I have officially lived in Texas for 5.5 years. In the fall of '06, I made the decision to leave Michigan - I packed up my belongings and headed south for the Lonestar State (while making a brief stop in Atlanta to visit some awesome friends).
This May, I'll be able to say 2 of those 5.5 years have been lived out as a resident of Ft Worth. Gotta love that, right?
Recently, I left a status update on Facebook declaring my love for the avocado. While my Michigan friends were quick to reply that we DO see avocado in MI, I want to clarify that my affection came to fruition in Texas. Growing up, we rarely explored many "new" or "exotic" foods - and you certainly didn't see guacamole in Mexican restaurants.
No, my love for things like avocado & queso has grown in more recent years, after discovering which fresh, more local ingredients make food that much more awesome. My love is even greater now that I can pick good avocados at the store and make some delicious guacamole at home. And not just avocado - you can get decent produce here all year!! That doesn't happen in MI...
Which brings me to a Facebook message exchange from back in the fall. As the wedding was drawing near, my aunt Joy wrote and wanted to know 5-10 things I LOVE about Texas. I will share that list with you here, but I want to also include a list of things I LOVE about Michigan for all my Yankee Doodle darlings :)
Texas (my list, verbatim & in no particular order):
1. sweet tea & BBQ
2. football
3. cute dresses & cowboy boots
4. FT WORTH
5. country dancing (half & 2-stepping)
6. cotton fields
7. Blue Bell ice cream
8. the weather
9. Texas country music
10. Billy Bob's (the world's largest honky tonk!)
Michigan (my list, dreamed up right in this very moment):
1. Olga's - my favorite "Greek" restaurant
2. Lake Michigan
3. wine country
4. 4 seasons
5. sailing
6. sales tax at 6% (it's 8.25% in Texas HOWEVER... we don't file state taxes)
7. hockey
8. a decent percentage of my friends & family are within driving distance
9. apple orchards, fruit picking, cider season, pumpkin patches & all that fun 'fall' stuff
10. bakeries - Milford bakery, Bridgman bakery, and all the yummy places in between for real baked goods
There are certain days when I do miss Michigan. I miss it on those perfect sunny days meant to be spent on the lake, sailing around between ports, stopping to shop & eat & enjoy the local atmosphere in places like Saugatuck and South Haven. I miss it when I get invitations to bridal showers and baby showers and know the cost for me to attend is more than I can afford. I especially miss it in the fall when everyone is wine tasting, apple picking, breaking out scarves & boots, watching the leaves change, going to WMU football games, and planning Black Friday trips to the minute. I miss Olga's with my best friends. I miss real Coney Islands too.
But the love of Texas... can I explain it? We had an incredible summer, with an absurd number of consecutive days where the temps reached over 100 degrees. The humidity keeps the skin supple & you don't go through near as much lotion during "dry" season. In a few hours, you can drive and be at the Gulf of Mexico, boarding a cruise ship or learning to surf. A few hours another direction, you hit the mountains and can ski for a weekend. Every small town has a Dairy Queen (which, to its defense, Milford had a DQ less than a mile from my house BUT it was seasonal where every DQ in Texas is open year round AND they serve hot food... I only go for the ice cream but still...) The Mexican food is made by people who are actually from Mexico. The 4 years of Spanish I took in high school actually comes in handy. In the time it takes to drive from El Paso to Houston, you can tack on an hour and be in Los Angeles (this is true - I checked it out... it's 11 hours from El Paso to Houston & 12 hours from El Paso to LA - that's how BIG Texas is). It blew Calvin's mind when he learned you can drive from Milford to Bridgman in 3 hours - that's all it takes to cross the state.
Other things I've learned: fashion is different. When my stepdad worked in Detroit, he had to wear a suit & tie to the office every day. In Houston? Slacks & a collared shirt. No one I knew in MI owned cowboy boots unless they worked with horses and legitimately found them necessary. In Texas? They're owned as fashion statements. I already have 3 pair. I traded in my stilettos for leather soles and ornate stitching. In Michigan, you rarely saw women totally blinged out - in Texas? Go into any Sam Moon, buy everything sparkly, and wear it together. Belts, jeans, jewelry, shirts, bags, flip-flops... the women here LOVE to sparkle!!
Calvin swears I'll be like that when I get older - sparkles & animal print.
Doubtful.
In the time I've lived in Texas, I have yet to go to a real club. In Michigan, you could find me shaking my booty and dropping it like it was hot fairly regularly - YET... I still loved driving out to the country - the STICKS - to line dance. In Texas? I had to have a man teach me to 2-step & half-step and understand what it means to be twirled around a dance floor properly instead of having some creepy guy grinding & sweating all over me. I'd love to go clubbing with my girlfriends sometime but I just don't know that clubs like that exist in Texas. Maybe in Dallas...
I grew up on sweet tea. My mom's family was from the south so she knew how to brew it right. I remember summer months filled with glass after glass of that sweet nectar - and she passed that right on down to me & my sister. There's a pitcher in my fridge at this very moment, which likely won't last until tomorrow. That was something I loved about moving to Texas - you can actually ORDER it in restaurants and enjoy it places other than home.
Also... I've always loved Dr Pepper. Moving to Texas and being closer to where it's made just makes it better. And visiting Dublin before it got shut down? Even better.
Until I moved to Texas, I had never even heard of "Texas Country". Now I've been exposed to a whole spectrum of music - a whole different sound - that I never imagined. I doubt, had I gotten married to someone from the north, you would've heard much country music at my wedding at all. The fact that our first 2 dances as husband & wife were to Texas Country just solidified even more: this is home now. This is where I belong. This is who I was meant to be.
I'm a Yankee Doodle who loves avocado, half-stepping, sweat & humidity, sweet tea, and football. And I had no idea until I moved down here what hardcore football looks like.
Come visit me :)
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