There's a Fine Line.......

.....between pride and arrogance. The state of Texas and its fine people toe that line on a daily basis.....and I LOVE THAT! I absolutely love the fierce pride that Texans exhibit!

I am from the great state of Minnesota and in my opinion it is a fantastic state and I am VERY proud to be a born-and-raised Minnesotan (OOOOOH YAH, YOU BETCHA!). It has beautiful lakes, trees, farmland, rivers (the Mississippi begins there!), as well as all of the glitz of the city in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

I'm happy that I grew up in such a fabulous place and right now it's rated as one of the 15 Coolest Cities in North America (http://travel.msn.com//Guides/MSNTravelSlideShow.aspx?cp-documentid=843006&imageindex=1).

However, as much as I love Minneapolis, I feel that I don't belong there anymore (at least for now) - I have had the urge to forge a new path and take the road less traveled for some time......and now I found TEXAS!

For the first time in YEARS, I feel like I belong exactly where I'm standing.....and man, does it ever feel good. I have loved Texas for a long time now and there has been some sort of gravitational pull to get me here. Ever since I arrived, I have felt the need to experience all-things-Texas. It all amuses, fascinates and intrigues me and other people just seem to look at me and laugh. I DON'T CARE ONE BIT! Maybe that's one of the rewards of entering into my thirties - I'm starting to not give a crap what people think! I followed my heart and nothing else - and it is SOOOO liberating, I can't even tell you! To be quite honest, I was terrified to take on this monumental task of moving down here, buying a new house, finding new friends, starting a new job, etc., but in my heart I knew there was no other choice.

With all of that said, I am posting an email that I got from Mayce last summer about the great state of Texas (with her additional commentary in RED):

TEXAS

Have you ever looked at a map of the world? Look at Texas with me just for a second. That picture, with the Panhandle and the Gulf Coast , and the Red River and the Rio Grande is as much a part of you as anything ever will be. As soon as anyone anywhere in the world looks at it they know what it is. It's Texas ! Pick any kid off the street in Japan and draw him a picture of Texas in the dirt and he'll know what it is. What happens if I show you a picture of any other state? You might get it maybe after a second or two, but who else would? And even if you do, does it ever stir any feelings in you?

In every man, woman and child on this planet, there is a person who wishes just once he could be a real live Texan and get up on a horse or ride off in a pickup. There is a little bit of Texas in everyone.

Did you ever hear anyone go, 'Wow...so you're from Iowa? Cool, tell me about it!'

Texas is the Alamo . Texas is 183 men standing in a church, facing thousands of Mexican nationals, fighting for freedom, who had the chance to walk out and save themselves, but stayed instead to fight and die for the cause of freedom. This is true. The guys at the Alamo had time to leave, but the location of the mission was strategic to the war for Independence from Mexico so the men (and 1 woman and her son) decided to stay and see if they could wait it out until help arrived. It didn't arrive in time.

We send our kids to schools named William B. Travis and James Bowie and Crockett, and do you know why? Because those men saw a line in the sand and they decided to cross it and be heroes.

John Wayne paid to do the movie himself. That is the Spirit of Texas.

Texas is Sam Houston capturing Santa Anna at San Jacinto . The battle of San Jacinto was were "The Yellow Rose of Texas" got famous. She was actually a person, not a flower. Cool story.

Texas is huge forests of Piney Woods like the Davy Crockett National Forest.

Texas is breathtaking mountains in the Big Bend. Big Bend is far West Texas and in the freakin desert. Kinda makes me want to shoot myself!!

Texas is the unparalleled beauty of bluebonnet fields in the Texas Hill Country.

Texas is the beautiful, warm beaches of the Gulf Coast of South Texas .

Texas is the shiny skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas.

Texas is world record bass from places like Lake Fork .

Texas is Mexican food like nowhere else, not even Mexico .

Texas is the Fort Worth Stockyards, Bass Hall, the Ballpark in Arlington and the Astrodome. (guess now the Reliant Stadium, too)

