I grew up in West Texas, where people decorated tumble weeds as Christmas trees! Honest!!
The town is called Andrews. It had 12,000 population, although that has fluctuated with all of the oil busts and booms! It is smack dab in the middle of the oil field, pump jacks pumping everywhere, oil derricks, and drilling. My Daddy was a Drilling Foreman for Texaco for 45 years! Can't imagine having the same job for that long!!! He was a depression baby; if you were lucky enough to have a job, you kept it! How easy we have it today.
A dear friend and teacher from Spain/ San Antonio told me she was going to a meeting out in West Texas. She was very excited to travel out there. She had been trying to teach me watercolor for years!!! That up hill battle still continues!!!!!
I told her beforehand that West Texas has a beauty of its own, apart from San Antonio!! After she returned she shook her head, and told me that there were no trees out there!!!!!!! !!! I laughed to myself as I had warned her!
But what West Texas lacks in beauty, is made up in what it possesses in people!!! Like I said, it was a great place to grow up into adulthood. (if your parents are lucky)
One of our claims to fame is that Max Lucado is from Andrews!!! He is one of the most prolific Christian authors, and fantastic preacher of God's word! He is a truly inspiring preacher and author. If you have not had the opportunity to listen to him or read any of his books, I encourage you to do so. He also has written fantastic Christian children's books.
We could not be more proud of Max!!!
I was fortunate to get to attend all twelve grades in Andrews. My husband's family was in the Airforce, and they moved a number of time which I can only imagine how difficult that can be on kids in school.
There was a group of us, including Max, in speech and debate. It was fun, but torture at the same time! The speech coach went to our tiny church, and it ended up that my mother basically forced me to take speech since I was so shy. Some people may find that hard to believe since I can tend to be a loud, blabber mouth now!! ha ha
Those were the good ole days as you see sadly described quite often. We did not lock our doors. Cars were sometimes parked in the garage, but you knew all of your neighbors. You borrowed a cup of sugar, an egg. We were all like extended family. Everyone around reached out if there was a need in a family. Kids rode bikes all over town until dark. We walked everywhere; but you might also hitch a ride with someone driving by, and think nothing of it. My friends and I walked to this lake nearby. We would spend hours climbing and hanging upside down on the monkey bars. No one fell on their heads, if I remember correctly! Or if we did, it knocked some sense into us!! We loved the merry go round the best! One person would push everyone as fast as they could; you might fly off, you might toss your cookies, but you would live to tell about it!! I would walk downtown by myself to Anthony's, TG&Y, and mainly Wackers! I would spend hours looking at all of the treasures in Wackers, Of course, I did not hardly ever have any money! I will not mention about prices, since that is a dead give away that not only have I turned into my Mother, but also into my Father!!!! Ha
I have been able to go to all of our class reunions. We are coming up in a few years on our 50th!!!!!
It is wonderful attending all of the reunions and seeing all of our classmates, as well as other students.
It is amazing how hard certain people work to make sure that these reunions are well run. I talk to people frequently that have never been back to their high school reunions, either because the school was huge, they live too far, or they moved around a lot as a kid.
But the most absolute amazing blessing is that our class has a face book group. It is run by one of our amazing ladies! I do not know how she has the time to mess with it!! I will say that there are approximately 50+ members. We share daily about our families, our blessings, our new grandbabies, birthdays, health issues, our grief and our losses. I often think now about all of the silly divisions that happen with kids, i.e. popularity. Now, we are all from different walks of life, yet we are all equal children of God. On days that I might feel down or am hurting a lot, reading these posts are such a blessing! It's just the little things many times that help me through a difficult day. It doesn't have to be big things!
Do you have things like these examples that lift your spirits if you are sad or hurting?
Sometimes, I think it helps to make a list of all of the blessings that are present in our lives. I am the world's worst at forgetting most of those blessings when I am feeling rotten.
I have to share one funny story with you, before I close this post. And of course, I am hurrying because I have another doctor appointment! Actually, I have 2 doctor appointments today! Are your days like that?! That is what we do, right?!
I saw the name of this guy on our class fb page, and I instantly remembered how wild that I thought he was back in high school! I remembered back that he would go to the "smoking pit" everyday at school! He rode a motor cycle, and carried the helmit around everywhere with him. Imagine, that!!!!! I would hear of some trouble he had been involved in, fighting ..... I would pass him in the halls and put my head down, and get as far away as possible! Anyway, I decided that I would share those past feelings of fear that I had felt about him! He thought that was so funny! And the real irony is that he is a very strong Christian, and constantly prays for other members in need. Thank goodness that time and maturity helps level the playing field.
I had such a happy childhood. I was so blessed beyond measure with two loving parents. When I was a therapist and clients would tell me of their horrible childhoods or atrocities that they had experienced, I would feel so guilty that my childhood was so normal and good.
Life is not always fair, right?
From Me to U!!
Have a wonderful weekend!!
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