This has been stewing in my brain since I was in Texas a month ago. And by stewing since, I mean it’s come up from time to time but I’ve been ridiculously busy and just now wrote it down.
At the end of June I was so very blessed to be able to spend two weeks in Texas seeing dear friends and family, hanging out in my favorite places, listening to country music and southern drawls, and of course eating the most wonderful food on the planet. Seriously, two absolutely amazing weeks.
Then this past week two of my best friends, my roommates from college, came to visit! We spent three days walking all over the city, hitting all the major highlights (and some of my favorite places that aren’t quite so thronged with tourists). We ended every day so tired and sore (and hot and cranky) that we could hardly move, but it was so good to be with them. Plus, watching our favorite movies and having sleepovers every night because we kicked Jeff out for the weekend was lovely :)
So Texas has been on my mind, and I finally just jotted down what I was thinking. It hasn’t had much revision and I don’t even know how to qualify it (poetry, I suppose?), so no guarantees. But here it is.
Texas is not Bible thumpers, raging conservatives, and unbearable heat.
Texas is green trees,
red earth,
and wide, blue sky.
Texas is the dust of a rodeo
and the sound of the state fair;
it’s the roar of a city,
the bustle of people,
junebugs on an otherwise silent summer night.
Texas is smiling speech,
shootin’ the breeze
in that slow drawl,
that musical twang.
Texas is big family dinners
blessed by a deep family grace.
It’s comfort food and
comfortable conversation.
Texas is southern hospitality.
A smile, a wave,
wide arms and an open door,
friends and strangers alike.
Texas is,
it has been said,
an obsession approaching a religion.
It is home.
“A Texan outside of Texas is a foreigner.”- John Steinbeck
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