With apologies to all of my friends in all the OTHER fine places I’ve lived …
I grew up in Arkansas and always wondered, “What’s so special about Texas?” Let’s face it, Texas and their Southwest Conference referees were constantly kicking our butts in football, so I had every reason to NOT like the Lone Star State. 
We’ve since moved all over the country with my career, which finally brought us here 12 years ago. Now, after more than a decade as a Texas Transplant (and as someone who now hopes to spend the rest of my life here), I finally get it.
It’s not TexAS, that’s necessarily so great (though it IS a neat place). It’s TexANS that make living here so special.
Don’t get me wrong; we’ve met some great people wherever we’ve lived, even in the Washington, DC, area (believe it, or not). But I don’t think I’ve ever lived anywhere that SO MANY people are SO WILLING to help just about ANYONE at the drop of a hat.
Example: Our neighborhood of about 100 homes has a Facebook group. Wednesday, in the middle of the day, someone posted asking for decongestant and acetaminophen. They needed it for their grandmother, who’s staying with them while she recovers from COVID and because her power is out.
No exaggeration, withing minutes there were dozens of responses to that post ranging from, “Got it, when can I bring it to you,” to “I don’t have any, but I have all-wheel drive and I’ll go get you whatever you need.”
People are just DIFFERENT here … and different in a GOOD way, not different in an, “Oh, Lord are we going to be able to sell this house when we want to move,” way.
We’ve lived at seven different addresses since 1994. No disrespect intended to anyone in any of those other places, but this is the first place I’ve ever referred to as “home,” since we left the town where I grew up. We love our church, our home, our daughter’s school, our neighborhood, our city, our county and – yes – we love our Texas!
So, today, when I heard that a Washington Post columnist had written an editorial bashing Texas over our power grid issues, and that she derisively entitled it, “It’s time for the myth of Texas exceptionalism to end,” I immediately thought to myself …
“Well, bless her heart.”
Thank God, we finally made it to Texas … we got here as fast as we could!
#GodBlessTexas #DontMessWithTexas #TexasTransplant