Wednesday, September 21, 2011

My Texas

My blogging friend Camila Knowles asked me to write some thoughts about My Texas, which she will share as part of a series on her own blog, Mattornety Life. Camila was part of my inspiration to start a blog of my own, so of course I was happy to oblige. She started her blog about four years ago and in the past year has done an amazing job of posting several times a week. Considering she leads a busy life as a working mother of two, I could certainly keep up with a blog as a nonworking mother of one! I'll save the excuses and apologies as to why I haven't gotten off to the greatest start in that area and move straight into My Texas....

The first thing that came to mind when I began to think about My Texas was the heat. I couldn't help it. It's not very exciting or interesting, but coming off of one of the hottest summers ever here, it's a natural topic. As we've endured the Epic Summer of 2011 with record heat and very little rain, I've often thought of my relatives "up North" in Iowa and Minnesota. I realized that in Texas (and other Southern states too) we have a reverse winter. In most parts of the country people get cabin fever during the winter because they're homebound due to the weather. In Texas, we get cabin fever during the summer. Sure, we don't have a foot of snow literally keeping us homebound. In all honesty, it's just plain good sense that keeps us inside. Who wants to do anything outside when it's 105 degrees? I'm outside three minutes and I'm already sportin' super sexy sweat mustache.

Another important part of My Texas is pride. I've not heard of any other state whose people feel anywhere close to the amount of pride Texans feel in their state. Do people from other states fly their state flags as much as Texans? Is there such thing as Oklahoma country music? For the most part, this pride is a great thing, but I can understand that to some it's probably a little annoying. There is one small subset that really annoys me. Those people who go around with the "Secede" stickers, shirts, etc. Granted, they are few and far between, but there is certainly a presence of those around here. Most people just laugh it off, but personally, I find it very unpatriotic. We are Americans first. In all honesty, I think most of the people who support the secede movement are too stupid to even realize that it displays anything but ignorant Texas pride. Want proof? About a year ago I saw one of them driving around with "SECEED" on her license plate. Really? You can't even spell check your personalized license plate?

So finally, this is what My Texas looks like. Even our miserably hot summers are bearable on days spent lounging (or chasing a toddler) at the lake. With a refreshing Florida Special in hand and a gentle breeze coming off the water, it's pretty nice. Not familiar with a Florida Special? You probably aren't if you haven't hung out with me and my husband. It's his concoction of vodka, Fresca and a splash of OJ (hence the Florida part, but yes, right about now I'm wishing he'd named it a Texas Special). Here is Our Texas, his mom's place on Lake Worth.

My Texas also wouldn't be complete without some Horned Frog football! My husband and I are both proud TCU alums and look forward to football and tailgating every year. Here we are enjoying one of our favorite things with some of our favorite people. Granted, football season is a lot more fun when your team is doing well (and ours is), but who doesn't love the atmosphere at a college football game?
 My little family

 My daughter with Uncle Steve

At the Fiesta Bowl with sorority sisters Liz and Lindsey

Cheering on the Frogs at the Rose Bowl

I apologize if this is over picture sharing, but don't you find that when you're looking at pictures of good times, it's hard to narrow it down to just one or two?

If this was a paper for school, I'd probably end with something like, "In conclusion, My Texas is about heat, pride, football and fun." But this isn't school, so I'll just end with this...isn't My Texas awesome?

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