We\u2019ve now been in Texas for close to two months.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t as lonely as I feared it would be, and I haven\u2019t found my people yet.*\u00a0 (It\u2019s the one thing I miss about Oklahoma\u2026.my people.)\u00a0 What I have discovered is a wonderfully non-judgmental attitude from the people we meet.<\/p>\n
In Oklahoma City, I got used to the little comments on our family\u2019s size. Some of the comments were innocuous, \u201cYou\u2019ve got your hands full there\u201d, while others were shockingly unkind, \u201cIt\u2019s because of your irresponsible breeding habits that the world is overpopulated.\u201d Nobody in Wylie, Texas seems to give a good gosh darn how many people live in our house or how they all got here.<\/p>\n
Everyone we\u2019ve met, from the checkout girl at the grocery to the single woman who lives across the street, seems to think that it\u2019s our business and that if we\u2019re happy then why should they mind?<\/p>\n
For the first time in years, I take all my children to the grocery store at the same time and don\u2019t worry about the response we\u2019ll get.\u00a0 Folks just smile at my crowd of followers and a couple elderly gentlemen have come over to shake my hand.\u00a0 The first time I brought them all with me to pick up milk, I prepped them in the car \u201cWe\u2019re just getting milk.\u00a0 It\u2019s in and out.\u00a0 You\u2019d better all behave.\u201d\u00a0 (I don\u2019t really know what would have happened if they hadn\u2019t behaved, but I felt like they might need a warning.)\u00a0 Yesterday, I caught myself at the end of the food run and realized that I had 6 children with me (including #7 in that count) and I\u2019d been completely relaxed the entire time.<\/p>\n
Texas isn\u2019t the place of my birth, but I grew up here.\u00a0 Somehow in the years up north I\u2019d forgotten that Texans mind their own business and take folks at face value.\u00a0 It is the way I was raised, and I\u2019ve missed it.\u00a0 There is something welcoming and downright friendly about people who don\u2019t even think to presume to tell you how to live.\u00a0 Are you happy?\u00a0 That\u2019s all that counts, and that\u2019s exactly as it should be.<\/p>\n
The bad news is that it\u2019s not home yet.\u00a0 The good news is that it will be.<\/p>\n
*Except for my neighbor C. who reads my blog and needs to come over so we can go get chai lattes and shop for frog bracelets.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We\u2019ve now been in Texas for close to two months.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t as lonely as I feared it would be, and I haven\u2019t found my people yet.*\u00a0 (It\u2019s the one thing I miss about Oklahoma\u2026.my people.)\u00a0 What I have discovered is a wonderfully non-judgmental attitude from the people we meet. In Oklahoma City, I got […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n