There's no place like home. Especially when home is huge, warm, and a little . . . reality challenged. There's a saying that the difference between the south and the north is that in the south, we take pride in our, uh, "eccentric" relations whereas in the north, they hide them in the closet.
How else can you explain a region that advertises everything under the sun either wrapped in a humongous state flag or in the shape of the state itself?
Snack crackers in various flavors, tortilla chips, pasta, ice cubes, cake pans, potholders, and more all can be found pressed into the identifiable Texas shape.
The flag flies literally everywhere. And in mythic proportions. It finds its way into every graphic imaginable, including well know logos.
Major US auto makers Ford and Chevrolet, and even Nissan produce several Texas edition vehicles.
Texans are independent folk and like their politicians colorful. The chief qualification for a governor is ownership of a ranch(if you are busy working your ranch, less time can be spent messing things up in the state capitol), or star quality.
I'm sure there were those diehard Texans that thought we missed a great opportunity a few years ago just to have the bragging rights that our governor was Kinky.
People outside of Texas expect us to live in an altered state of reality, too. I remember my junior high math teacher, a gentleman from Pennsylvania, relating to our class how his family had expected him to return from Texas sporting cowboy boots, a ten gallon hat, and driving a cadillac with longhorns mounted to the hood.
Cows and cowboys are an important part of Texas history.
My favorite part of Texas, next to Blue Bell ice cream, good Tex Mex cuisine, warmer weather, and my family, is a certain place under the gnarled and twisted canopy of a liveoak tree in Washington County. My own little part of Texas where I can dream, live large, and gracefully become one of those, uh "eccentric" relations.
Hopefully it won't have to wait too long.
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