From "Chat Rooms" to "Ticky Tack" Shops

In an earlier post, I shared that we had gone to the mountains and did some shopping in a place called the SASSY RABBIT. I called it a "ticky tack" shop. A "ticky tack" shop is a place you go and buy things on vacation that you would not normally buy any other time. This phrase came to us from friends of ours who live in Northern Ireland.

Now how do you get from "chat rooms" to "ticky tack" shops? With my Charlie anything is possible. When our girls were "teens" and we invited a device called a "computer" into our house, we wanted to be very protective of them and not allow them to go to websites that might not be appropriate and we sure did not want them in "chat rooms" talking to people that they did not know. That would have been in the early 90s. Obviously technology has come a long way since then and maybe we are not as afraid of cyberspace as we were. It can still be pretty scary if I am not careful as I browse, chat, twit and blog.

Back to the "chat room". Our "rule" was that the girls were not to go into "chat rooms". Now heaven only knows what they did when we went to bed at night and left them up. But that was the "rule". Charlie is a "biker" and he was checking out web sites for bike rides through an organization called Christian Motorcyle Association. He found a link that offered "ride swaps". The plan involved going to a different country and riding a bike over there and then in turn they would come to the U.S. and ride. Through this process of "chatting" he met Charles who is from Northern Ireland. In the "chat" process, Charlie invites Charles to come to our home if he is ever in the U.S. and ride. Okay. He is talking to someone he has never met and invites to our home. Now, remember the girls cannot get online and "talk" to someone they do not know. I could not believe he had done this. I figured we were probably going to be okay because who would fly across the ocean and come to someone's house that they did not know to ride a bike. Wrong. We got a message from Charles a couple of months later to tell us that he and his girlfriend were flying to "the states" and would be in Georgia.

What a surprise and yes scary. They came, we met, they stayed with us and we have had a friendship for about 10 years now. Yes, they rode bikes while they were here. They also "eloped" to Georgia and got married here 2 years after their initial visit. Oh my, Oh my! We have since been to their home in Northern Ireland. While we were there, they took us to see the sites and their "ticky tack" shops (Charles's expression for souvenir shops) - thus our expression for when we go to places and shop for souvenirs.

Precious memories. They now have two children and we still keep in touch.

We look forward to them coming back here and bringing their children. What stories we will have to tell them.