"Dude, I hear that Austin is where all the liberals are in TX," remarked my dear friend.
"Yea, if I HAD to live in TX, I would absolutely live around Austin," I replied.
At the time, my plan to attend graduate school in TX was nonexistent. Life is funny.
In exactly one month, Blake and I will leave from Austin, TX on a jet plane to Minneapolis, MN. I am giddy and excited, like a child on a holiday. I am imaging the reunion with the people I left behind. The idea of my brother and Nancy standing at the altar, reciting their vows, seems surreal and magical. I just can't wait.
Blake and I decided to stay in San Marcos for Christmas. It makes me sad, but I am looking forward to beginning new traditions, here, deep in the heart of Texas, with Blake and our family of assorted vertebrates.
Yesterday evening, on my journey to the HEB, a train forced the cars to wait.
"Ping, ping, ping, ping," screeches the train as the wheels roll along the rusty bronze tracks. Whenever I see a train, I think of my grandfather. He worked for Burlington Northern. My first experience of Texas was visiting my late grandparents in Fort Worth when I was a small child.
The reality that I reside in San Marcos, TX still feels like a dream. After nearly 3.5 months, it still does not seem real. The thought still amazes me. Not a day goes by that I do not ponder how fantastically crazy my life has become. Somehow, this move has brought me closer to my family members. I talked to my grandmother for over an hour on Saturday. We talked about Bill Maher, birds, black bears, top soil erosion, and politics. Seventy-four years old and she is as sharp and brilliant as ever.
I cannot wait for the moment when my fantasy of the reunion with my parents, brothers, and the rest of my family becomes a reality.
Oh, how far I have come! Dare I say it, I am happy.
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