I'm just reaching for the sun.....hoping to flourish there

I glanced at my plant that I have sitting by the window the other day, noticing that it's reaching for the sun. I turn it around periodically to watch it do the same thing, start leaning towards the light.

It flourishes where it's sitting.

So, as I've mentioned a few times, big changes are ahead. And this, coming from the person who rarely embraced change previously, is monumental. It feels that way to me, a time of courage, and faith.

I'm going to try the 'living by the Gulf ' life for a while, and see if that suits me. And I think this love letter to the Lone Star State has been writing itself in my mind for months now.

North Texas has been good to me. When I moved here from Missouri almost twenty-two years ago, I was homesick before I pulled out of my drive-way. There were many trips made back home those first few years. But deep down I knew that eventually, while I will always call Missouri my home state, that Texas would start to feel like home.

I was correct.

I say y'all more than my local friends do, and yes, I know this isn't necessarily a "Texas only" thing, it's really a southern phrase, but I love it. Texas knows how to do things big and do them well, in all capacities. From barbeque to tex-mex to patios filled with friends holding margarita's, I could list so many things that I love about this great state that I live in, for a little bit longer but the clock is ticking down as I type this.

The weather is mostly mild, but global warming may change that up a bit. When I first moved here, the Summertime weather was especially brutal that first year but I honestly think it felt that way because I wasn't used to it. Triple digit temps combined with humidity that lasted for days on end with no break took a long time to embrace. The last few years haven't been that way, the summer has been milder and there were breaks in the extreme heat days. I certainly never minded warm sunny days in February. Fall, my favorite season, is beautiful here, I just don't see the  beautiful foliage until November, where I was used to seeing the Fall colors in September while growing up in Missouri.

There are so many things to do in the Dallas-FortWorth area, the 'metroplex' as it's called. But the most important part of what I will miss is the people. My friends, who are family to me. One best friend got me to Paris, France. I never dreamed I would be able to do this, and the memories made there are cherished and easily remembered, and will be for a lifetime. Oh the stories! I'm chuckling as I think about the shenanigans and happenings. The friend(s) that you travel well with are the keepers in life, believe me. We've cruised the Caribbean, ziplined over a Jamaican jungle (where I had to be rescued not once, but twice), got too much sun in Cancun, huddled around a fire near our rented cabin in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, rode the underground in the UK "please mind the gap between the train and the platform", and climbed all 270 steps at Sacre Coeur. Lest I not forget the Folly Beach Pier and that beautiful Charleston, SC weather (and I remember you Citadel!). Honestly this page isn't large enough to write all of the stories with their often hilarious details, but my mind and heart are large enough to store the memories. I'll carry them with me wherever I go.

I think when you are the new kid on the block, it can be difficult sometimes to get to know people and become comfortable with them, developing friendships that could last a lifetime. I consider it a folding in, it's how I think of the way it was when my tribe here formed. We all just enjoyed each other and conversation, folding ourselves in to a fabulous group of fun seekers and all around great human beings. I have always been grateful for them, and I will miss not being able to jump in the car and meet for a movie or whatever might be happening, at a moments notice.

To the Lone Star State: you are one of a kind. Thank you for the hospitality, the outstanding food and drink, the way of showing love through helping-thy-neighbor. I will not forget you and I will visit of course.

To my friends: to say I'm going to miss you is a grand understatement, and to say good-bye will never be what I choose.

It's "I'll be seeing you".......because you better come and see about this seashell-filled life I'm heading toward.

Written with love, thank you for indulging me dear friend(s).

See you soon Anna Maria Island, you see, I'm just reaching for the sun.....hoping to flourish there.

Tiffany