Home

Home. "Where is home for you?" -- a question that always gives me pause before I answer. Maybe I have found a new way to define home- the place you fly into and sigh a relief as you return. Even if it's the first way of a two way journey.
I felt this exhale landing in Houston last Wednesday night. The city below was lit up in grids, like a computer chip. Beside our plane was a beautiful thunderstorm, with fascinating lightening licks . Flying through the thunder clouds took my breath away. The cherry on top was walking through the Houson Hobby terminal and getting a call from a high school friend inviting me out with the possy. What a welcome home.

Since living in California for college, returning home to Texas always entails a few good days of culture shock. Breathing the humidity stepping off the plane, taking in the expanses of concrete interrupted only by swaths of dry yellow St. Augustine grass driving away from the airport, and of course, the fantastic people watching everywhere. What surprised me most this time was the twang in my University of Texas, and Texas A& M friends. They were "ruhl happy tuh see me." And I was real happy to see them. And now the twang is slipping into my speech like an infectious turrets syndrome-- call me on the phone, and I might suprise y'all with my tahlkin' ruhl slow-like.

This past weekend, my best friend from middle school, Megan Sutton, invited us up to her beautiful lake house near Austin, Texas. I think the highlight of the weekend was watching my friends Rathi and Alex pull stunts tubing behind the speed boat. I then spent the night with Megan and got to see the vet clinic she is interning at in San Marcus, Texas. (Thanks for all your hospitality Megan! You are such a wonderful friend.) To close this post, I have to describe the house/apartment her boy friend shares with another Texan male. We walk in, and it smells like air freshner and freshly baked cookies. Ok, good. Not smelly boys, this is good. There is a nice little living room with couches and an entertainment system. Ok, pretty normal, until you notice that above the TV is a huge Lone Star Beer sign with an armadillo in the center that has a texas flag for a shell. Oh, and there are four deer heads mounted on the four walls around the room. I'm glad these deer have each other because it was quiet when everyone was at work.