No Place to Hide: A story about Tia for her birthday.

This post was written on February 3, 2021, the first birthday after Tia passed. 

For about a month, I’ve known that I wanted to share another story as part of Tia’s birthday celebration, but I’ve struggled deciding on which birthday story to share. There are so many good ones because Tia was big on birthdays. There’s the “Sweet Caroline” dance line at Mangia Nashville which made for a classic night. Tia’s 30th birthday was special. I woke her up early, presented her with a golden ticket like the one from American Idol and told her to grab a purse because we had a flight to LA in 2 hours. We didn’t pack bags. Part of her gift was me buying everything when we got there. She enjoyed that trip so much that she repaid me with a baby 9 months later. Then there’s the instant classic, “butterflies and dragonflies”. It hit me this morning that the story I should tell isn’t from a birthday at all. Here goes. 

When I finished grad school, the college had our graduation dinner at a country club. Like always, Tia and I were running late because she couldn’t make a decision on what to wear. She ultimately settled for a dress which she felt was inappropriate for the occasion, but because we were late she had to roll with it. Tia was classically hilarious on the drive to the dinner. 

She complained that the school was having dinner too early in the evening. She griped at me for making her leave the house in a short dress. I remember her saying, “This is entirely too much thigh and booty for this private christian school AND this country club.”  She gave me clear instructions as we arrived. I was to walk in front of her as we entered the dining hall in an attempt to hide her dress. I was then told to grab a table in the very back so no one would see us. And that’s exactly what I attempted to do. 

We sat down at an empty table, but moments later a gentleman sat with us. A few moments later, the Dean of the College of Business sat with us too. He and I had become really close during my time in the program so we began to chat. I introduced him to Tia and he proceeded to introduce us to the Chairman of the Board, the first gentlemen who sat with us. And literally as he is finishing that introduction, the President of the university and his wife joined us. It quickly became obvious that not only had we unsuccessfully sat in the back of the room, we had actually sat in the front of the room at the RESERVED head table. Somehow we missed the reserved sign. Out of pure grace and mercy, we were occupying seats of 2 people who did not show. 

Take a moment, close your eyes and imagine if we had to move. Lol.

That one experience epitomizes my life with Tia. She always did things on our own time, literally and figuratively. Almost anything Tia did was always alright with me. Even when she went the wrong direction, things seemed to work themselves out. Rules never seemed to apply or be enforced with her. Even when she tried to hide, there was no dimming her light. 

Happy birthday to my angel.