WHAT MAKES A TOWN WORTH LIVING IN?

From the way I'm always waxing rhapsodic about Wimberley and the Texas Hill Country, I'm sure you probably think I am extremely biased, and that I think everything is bigger and better in Texas. Not true. I am fully aware that Texas, and some Texans, have their faults.

We won't go into all of those just now, but I will say that, in addition to our less than stellar fall color, there is one thing that always jumped out at me whenever we have visited my BIL's family, first in Virginia and now in Ohio. Most of Texas' small towns suck when it comes to charm. Oh, we have a few quaint ones, like Fredericksburg. Most were established by German immigrants who went to the trouble to construct nice stone buildings that were meant to last. But for each of those towns, we have a dozen or two more that were thrown up in a hurry around some gas or oil field, and that's exactly how they look - as if someone had thrown up. The smell in an oil patch town isn't very appealling either, and there were a couple of occasions when I actually started crying upon first viewing the latest spot we had been transferred to.

Know what? Those ended up being some of the best spots we've ever lived - the spots where we've made life-long friends. Why? Because it's the people who form a community, not the structures. Sometimes, the less a town has to offer, the harder it's residents have to work at making their own fun, entertaining and enriching their children, and supporting one another in times of need. The buildings in Wimberley may not be as charming as these I am seeing in Ohio, but the scenery beats the hell out of most places I've lived, and the sense of community? Well, I'd say we got dealt a full house this time around!