When I was a young woman, I used to love to watch the movie, Funny Farm, with Chevy Chase and Madolyne Smith. I related to the movie because I wanted to move to the country surrounded by hills, live in a "village" and be a writer. Well, I have since moved to the country surrounded by hills, and I am an aspiring writer (retirement, maybe??). Some people might not think of my small town as a village, but I do. And the part in the movie where Chevy says, "cue the deer"...well, I would have fallen for that when I moved here. The deer are everywhere...including downtown at times. They used to fascinate me...
not so much anymore.
We have a town square with a beautiful courthouse, and at Christmas, the lighting will make you catch your breath! We have a bandstand (gazebo) and at important times of the year it is used for a band, or for caroling, or for announcing the winner of Wassailfest. Wassailfest is a really unique local event every year when downtown is closed to traffic. The stores open up for shopping and make their own brand of wassail. Once you've tasted about eight, you can vote for the best one. The Christmas tree and downtown lighting are very important events held on the Friday night before Thanksgiving. When the 4th of July comes, we have fireworks and flags surround the entire perimeter of our downtown. Speeches are made by elderly veterans. We have old churches, and old train overpasses, and lots of old buildings. We have the oldest bakery in Texas, and a beautiful park with a Founder's Oak. We say the pledge of allegiance and still pray at many public gatherings. We're as close to a village as I think we can be.
Each season here has it's appeal. The winters are fairly mild although we have several freezes and the occasional light snow. Spring is beautiful with the wildflowers..bluebonnets being the flower of choice for Texans! Spring is also the time that festivals start coming to the hill country. You could go to one every weekend in the spring. Summer is busy here. We have two rivers, a lake, and a waterpark that all attract people from all over the nation. When fall arrives, the city gets quiet and peaceful again. For Texas, we have very nice fall color, especially around the rivers.
I love it here! I love living and working here, and I love the people I've met. Even though I've been here 13 years it hasn't lost its appeal to me.
When I was that young woman watching Funny Farm, I used to pray that the Lord would move me to a place just like this. I didn't know it at the time, but He had picked out the perfect place for me and for my family. My sister has since moved here, as have my nephews, and my mom is about to move. One of my sons lives here and one lives near here, and I'm hoping that my daughter will move here soon. It's like the Lord is gathering us together, and I feel very blessed by that!
