Hello friends 😊 I'm back from a bit of a blogging break and so blessed that some of you sent me messages asking where I was or why the blog wasn't available. Thank you!
David and I are enjoying the last week together before he starts his new job. We also just returned from a trip to South Texas to visit family.
As we were driving home (5 hour drive), I took some pictures of the landscape that represents so much of my childhood and years after.
South Texas (but not the very south), between Houston and Corpus, is full of Mesquite trees, cotton, corn fields and ranches. The cattle are plentiful, as are the cactus, and as I like to say...all manner of things that want to kill you (bugs and plants). As you leave Houston, going south, you can see the landscape start to change from piney woods to the hard terrain of brush and grass.
As I snapped these pictures through the window of the car, I thought about my dad and how he would describe all the cows to me, as we drove together in his truck when I was young. Thinking back, I know I asked the same questions over and over and he always answered and never made me feel like I was a bother.
I remember him explaining what to do if we ever got caught in a tornado, what the red balls were on the power lines, and what radio towers were.
Trucks full of cotton would pass by and I was fascinated by them for some reason. I wanted to know where they were going with all the fluff balls of cotton in the back.
These were the roads my brother and I would take as teenagers, as we would drive down on weekends to see my dad and stepmom.
They're also the roads my husband traveled when we first started dating and lived 5 hours away from one another.
This weekend, while visiting my mom, we talked about her childhood here and what it was like growing up in a little compound called Plymouth Camp. It was the best childhood ever, as she always says. All the families worked for the same company, Plymouth Oil Company, and lived in a small community together. This was where my mom and aunt made lifelong friends. It's where my mom rode her horse after school each day and went swimming in the summer.
If you turn down Hill Road in Sinton, Texas, you'll find acres of land where my dad's family once lived. The old white house my grandparents built is still there. It's weathered and worn, with paint chipping off. The fence is starting to fall apart and from the looks of it, no one is tending to its needs.
As we stopped out front to take a look at the old house, I pointed out the big oak tree where there once was a tree "house" (more like a platform of wood) we used to climb up in.
I noticed the ramp that was built for my dad when he was really sick, is gone now. I don't blame them for taking it down. I would have too.
My dad's prized goats are no longer waiting at the fence and my stepmom's clothesline is not full of towels and sheets blowing in the breeze. Things definitely change, as time moves on.
South Texas is a place that holds so many memories and every time I go, all those memories come back, with each landmark I see. The dime store, the Steakhouse, Freddy's, the hospital where I was born, right on the main street through town. The store on the corner, where I got my first tricycle. The building where my youngest sister had her wedding reception. My parent's old high school.
As I get older, so does the town. It's looking a little worn these days. I suppose I do too.
There might come a day when we no longer travel these roads and I will miss all of this. But for now, I'll hold on to the memories I gather each time we go. They always feel like coming home.
🏡
Now we're back to our tall, tall pine trees, rice fields, and a landscape that's a little less harsh than South Texas. Here is the place where my memories have lived for 35 years now and where we are building our little family heritage. It's a place that also holds all the feelings of coming home.
And that's a good feeling - wherever the roads lead.
Again, thanks for checking on me while I was gone 😊
Until Next Time...
Blessings!
