Texas Lou

Archive for the ‘Texas’ Category

This is a cheap little souvenir I bought myself at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin back in December.  Even though it’s just a coffee mug, I think it might be one of my favorite pieces of Texas memorabilia, not just because I love the quote, but because it reminds me of a wonderful weekend trip that I spent with friends and family in the lonestar state.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!

Whenever I’m driving down the road and happen to see a vehicle pass me with a Texas license plate, something inside me jumps for joy.  It’s like that feeling I used to get when my high school crush would call and I would see his name on the caller id before picking up the phone.  A tiny bit of excitement takes over my heart because I know that the person in that vehicle has something wonderful in common with me!

So it is somewhat rare to see a Texas license plate in Virginia which is why I react this way.  However, when I travel to Texas and my mom picks me up from the airport, the first few cars that I see trigger this feeling inside of me.  And then I realize how silly I am because I’m back in Texas and seeing a Texas license plate IN Texas is no big deal!  But then I smile because I’m in Texas!

I know it’s random, but nothing feels like home, quite like Texas does.

I hate saying goodbye.  I always get so sad when I have to leave my family to go back to Virginia and spending lots of time alone in the airport and on the airplane doesn’t make it any better.

The only thing that keeps me from losing it completely is knowing that I’m headed home to the people I love in Virginia and thinking about getting to see Ben and our kittens.  It also helps to know when I’ll be back in Texas to have that to look forward to.

I returned home safely from Texas after a very nice long weekend with friends and family.   Despite a large number of deer midnight-grazing along I-64 on my ride home from the airport and already desperately missing my family, I made it home in one piece, both mentally and physically!

I can’t wait for the month of November to pass by so I get to see everyone again in the lone star state for my little brother’s college graduation in Austin.  And this time I get to bring Ben with me so the airport waiting and plane traveling won’t be so lonely!

Top Ten Things from This Weekend’s Trip To Texas

1. The look on my dad’s face when I surprised him by showing up for his 60th birthday party
2. Spending Friday evening drinking wine and enjoying the company of all of my siblings – Carrie, Mikey, Farris, Christian, and Bradley
3. Eating great long-overdue Mexican food with the fam
4. Getting Starbucks and kolaches with mom for breakfast Saturday morning
5. Playing Farmville with mom
6. Watching the Longhorns play while helping mom cook for a friend’s wedding
7. Having time to catch up on some good TV
8. Getting to drink St. Arnold’s Oktoberfest and Christmas Ale
9. Also having the time to start reading a really good book (so far)
10. Just being home

And it’s only Saturday morning so there’s plenty more fun to be had!

On occasion, I like to share with a random stranger, like the blackjack dealer at my table in Vegas, that when I give birth to my future children, assuming I’m still living outside of Texas, I’ll place a shoebox full of Texas dirt underneath the hospital bed so that I can say my children were born on Texas soil.  People usually laugh and think I’m kidding or drunk, but I’m totally serious.

Of course I can’t take credit for this idea myself.  I have Wikipedia and the father of Colt McCoy, the quarterback for the Texas Longhorns, to thank for this BRILLIANT idea!  According to Wikipedia and several other online sources,

 “McCoy’s parents were from Texas, but his father, Brad McCoy, was working just across the Texas border in Hobbs, New Mexico at the time of Colt’s birth. Brad McCoy reportedly brought a shoe-box of Texas dirt to the hospital and slid it under the bed so that Colt could be born “over Texas soil”. The story may or may not be true, as his father has chosen to “plead the fifth” when asked to confirm it.“

If you’re out there reading, Brad McCoy, I just want to say THANK YOU for this AWESOME idea!  I’m totally doing it!  As a matter of fact, I can’t wait to have kids, just so I can prove to everyone that I am actually going to go through with this!  It’s a helluvalot cheaper than flying to Texas to give birth.

I also plan on naming my first son Dallas.  Dallas Davidson has a nice ring to it, don’t ya think?

Texas Lou. It’s one nickname of many: Sissy, Les, Shorty, Junebug, Murloc Princess, Jane You Igorant Slut, Midget in a Bikini. The list goes on and on. But why TexasLou.com and not MidgetInABikini.com you ask? Well for one thing, Midget in a Bikini was never one of my favorite nicknames. I mean, seriously, I’m not a midget, and while I may be just 2 inches short of the legal maximum height to qualify as a midget (and I’m pretty sure they prefer the name “Little People” these days), I don’t even wear bikinis. But now I’m just going off on a tangent.

Texas Lou is a nickname very near and dear to my heart. You’re not really officially a part of the family in my clan unless you have a nickname. Why? Perhaps because calling someone by their real name is too boring…my family tends to crave excitment and humor. Regardless of the reason for all the nickname madness, it’s a tradition that has carried on for many decades now. My mother is Vote. My sister is Cat-Cat. My uncles are both referred to as Bruver or a collective “Tuba Brothers”. My aunt’s nickname, given to her by a former elementary student of hers, is Tiny derived from the originial “Tiny Head”. My boyfriend of more than three years, who shall be referred to as Ben from here on out (not because that is his nickname but because he is legally named Ben), was given his first nickname by the family this past July on a family vacation on a Texas beach. My mom and uncle named him Steve Irwin, after the late, great Crocodile Hunter, because through his fishing obsession, he caught what was first believed to be a Sting Ray but later proved to be a Skate.

“Texas” from the Indian word “teyshas” (meaning “friends” or “allies”), and later named “Tejas” by the Spanish, is my home. Born and raised in this great state, I have come to find it as one of the most important definitions of who I am. I am Texan, and even though I now live in Virginia and have been an official resident of the Commonwealth for 4 years now, I will always be Texan. It is who I am and where I came from. “Lou” is short for “Leslie Lou” or “Leslie Lou Go Tie Your Shoe”, two nicknames given to me by my family at a very young age. On a trip home to visit the family, not too long after my dreaded move to Virginia(dreaded at the time but no longer dreaded), my uncle and cousin began to call me “Virginia Lou”. I answered back in protest, deeply afraid of forming any kind of roots in Virginia, “I’m not Virginia Lou. I’m Texas Lou!” And there you have it, the complicated origins of my nickname and this blog.