Minnetexan?

On Friday in the teacher's lounge during lunch, my world was ROCKED!!! I had one of those stunningly obvious epiphanies that make me question how aware I am of my own life. I realized (I hope you're sitting down) that I have lived in Texas for 18 years. 18 YEARS!!! This is a shock because in my mind, I am from Minnesota. Ask me anything about Minnesota and I probably know the answer.... Yes, SPAM was developed in Minnesota and comes out of a factory in Austin, Minnesota which is in the southern portion of the state and NO, I do not eat it. The 10,000 Lakes of Minnesota were created during the last ice age when the glaciers roamed over the face of the earth and retreated into Canada leaving a fertile land perfect for pine forests and lakes, and yes there are over 10,000 lakes even when you count just the real lakes and not the slews and ponds but we're not Texan so we don't brag like that....except for the mosquitos... we have many more mosquitos and they are much bigger than Texans brags theirs are but with all those lakes, ponds and slews.... there's just going to be more mosquitos. "God's country" is what my brother-in-law calls it. And it is to me. I miss the four seasons and the harsh beauty of winter. I miss throwing any old seed into the ground and have it grow before my eyes. I miss the water which is ever present and the waterfowl that lives on it. I miss the tatse of fresh caught sunfish fried up with a light flour batter and the sun-warm juicy berries fresh off the bushes. I miss the old German churches that were built oh, so many years ago and are still so beautiful with the sun falling through their stained glass windows and the quiet old cemeteries that are attached to them..

18 years?!?! Shoot, I can't even say pecan correctly! (pec-ahn') Of course, part of the reason is that I came to Austin from El Paso where the language is much different than here... but I sure can say "y'all" proper. I still say all those Texas towns that have Spanish names in Spanish and have the hardest time saying them "Texan". I just can't say Del Valle or Llano in english...but I shouldn't have to... it's SPANISH!!! Except for Manchancha, I can't say that in any language. And "Pedernales"... who was their teacher? It is not pronounced even close to the way it's spelled?!? Heck, I don't even say Bealls correctly so I don't say it. And I don't say flag, bag, Minnesota, and a few other words that give my origins away. But at least I stopped saying "eh" as much on the end of my sentences...