Photo by Matt Cornelius for Texarkana Magazine.
Patsy Morriss reminds me a bit of best-selling humorist Erma Bombeck — she writes about the ordinary things in life which tie us all together. The column she posted in April’s edition of Texarkana Magazine bemoans the frustration of managing her household’s multiple television remotes. Ugh! Who, like Morriss, hasn’t found themselves longing for the good old days of “an antenna in the attic and nothing other than the UHF channels” when fumbling with a tray full of channel changers?!? Heaven forbid we show up at our vacation rental and realize we’re responsible for button-pushing on a television not our own.
Morriss’ primary home is in Texarkana, where she lives with husband Don, but they recently purchased a second home in Lake Highlands to be closer to her son Brad McCutcheon and his family. McCutcheon graduated from Texas A&M a while ago, but Morriss remembers the raw emotions she experienced when she sent him off to Aggieland. In this month’s edition of her column, My Drift, she shares advice and encouragement for empty nesters feeling lonely and downtrodden because their kids have flown the coop.
Her observations are relatable and her advice is practical, but her column mostly keeps me nodding and laughing in recognition. My favorite tidbit is her reminder that meals no longer must be healthy, balanced affairs. Wine and cheese suffice for dinner, she says, and the time saved shopping and chopping can be used for selfish endeavors. Work a crossword. Finish today’s Wordle. Figure out how to work your television’s remote control.
Morriss majored in journalism as a path to the public relations business, but she was never quite the “hot-shot PR expert” she originally envisioned. She took a communications job at her church in Plano and later wrote a monthly column for Plano Profile magazine. After 15 years she became their associate publisher. That’s when the publisher of a startup called Texarkana Magazine came calling.
Morriss agreed to write a column every other month — then a paper shortage hit, and all the columnists were cut to quarterly postings. Occasionally her editor suggests a topic, but mostly she just riffs about what’s on her mind.
“I wrote one during COVID called ‘Say Yes to the Mask,’” she remembers. “I still have my collection of 50 or so masks, from Johnny Was to Whataburger. What a weird time that was.”
Morris says she’s always loved Lake Highlands — even when she and her first husband graduated from SMU and bought their first home in Plano. They could get more home for their money up north, but she always loved the neighborhood here in good old LH.
“Texarkana is a great place and I love it,” she says of the town where Don has built a thriving insurance business. “You can’t replace the Dallas area, though. Brad and (wife) Goodwin bought their house on Dahman Circle, and I said ‘this is what I want — long and low with no stairs.’” They moved in during the pandemic and promptly headed outside to meet their neighbors. “Such a strange time, but such a great neighborhood.”
The couple returns to Lake Highlands a couple of weekends a month, plus she’s a faithful attendee at her book club gatherings. They also rely on quality Dallas doctors, who’ve replaced both of her knees and provided other medical services. They catch frequent activities of their grandkids, who attend Northlake Elementary and LH Middle School, and they attend SMU sporting events with friends. They bring Texarkana buddies to Broadway Dallas productions, and they enjoy all the restaurants and shopping Lake Highlands and surrounding neighborhoods have to offer.
“It’s ironic to me that I ended up with a house in Lake Highlands, which was my original goal 50 years ago,” Morriss jokes.
In Morriss’ column on empty nesting, she shares sage advice collected the hard way — over years of fret and bother. There is no anxiety like a mom’s anxiety when her son or daughter is hundreds of miles away. But she encourages parents to enjoy their newfound opportunities.
“I guess you just have to taste the bittersweet,” she says. “I’m so in awe of my grownup boy. And you can’t get grandkids unless your kids grow up.”
Each of her columns has a different topic, but they all have one thing in common. She’s writing to connect with her readers — whether they live in Texarkana, Lake Highlands or Timbuktu.
“My goal is to bring a smile or a tear. But that’s pretty easy, because people want to laugh and be touched.”
If you’d like to meet the Morrisses, you can say hello to Patsy at the next meeting of 100 Women of Lake Highlands or to Don at tonight’s Exchange Club meeting, where he’ll be hearing from Casey Woods, LH neighbor and SMU’s offensive coordinator, as the guest of Brad, an active member. You may read Patsy’s column in the Life & Style section of Texarkana Magazine here.
Photo by Matt Cornelius for Texarkana Magazine.
