The moment my parents agreed that I could go and live in New York, they did not waste anytime. Lecturing me about money and how much I actually make every month from the royalties of the software I had written, I was put on a very tight budget.

And I have to show myself physically to the corporate offices of Westin Communications every Friday with the lame excuse of ‘having lunch with the North East Regional Director’ who really wants to see me. It was my parents’ way of keeping tabs on me, and I did not disagree. I cannot risk being too demanding at this time.

They had a real estate agent look for an apartment for me, and that one I disagreed with. Insisting that I want to do this on my own, I checked Craigslist.org and found that a female was looking for roommates in her three-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. The rent was something I could afford and most importantly, I found it!!!

With the interview with Imadge set on Tuesday, my mother decided to go with me to New York with a weekend layover in Dallas to visit her parents. And though I love being in Dallas and seeing my grandparents, I also know that this ‘visit’ is meant for my grandparents to make me change my mind.

So, you can imagine my mother’s surprise when my grandmother said, “Milan is as headstrong as you were when you were her age, Paige. From experience, I will not try to stop her or you will have a big fight in your hands.”

“Let the womenfolk battle it out Milan,” my grandfather whispered in my ear with a twinkle in her eyes. Let’s do something silly like visiting South Fork Ranch.”

Southfork Ranch, the fictional home of the notorious Ewing family of ‘Dallas’ fame, a very popular nighttime soap during the 1980s that actually premiered in 1978 and did not officially end until 2004 with the reunion special ‘Dallas Reunion: The Return to Southfork, the series had been defunct for over a decade.

As a child, I used to watch reruns of ‘Dallas’ on cable, something that my parents did not like, but I could always figure out the parental controls they have set on our cable box. In the end, they gave up because between my brother and I, they were on a losing battle.

So, for my grandfather, who had always found the TV series pompous believed that having a granddaughter, who is a fan of the series, was karma. “She was not even born yet!” my grandfather used to say. But, he never begrudged me a visit to Southfork every time I am in Dallas.

[MILAN WESTIN]

Southfork Ranch
3700 Hogge Road,
Parker, TX 75002
Toll-free: 800-989-7800
Direct: 972-442-7800
Website: www.southfork.com/