On Being A "Part Texan"

Recently, my grandmother passed away at the ripe old age of 91, and my Mom and sister went to her funeral in Amarillo, Texas. What struck me upon their return was the way my Mom spoke so fondly of Texans, and their friendliness in particular. Her nostalgia got me to thinking about my days in Texas and my recollections of Texans.

My memories of Texas are far different than my Mom's. She was born in Amarillo and spent much of her childhood there. I went to college in Waco, graduating from Baylor in 1989. Her world was west Texas, mine was central Texas. But even though those two towns are worlds apart, my guess is that our impressions of Texans are quite similar.

My biggest impression of Texans is that they are a very proud people. I remember the prevailing thinking of the Shawnee Mission South students from my high school days being "I can't wait to get out of here and get out of Kansas." Yet the Texans I knew did not want to leave Texas. They were proud of their state, and their heritage and they wanted to stay. Of course Texans are not perfect. They talk funny. For instance, they use the word "Y'all" a lot. In Texas, the word "fixin" means preparing, not repairing. For example, they would say they were "fixin" to go to dinner. I would start thinking "what's wrong with the dinner?" and how they would go about fixing it. Finally, the one natural resource that is most responsible for the wealth in Texas is oil (pronounced oy-ul). Yet Texans simply don't know how to pronounce it. They say "ul". You'd think they would know how to pronounce the name of the resource that is responsible for so much of the state's wealth! But my funniest memory is the time my Dad was introduced to the mother of my good friend, Chris Pattillo. She introduced herself by saying "Hi, I'm Janet Pattillo," in the thickest east Texas accent I've ever heard. My Dad didn't understand a word she said! I had to finally tell him what her name was. Clearly, my Dad was out of his element.

Of course my biggest memory from Texas was meeting my wife. That made all the lonely days away from home worthwhile. I also made some good friendships for which I am thankful. Other memories of Texas include kicker dancing, chicken fried steak, cowboy boots, and a religion known as high school football. To this day, I consider the Baylor campus my second home. This really hit me on a Spring Break trip in 2007, when I took my boys to the campus. I was so happy that the core of the campus was largely the same as I remember it. About the only thing that had changed is that the "rocket launcher" sculpture had been taken out. Pat Neff Hall looked as majestic as ever. I took a walk through the Hamkamer School of Business (Hamkamer High to non-business types).

No particular point to this except I'm waxing nostalgic about my past, an exercise we all do from time to time. I know that Kansas City is my home, but I also know that my time in Texas is a big part of who I am and I am thankful for that time in my life. I am a Kansan and I'm proud of that. In a way, I am also at least part Texan and proud of that as well.