Assimilation

Assimilation

One’s sense of home is a funny thing. I’ve written about it a lot on the blog in the past year, whether it was trying to figure out where to live or buying a new house. Though the front of my house still looks like a construction zone, I’m not struggling with “home” as much these days.

Partially I wonder if my assimilation into Texan is complete, although I’m sure my native Texan friends would disagree with me. The droning rain like we’ve had all week puts me into the world’s foulest mood, where it used not to bother me all that much. When driving out of the city, the flat fields of grass and giant sky are comforting to me now rather than crushing. I feel confined if I’m somewhere that hides most of the horizon with pesky hills and tall trees.

Bus imitates current mood
Bus imitates current mood

Life without breakfast tacos and kolaches simply might not be a life worth living. Let’s not even talk about queso on the east coast… it might as well not exist. I love the mish mash of social circles that makes up Austin. I’ve even grown to love the hipsters a little bit – just don’t tell anyone else. It makes my heart happy that I can find two stepping and cowboy hats if I need to and that the average man from a Texas small town has at least dabbled in rodeo.

When I hear of someone being “a little too east coast” my nose crinkles up a bit. What I used to think of a higher title is now a passive insult, although let’s be clear – I’m never giving up my pearls or my southeast “Bless your heart!” heritage.

Yesterday one of my best friends moved to Austin. Me, the risk aversion one in a search for stability, is single and attempting to write a book. Her, the person I legitimately think has a pretty fair shot of becoming a CIA agent or a much-funnier-than-me-famous-author, is married with an adorable kid who I get to be Auntie Lauren to now. We haven’t lived in the same town since I was 18, and I never could have imagined that she’d be living 10 minutes down the street from me 1,400 miles from home in North Carolina.

Mystery horse included so people realize I haven't sent him back so far
Mystery horse included so people realize I haven’t sent him back so far

Except North Carolina isn’t really home to me anymore, Texas is. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be allowed to wear the Texan title fully, but I sure do love it here. If you asked 18 year old me where I’d be 13 years later, I could never have guessed this. Even if I went back and retraced all my steps, I’m not sure how I got to this place with these people in my life but I’m glad I did.

My life is a bit whacky and wild and unpredictable. I’m winging it on a daily basis… shooting from the hip like they do in the wild west. Like they do in Texas.

19 thoughts on “Assimilation

  1. I definitely don’t work for the CIA. Ha ha! No way! How silly. I don’t know where you heard that from or why you would post that on your blog everybody reads!! How outrageous! The CIA! I’m just a completely normal suburban housewife! Right? RIGHT, LAUREN?

  2. I can’t live without Whataburger, HEB, Shiner, cheap ex-racehorses from sketchy tracks, or a crap ton of personal space, so I’m never leaving.

    1. Is it bad to say that I can’t wait to one day have my own gated property? Acreage or no? I love the ranches out here.

  3. Maybe its time to change the Blog title from “She Moved To Texas” to” She Lives In Texas and Is Kinda Really a Texan Now, For Sure” or “She Is Now A 99% Fully Assimilated Texan Now” or “Breakfast Burritos or Bust”

  4. Hi! Fellow Texas transplant here. Also in Austin. I think you really nailed how comfortable it is here and yet how intriguing it is. And if I ever want a change of pace or scenery, I tend to spend a day or two in Dallas or Houston (that’s how you know I’m not from here! haha).

    And I agree that not being able to find breakfast tacos when I leave is THE WORST. Maudie’s is always my breakfast stop on the way outta town…

    Grace

  5. There’s something about the west that gets to you. I’ve never lived in the east, but the times I’ve visited, I can’t wait to get back home to space and normalcy.

  6. I have a friend from North Carolina who lives here in Texas. He has a bumper sticker on his horse trailer that says “I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could!” 🙂

  7. I feel you. Also transplanted from NC to Texas… I don’t really want to leave anytime soon. And besides, keeping horses here is sooo much cheaper, I can have more 🙂

  8. Lol seems like there is a direct migration from NC to Texas. It looks awesome down there. Mystery horse looks pretty spectacular in that field.

  9. Dang, Micaylah beat me to “stuggle bus!” I need one of those signs though…

    I worked in TX for 2 years between my undergrad & grad school (& we did live in Austin for a year when I was a little kid, I remember swimming at Zilker Park!) — while it wasn’t a good fit for me to stay, I have to say, I do love the breakfast burritos. Ok, well, almost all the food…and they had great festivals, I still have the poster hanging in my house of the first ever Austin City Limits music festival, maybe 2002, we drove inland for the weekend? There was an amazing little place when I lived in Galveston owned by this little bitty Costa Rican man who made the most incredible tacos on the face of the planet. I do solemnly swear, having grown up in SoCal until we moved to KY when I was about 10 & spending lots of time with my dad’s family in AZ, I am hearby qualified to judge amazing tacos, LOL. While I chose NC purposefully for lots of reasons, I’ve only found ONE really good Latino restaurant in my work area — which covers 47 counties, sigh. And Wallace is not close to much of anything, definitely not by the farm! Errr, I digress…

    But that is fantastic to have a great friend just move in!! Good serendipity, overdue for you. Life definitely takes us places we never planned on, but it’s a nice change when there’s a GOOD curveball to embrace.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.