The bleak, flat landscape is plum against the twinkling, pastel sky. The horizon seems boundless, eternal paralleling the soft hues of the sky above it. The stars peak out of their hiding places, as the gentle hazy shades turn into rich, vibrant, florid pigments. The blush turns to magenta, the magenta fuses to deep indigo, and the stars begin to clearly disperse across the deep, psychedelic sky. The only thing obstructing the dome of the chromatic heavens above me is the occasional plateau, or intermittent small mountain, looming over the road, silent, sporadic statues. The land is empty, quiet, still.
Traveling through this place, this place so familiar yet unforgiving to many creates a feeling within each one of us. We are traveling through the land of shadows. We can see them, but we cant hear them, but most of all, we know that they are there.
It is the souls of Texas, deeply rooted in the vast stretches of the somber earth of this wonderful region of the southwest. Texas. It's history, it's people, its identity are so deeply embedded in the acreage that these ideals have become a part of the land.
Texas. It is its own idea, its own character. Unmistakable, lovable,boisterous, rough. This Texas, I am in love with.
I love its infinite, enduring landscape, I love the history that comes with it, and what I really love and what made me realize how much I love Texas in its own way, was its dreary Texas skies.
A few weeks ago I took a trip to Central Texas, and as I had obstinately been set on how much I did not want to go or move to the Hill Country, I ended up doing a complete 180 once I got there. It was as if as much effort I had put into digging my heels into the ground about hating it, I ended up being filled with that much love for it. We stayed with my dad who had currently been living in Round Rock ( a town outside of Austin) in an old refurbished farm house. I remember one night, as I was walking from my dad's apartment to the farmhouse I stopped and dazzled for a moment at my surroundings. I saw the grasslands that surrounded the farm, painted an aqua tint by the moon above it. I looked up and smiled. The sky was painted a royal blue, splattered with bright bursts of stars, and the glorious ivory moon, illuminating everything in its vicinity for miles.
I was immobilized for a moment, lost in the vast beauty of the land of Texas.
It is moments like those that make me appreciate Texas. It's moments like those that make it possible for me to even love the rough around the edges people that come from here. It is moments like those that make my heart well up with joy so much that I can even bear the most po-dunk redneck people that can and do come out of the woodwork once and a while.
Texas translates into Tejas which when first was named, meant friend.
That particular idea, I believe, that without people realizing it, has defined Texas. Texas is warm, and large, and even back in its prime was one of the most inviting places simply for its climate and agriculture. It's no coincidence that it's people can fit the same description. Texans, for the most part, are warm, and inviting. We know how to have a good time, and we always have room for more.
It's this spirit, this cordial air about Texas that really is what makes me so endeared to it.
I love, I adore, Texas. Texas, is also unique. It's history is different from every other state. It's land is so different from any other state. Texas, my Texas is a character. It is its own person, unique in so many different ways, and proud for every part of it.
To live and be a part of Texas, is an honor. It is the best state in the best country, and I am so proud to be able to call myself a part of this state. Texas, my Texas. This is my ode to you. I love your land, your people, your personality. I love your desert, I love your grasslands, I love your hill country, I love you. I love your history. I love that we were a part of the land of cowboys, and saloons. I love that we made what is Western today. Your particular, your unique, your one of a kind, and I would not have it any other way.
So many people have traveled that road. Those long stretches of highways never seeming to cease, with it's bleak land enveloping you, trapping you. When I travel those roads, I simply look up at those dreary Texas skies hanging above me, sprawling its colorful blanket over it's land and thank God that I live in the best state on Earth. Texas.
Love, your proud Texan, Shelby.
