Facebook’s a great place to keep up with friends, find classmates and waste time. Sometimes, though, the social media site allows me to reconnect with friends and acquaintances.

Such was the case when I caught up with Wayne and Theresa Vincent. When we lived in Richmond, we were usually in a hurry. Conversations were often in a parking lot with little time for more than the basics.

Through Facebook, I found that Theresa travels for her job, and her writings are beautifully descriptive of the places she’s visiting. While exchanging travel experiences online, Theresa suggested we get together for dinner.

It wasn’t until I asked for her house address that I realized they’d moved into Houston. Once their children all went off to college, the Vincents fulfilled a long-held dream of Theresa’s to move into the city.

Theresa loves museums, art, plays and the opportunity to walk to the grocery store, and she wanted to take advantage of what Houston has to offer without fighting big-city traffic.
Houston’s eclectic Montrose area is where they chose to set up housekeeping, and, during my visit,

I could understand why.

Montrose is a quiet, quirky part of Houston. Numerous vintage clothing stores and coffee bars line the main streets. Instead of generic store fronts, small shop exteriors are decorated with contemporary art and flowering plants.

I seldom see people walking the shopping areas in suburbia, but here, the sidewalks were filled with teen shoppers, friendly dogs on leashes, and college students sipping on lattes.

Along residential streets, bungalow-style houses reminded me of times when people sat on their front porches and greeted neighbors out for an evening stroll.

Conversation for the Soul

Wayne and Theresa’s Montrose house is on a quiet side street, and they’d renovated and updated the inside of their bungalow while not losing the house’s charm.

Sitting in comfortable couches, we caught up on what our now-grown children were doing, where they were working or going to school and the many changes in our lives over the last 10 years.

Looking at the clock, Theresa and I decided to grab a quick dinner as Wayne was heading off to his neighborhood softball practice.

We stopped at Aladdin’s Mediterranean Grill in the heart of Montrose. At first, I wasn’t too sure about the place as the inside looks like it hasn’t been touched since the 1970s.

With Theresa’s encouragement, I got in the serving line and saw foods I recognized. The servers were knowledgeable, the service was quick and the food was delicious.

Over hummus and freshly baked pita bread, we delved more deeply into the conversation the three of us had started earlier. Like before, we didn’t talk about work or whine about the size of our hips.

We discussed life. Our hopes. Our dreams. What’s important. What’s trivial.

I think the eclectic atmosphere Montrose weaves – art reflects life and quirky is the spicy seasoning in life – allowed us to step away from a surface exchange of information and enjoy a philosophical conversation about what’s important.

We can have a sterile discourse over Facebook, but genuine dialogue is best when breaking bread together and thinking deeply and honestly about what we want out of life.

Sometimes starting that conversation is as simple as remembering that right around the corner, there’s a big, huge world out there.

We just have to be willing to peek over the line.

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.