Texas is larger-than-life legends like Stephen F. Austin, Jim Bowie, Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Juan Seguin, William Travis, George Washington Walser, Lloyd Bentson, John Connally, Dwight Eisehower, Lyndon Johnson, Ladybird Johnson, Selena, Michael DeBakey, Denton Cooley, The Greatest Country Singer EVER; Willie Nelson, Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys, Ernest Tubb, Tex Ritter, Mac Davis, Pat Green, Kenny Rogers, Jim Reeves, Buddy Holly, Gene Autry, Audie Murphy, James Earl Rudder, Tommy Lee Jones, Waylon Jennings, Janis Joplin, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Landry, Darrell Royal, Brooke Burns, Jerry Hall, Anna Nichole Smith, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Tex Avery, Dan "Hoss" Blocker, Powers Boothe, Gary Busey, Kate Capshaw, Ricardo Chavirra, Joan Crawford, Sandy Duncan, Farrah Fawcett, Jacklyn Smith, Morgan Fairchild, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Larry Hagman, Woody Harrelson, Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Mike Judge, Dennis Quaid, Randy Quaid, Gene Roddenberry, Michelle Rodriguez, Sissy Spacek, Aaron Spelling, Matt Stone, Rip Torn, Forest Whitaker, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Jessica Simpson, Carol Burnett, Rodney Carrington, Jade Esteban Estrada, Bill Engvall, Steve Martin, Ron White, ZZ Top, Joe King Carrasco, J.P. Richardson-The Big Bopper, Don Henley, Eric Dickerson, Earl Campbell, Nolan Ryan, Sam Rayburn, Howard Hughes, George H. W.Bush, Lyndon B. Johnson, and George W. Bush, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Fabulous Thundrbirds, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Big Mama Thornton, Barry White, David Allen Coe, Steve Earle, Kinky Friedman, Leadbelly, T-Bone Walker, Joe Ely, Merle Haggard, Los Lonely Boys, Billy Joe Shaver, Red Steagall, Thriftstore Cowboys, Asleep at the Wheel, Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker, Rusty Wier, Freddy Fender, Omar and the Howlers, Billy Rawlett, Red Steagall, Butthole Surfers, Chamillionaire, Paul Wall, Scarface, George Strait, Drowning Pool, King's X, Damageplan, Ninth Kingdom, Hammer Whore, Bloodrock, Meatloaf, Roy Orbison, The Toadies, Bowling for Soup, Neverdead, Determination, Chamber of Pain, Hellyeah, and the greatest Heavy Metal Band of all time PANTERA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Texas is great companies like Dell Computer, Texas Instruments and Compaq, Bell Helicopter And LOCKHEED MARTIN AEROSPACE, Home of the F-16 Jet Fighter and the JSF Fighter.

Texas is NASA.

Texas is huge herds of cattle and miles of crops.

Texas is home to the most amazing sunsets of gold over an empty field.

Texans have pride like no others.

Texas is hundreds of deer running around neighborhoods and fields.

Texas is skies blackened with doves, and fields full of deer.

Texas is a place where towns and cities shut down to watch the local high school football game on Friday nights and for the Cowboys on Monday Night Football, and for a Night In Old San Antonio & the River Parade in San Antonio.

To drive across Texas is to drive 1/4 the way across the United States.

Texas is ocean beaches, deserts, lakes and rivers, mountains and prairies, and modern cities.

If it isn't in Texas , you probably don't need it.

Everything's bigger in Texas! No one does anything bigger or better than it's done in Texas.

By federal law, Texas is the only state in the U.S. that can fly its flag at the same height as the U.S. flag. Think about that for a second. You fly the Stars and Stripes at 20 feet in Maryland , California, or Maine, and your state flag, whatever it is, goes at 17 feet. You fly the Stars and Stripes in front of Klein Oak High or anyplace else at 20 feet, the Lone Star flies at the same height - 20 feet. Do you know why? Because it is the only state that was a Republic before it became a state.

Also, being a Texan is as high as being an American down here. Our capitol is the only one in the country that is taller than the capitol building in Washington , D.C. and we can divide our state into five states at any time if we wanted to! We included these things as part of the deal when we came on. That's the best part, right there. This is also true and not many people know it. Texas is allowed at any time that the states sees fit (by vote) to divide up into, at the most, five different states. That's why when you hear us talk and refer to South Texas, West Texas, East Texas, Central Texas and North Texas they all seem to take on a life of their own and often you'll see them capitalized (like I just did) it's because they are all separate regions and can become a state of their own if the vote were to go that way. The only time this has come up though was in the 70's and 80's when the oil boom hit big and West Texas got cocky. They decided they wanted to be a state of their own, then the oil crash hit and all-of-a-sudden that just didn't sound like such a good idea!

Texas even has its own power grid!! ... Did I mention that Texas is the Live music capitol of the world?

Never ask someone of they are from Texas...if they aren't, there is no need to embarrass them.

And for those people that live in Texas but were not born here, don't hold that against them.
They got here as fast as they could, and some of them even died to get here.