the network/production company. The entire ninth season progressed without Bobby until the season-ending episode when he showed up in the last scene taking a shower, what the Associate Press called the “most famous shower scene since ‘Psycho’.” The entire ninth season of the show was done away with as a dream of Bobby’s wife, Pam, and Bobby was miraculously alive and back on the show the following season.

Welcome to “Dallas”!

When last I wrote, Peggy and I were in the midst of moving from Baton Rouge to San Antonio. Or were we?

Today I write to you from the comfort of my home in Baton Rouge. OK, so nearly three years have passed, and it is a different home than we lived in before, but apparently it has all been a bad dream.

“Honey, I had this terrible dream! We moved to San Antonio to run a clinical laboratory company and then there was this global pandemic and everything in the world shut down. Even though it was a pandemic people stopped going to the doctor! No samples were coming to the labs at all. It was horrible! I’m so glad to wake up and be back in Baton Rouge!”

Or something like that.

We’re here and we’re excited to be back. We really don’t even look any worse for wear, if you ask me.

Of course, being asleep for three years can do that, I guess.