It occurred to me as of late that I hadn't written in my free section in a while and vow to do so more often now.
When Joel first accepted the job in Waco I knew it would just be a matter of time before we would move beings the commute alone was 2 hours both ways for him. I had always had mixed feelings and divided opinions about small towns particularly small towns in Texas.
Growing up in the 80s and 90s most of my experiences with small towns consisted of visiting relatives on rare occasions in El Campo and Gonzales. I never really liked either although to be fair I don't remember much about Gonzoles to say. El Campo to me was always a culture shock. They don't lock their doors there. Fast food is limited. The movie theater shows only about 2 movies at a time. Shopping malls were 30 minutes away. The nightlife was at the local bar, date nights were at restaurants or bowling alleys. Everyone went to the high school ball games and church on Sunday. Why would they want to live there? I thought.
Consequentially I always felt out of place. I never wore the “right thing”. The girls there always dressed in cowboy boots with any type of skirt (or straight-legged jeans or khaki slacks) and tops that were plain and conservative. Everyone listened to country music and loved that aesthetic. None of that was very “me” and my cousins always looked at my bell bottoms and rock band shirts in an unapproving and snobbish way. I was, for sure, a “city kid”.
I’ve always carried that with me and only began letting it go after living a few years in Corsicana. Maybe when you are adults you grow out of that or maybe it was just my relatives. Whatever the case, whenever I do go to a small town I still get that knee-jerk reaction to brace myself for scrutiny.
Over the past few weeks, I have run the gambit of movies and tv shows with new people in town tropes: Beverly Hills 90210, My Cousin Vinny, Doc Hollywood, Son In Law. Of all of them I have to say I most relate to Pauly Shore’s Crawl in Son In Law. We have similar styles, not only in dressing, but position.
As we began looking for houses in Waco and promptly made the decision to look at smaller towns close by and finally found a great home in MacGregor. For someone without a car right now it’s perfect because everything is within walking distance (and I do mean everything). I was also delighted to find out that we would have a backyard that is fenced my son could play in and leave some of his riding cars and tricycle where we wouldn’t trip over them in the middle of the night.
When my best friend asked me if I was getting nervous I had a reality check. I had to watch Son-In-Law one more time. And after watching it I came to an epiphany : there actually is meaning in a Pauly Shore movie. Yes, there may be some Theo-type characters (or Travis-types) that might try to throw obstacles in my way for their own enjoyment but in the long run as they get to know me they will see past the exterior and see me for who I truly am. In the meantime just try to mingle as much as you can.
Hi. I subscribed to your Substack after a search on the word "fanfic." I'm pretty new here, but I'm a book reviewer, too, and I like the "look" of your page. I'm trying to figure out how to change up my own. Anyway, thanks for this little slice of your life. It's good to "meet" you.