Of Tejas

I lived in Texas while attending university for three years just before and after I crossed the threshold of 20 years old.  I had only one other occasion to visit the south before I lived there while going to school.  Before that I had only heard southern accents on TV, so it was surreal to stop at gas stations and hear twang coming out of people's mouths.  It was also surreal to experience warmer weather just three hours down the road.

I think it benefits the human spirit in an inexplicable way to experience life in different spots on the planet.  To see different flora and fauna than you grew up seeing, to hear different accents, breathe different air.  Being by the ocean feels almost like science fiction to me, the world is soooo delightfully different from my norm.  Traveling to another country leaves me with an electric buzz tingling through my veins, everything is all so very different and exciting.  I look forward with great anticipation to the chance to travel internationally again, there are many places I would like to experience.

For now, I'm happy to be going to a different part of the United States.  Where they say "y'all" and call me "Sugar" and "Honey".  Where true winter rarely visits so the fauna and bug population doesn't really go dormant and therefore grow to gargantuan proportions.  You have never seen a cattail or a cockroach, until you've seen the monsters in Texas.  I imagine the rain forest would surpass even those, but I have yet to experience that wonderful place.

And, in some ways, going to Texas is going home.  To my little sis.  Sarahmaisy, Pepparoni Sissas Forevah!!  :)