the eyes of texas are upon you...

We've been back in Boston for 8 hours now and I am already completely heartsick/homesick for my Texas. I may have been living in the northeast for the last four years, but every single time I make the trip back home, the Texan deep in my heart is revitalized and brought back to life in the way that only things like good Mexican food, multiple days of 100 degree heat, and the love of your family can do.

Call me crazy, but every single day that I'd step outside into the sweltering air that is June in Texas, I just smiled and felt all happy and warm inside. Granted, this was likely due to the fact that I truly was heated from the inside out from the Oh My Word temps, but still-- I relished the Texas summer that I was always so anxious to escape from. And yes- this would be the summer that I so often daydreamed about this past winter, when we were buried past our knees in snowdrift after gosh darned snowdrift.

There were lots of pictures taken and several stories to share, but since it's my first day back at work in a week, I'm all kinds of crazy busy this morning. I shall part with these words of observation and wisdom:

• Nothing can push you towards a body/diet detox faster than spending a week at home with your BBQ and Blue Bell lovin' Mama and Daddy. Add in a steady diet of queso and kolaches and you have a girl who is going to be downing some serious veggies this week.
  

• But the queso and Blue Bell calories? Worth every lovin' bite.

• Something about watching couples two-step makes me a little bit weak in the knees.

• I swear to you that the moon shines brighter in that big Texas sky...

• Chivalry and manners are not lost on Southern men-- amen to that.

• Boston weddings = men in seersucker and women with Lilly and sleek hair; Texas weddings = cowboy boots matched with Sunday's finest for the men and high heels and big poufs for the ladies. Again- amen to that.

• No matter how long you've been away from home, the minute you set foot back in The Lone Star State all of your fine grammar dissolves. "I'm going to" reverts back to "I'm fixin' to," "oil" becomes "o'le," and "y'all" is more pronounced than ever (though you refuse to sort it out of your language when in daily conversations with Bostonians. That little word shall remain a part of you til the day you die. Amen.)

• Nobody gives you odd looks when they see mountains of cream cheese, Fritos, Velveeta and beer heaped into your grocery cart at the HEB. They instead share a knowing smile and secretly wish they knew where your little party was going down later on.
  

I pray everyday that our future might work in my favor and move us somewhere southern. Any place would do, really, as long as my future babies are able to grow up with ungodly dedication to football running through their veins and "ma'am" and "sir" being some of the first few words that they speak. Boston may have class and sophistication, but Texas, my Texas, will always be my home and my stomping grounds. What we lack in class and sophistication we make up for with character and sass.

Amen.