We have been all over this summer since moving out of our house: Vancouver, Portland, various parts of Arizona, Vegas, and Pensacola. We decided to spend our last two weeks in the country with family, so this week we went down to Bay City to see my family.
Bay City is a classic small town that really meets most of the assumptions people have of small town life. You always run into someone you know. There is never anything to do. Everyone knows the latest gossip. Mole hills qualify as mountains. Everyone seems to think it is a great place to grow up, but no one wants to stay after they graduate. Then mysteriously half of us end up living there again as adults.
I loved seeing my family this week. My parents are so great, and I love spending time with them even if I have to go to Bay City to do it. We also got to see my sister for a few days, and my brother and his girlfriend came down yesterday. On Saturday, my parents hosted a barbecue and invited some of our close family friends to see us off before we leave for London.
Bay City was my home for about 20 years, so the strangest part of visiting there is how foreign it feels to me. In many ways it triggers happy childhood memories, but mostly it just reminds me of how different I am now and how Bay City hasn't changed (despite the new Chili's and Super Wal-Mart). It is so odd to know that in all our travels, I felt more comfortable in Vancouver than anywhere we went in the US. Don't get me wrong. I really enjoyed seeing our friends and family, but culturally, I felt like I had more in common with Canadians than with the people I grew up with. I better shut up now before my Texas citizenship gets revoked, but Texas does have one really good thing going for it... there are a lot of people here that we really love, and we are going to miss you all so much.
