A Love Note to Texas

by Taylor M. Vogel

I never thought I would live in Texas. But I moved here in the middle of a pandemic.

I grew up cheering for my parents' alma mater, the University of Oklahoma, in all things college sports, and that experience doesn't exactly make Texas a favored word in my childhood. The two rivals have all kinds of chants about how much we hate each other, and while I never participated in those--ah, the quiet little artist soul I used to be--I didn't come to this border state of my childhood home until I was in my late teens. Even then, I was just south of the Red River for some back to school outlet shopping and then right back up to OKC.

The first time I drove through Dallas I nearly had a heart attack at all of the traffic. People who visited me in Denver complained about the traffic, but it has nothing on Dallas traffic. My brother and his wife lived in Dallas briefly, and of the two times I came to visit, I spent one of them getting into a minor car accident. Texas's saving grace, in my opinion, was its arts scene, which was robust and well-funded. I didn't even have to pay anything other than a donation to take my big niece to the Dallas Museum of Art, and that rocked my world a little bit. 

But in this little home tucked away in Fort Worth, I've been so happy to find a walkable neighborhood, access to some incredible huge antique malls, a cozy and thriving town, and people who won't mock me if I put on my cowboy boots. It could be the pandemic, but I've felt at home since moving here on the hottest day of last year, only a few hours' drive from my closest friends, and speedy access to international flights at my fingertips at DFW. I've been slowly introducing myself to the museums and I already have a membership to the Botanic Gardens. I can say "y'all" without side eye, because IT IS SO VERY PRACTICAL TO SAY. 

And even though we've been in the news a lot this month--you know, high Covid rates, freak ice storms, and senators that jet to warmer locations when the going is tough--I've found it to be a pretty quiet and cozy place to stop and rest.

So cue the fiddles and open the stockyards gates, because I've somehow found myself happy to be in Texas right now. Ask me again in the heat of summer.

Are you somewhere you didn't expect to be? I would love to read about it in the comments below.