We are the Champions

A certain person wanted to know where I've been and it gave me an idea.  I should tell you about it.  Around town, my hometown, doing the things you do here.  Hanging with the family and going to community events.  For instance trying to get a pic of the boys for Christmas Cards. Now I just have to pick one.

I have a lot of family here, most of my aunts and uncles, both sets of grandparents and a plethora of cousins.  No really, if I liked a boy in school, I double checked we weren't related in some way.  My dad has 50 first cousins on one side!

My great-grandparents homesteaded here in the 1890's and while I never thought I would move back here it has a certain charm. There is comfort in that history.  People joke you cannot escape being from here.  I guess it is true, even when I didn't live here, when asked that is where I was from and it usually garnered a response. That town smells (we have a large refinery here.)  You guys have a good football team, or I stopped there once on our way to Carlsbad Caverns (the next town south), and it stinks there. 

If I said one thing this town for, it is undoubtedly football.  Have you ever seen that movie FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS?  It is bit like that.  In fact this past weekend we won our 26th state championship. Which at last count ranked us the 5th most winning high school football team in the nation. The mortar shells from the fireworks during the game going off sounded like we were being invaded.  They do it up big here. You must wear orange and black on game days.  No really I think you can get arrested, I have never tested it but it would seem to be the case. ; )  The town population is around 10,000 and there are around 12,000 people sometimes at a big rivalry football games.

Here's a video highlight for you, from when ESPN filmed one of our games earlier this year. (Sorry I don't know how to make it play on MSN yet) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCNGkT0JpwI

 

While I know at times growing up, I somewhat resented that all encompassing passion for football, it took moving away to appreciate the generosity and spirit of this town.  I never realized how much more support we had compared to other places.  While I recall feeling neglected as a girl athlete (compared to the boys), talking with other girls we had much nicer things than most other schools.  Same with the school newspaper, we had nicer equipment than the first college newspaper I worked on. The music department has a beautiful auditorium to hold plays and concerts.

While these are just things, there is just a great spirit of community. Whether your house catches fire and four volunteer fire units show up at your house, or you kid gets cancer and everyone gets their car washed to help your family out. I am not going to pretend we don't have problems because we do.

Then there are the simple acts of generosity, I found out this week my son is getting a new bike because the employees of the refinery are giving all 202 kids at Headstart a new bike for Christmas.  Wow.

Sometimes I miss the selection of restaurants, the big chain stores and stuff.  However, there are much some more precious commodities here. I rarely feel anomalous here, wether I know the people around me or not. Generosity, spirit, community,  it's not bad here where I am at.