Bluebonnets!

There are a lot of things I missed about Texas -- cheap Shiner, good barbecue brisket, one-syllable words drawn out to three -- but one of the biggest was the once-a-year appearance of our state flower, the bluebonnet.

I know there are some of y'all that mistake them for blue bells (not to be confused with the national ice cream of Texas) but to see them in person is to love them forever.

Using the opportunity of unemployment, I hit the road for Ennis (home of the Ennis Bluebonnet Festival) on Thursday to avoid the soon-to-be-throngs of our version of leaf peepers. I wasn't disappointed. Though let's face it -- seeing bluebonnets never disappoints.

Someone this week mentioned that I moved back to Texas from D.C. at the wrong time because I'm missing the cherry blossoms. I told him that was fine by me because it meant I was here to see the bluebonnets.

It's hard to believe that I've already been back in Texas for two months. It's good to be home.

Courteously aggressive

Courteously aggressive. That's how someone recently described drivers in Dallas to me. We were having a conversation about the insanity that is Washington, D.C., commuting.

I feel fortunate to have learned to drive in Houston, where freeways are always expanding, and driving in the fast lane (my specialty) means driving 12 inches from a Jersey barrier. I thought I was prepared for any city -- at least in America -- until I moved to D.C.

Imagine a place where people from all over the country, and all over the world, converge on a small district. Freeway expansion is near impossible, and exits come from out of nowhere. If you miss your turn, you may end up miles out of your way. And that's when it's not tourist season.

I know traffic in Dallas will be comparable to most major cities -- slow at times, breakneck speed at others (it's Texas, after all). But in my six-plus years in D.C., I'd forgotten a valuable lesson: Texans are pretty courteous drivers. I mean, they actually let you in most of the time.

D.C. drivers are some of the most aggressive around. I don't know why. Perhaps it's the politics, perhaps it's the stress of living there, perhaps there are just too many people and too few lanes. After six years, this courteously aggressive driver mostly lost the courteous part. I'd vent by yelling at people (no swearing), and come into work stressed. (I gave up yelling at drivers for Lent about four years ago and kept that promise -- mostly -- but substituted using my brights instead.)

Now, however, I'm back in Texas, and people are more courteous, if aggressive. In just two weeks, I find myself slowing down and actually letting people in who want to merge (no kidding). Adding a healthy dose of courtesy to my driving isn't a bad thing. Just don't go near my gas pedal.

Blogging

As if the world needs another blog. Yet here I am, blogging.

I recently moved back home to Texas after nearly seven years in Washington, D.C., working as a communications director for a House committee. It was great fun -- challenging, too -- but life changes and here I am in Dallas.

I've never lived in Dallas, and even when I was going to school at Baylor University, I rarely took the opportunity to head north. But I felt like this was to be my new home, and surprisingly quickly, I'm finding that I actually feel at home in Big D (thanks to a couple of dear friends).

It's been almost 12 years since I lived in Texas but it's always been home. I'm sure people in the other 49 states feel that way, too, but Texans being Texans, I think we feel it a little bit more.

I'm hoping this blog will be more about Texas than me. It's a big state, and there's lots to write about.