We pulled into Dallas on Friday afternoon and soon learned who from our organization would also be in town for a special event on Saturday. There’s a real sense of camaraderie when you’re out on the road. Put people who don’t necessarily interact regularly in a new circumstance away from everyone else, and very quickly there’s opportunity to get to know people on a level you might not otherwise.
One of the best things about this journey (beyond the student interaction) is the chance to get to know a lot of different people that I wouldn’t normally be working with or perhaps have reason to connect with. So community is being built internally as well as externally with this initiative—another added benefit of the journey that was not necessarily anticipated.
I have only been to Dallas once before, and really didn’t see much of anything beyond my hotel which was pretty nice and the Dallas markets where I was looking for sales reps. I remember thinking how much I’d love to see it again. And here I am, or I should say. . .there I was.
Our event was being held at a very cool place in the Bishop Arts District of Dallas, which I heard had a funky Portsmouth, N.H.-type environment. Some of us went to a fabulous place called Hattie’s in that area, and I immediately wished I could transport this restaurant back up east. With a clean, minimalistic interior and awesome food (and drinks), it’s the type of place you want to go to, eat and hang out for a while.
After our event (which was beyond wonderful), we had a chance to wander around a bit and see some of the shops and local haunts. One shop owner after the next was just nice as can be, and we had a hilarious conversation with two women who owned a vintage shop about a place nearby called The Pie Emporium. Their pronounced annunciation of the word pie was hysterical and they continued to put it on over and over, chuckling at themselves as they did and we were dying laughing too.
Given that it hovered around 100 degrees during most of our stay, we came to believe that people were moseying around Bishop Arts in the most chill fashion as a survival mechanism. We, too, could adapt to this climate and slow up our usual frenetic pace. From the extra-friendly and hardworking folks at Café Brazil (where we held our event) to everyone met throughout Bishop Arts, I encountered such warmth and welcome. Dallas intrigues me and I definitely am bookmarking it to come back to.
Pamme Boutselis 