Texas Roots

Posted on July 7, 2019 by

37 Comments

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“You can take the girl out of Texas, but you can’t take the Texas out of the girl.” – Janine Turner

I didn’t have a typical childhood. It was one spent moving from place to place, never living anywhere for long. The one and only constant besides my dear mother was the fact that up until I was 39, I spent most of my life living in Texas. No matter where I may roam, it will always be home.

Home. Where people still sit on a porch and drink ice tea and listen to the crickets sing. Every Sunday, there is a pot of beans on the stove seasoned with salt pork and onions; the smell hangs in the humid air. Summers are hot and sticky in the South but that didn’t stop us from playing until all hours of the evening. I recall hot nights filled with fireflies and June bugs, while we played hide and seek under the star swept sky.

I remember the mockingbird singing me to sleep outside my bedroom window. I can hear the raspy sound of night insects hitting the screen, chasing the light from within my room. How their spiny legs would get caught.

During the day, my sister and I would hunt for locust shells in a race to see who could find the most. One summer, I sat and watched a butterfly cocoon for hours every day. On the morning it finally emerged and dried its wings, it flew and landed on my bare shoulder. For several days after, I would go to the bush and wait. It was if the butterfly knew me, for it always returned until one day it didn’t. I cried for days.

For the last 22 years I have lived in Arizona and it is my new home. But even now there are times when I hear Texas whispering my name on the evening breeze. My heart grows heavy and I yearn to be there, under that vast bluebonnet sky.

©2021 Linda Lee Lyberg

Author’s Note: Magaly has asked us to write a short story consisting of no more than 313 words. My story is exactly 313 words. Poets United: Telling Tales with Magaly Guerrero Away from Home

Linda Lee Lyberg is a wife, mother, artist, published poet and author. She resides in Mesa, AZ with her husband Pete (aka The Big Viking) of 23 years, and her dog, Ricky Bobby. Linda writes various forms of poetry, as well as short stories. 
You can read more of her works at: charmedchaos.com
and her Amazon Author Page

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37 Comments on “Texas Roots”

  2. Some friends–especially my American ones–give me funny looks when I say that the Dominican Republic will always be my forever home. “But… you served in the US military, you are a US citizen, you have a home here, and a family!” they say. All that is true. I have many homes. And the home where I live and love. Still, my island will always be the home that lives in me. After reading your words, I suspect I will never have to explain to you why.

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  3. I love that your dog is named Ricky Bobby! A great write about memories. Yeppers. they’ll never take the southern from out of this southern girl. We always have that distant home, that home of memories.

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  4. This is such a heart-warming prose, Linda! ❤️ I can’t tell you how moved I am by all the imagery and details especially; “Summers are hot and sticky in the South but that didn’t stop us from playing until all hours of the evening.” I too have moved a lot during my childhood as my father used to be an Air traffic controller and later an instructor … hence we kept moving from one country to the next 🙂

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  5. How I loved every line of this piece. I know that longing for home so well, even when one has a good life going elsewhere. Some places own our history and a large part of our hearts. The story of the butterfly is so moving – it must have bonded with you……..but then went on to its next adventure in its short life.This was so enjoyable to read, and really resonates with me.

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  6. This is a heartfelt write Linda, from that Janine Turner quote to the end. One can feel the ache for home within you. Enjoyed every word, specially the butterfly story.

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  7. I’ve never been to Texas (or Arizona) and never met a Texan face to face, but I have learnt a lot about that huge place from reading your blog, Linda. I too moved around a lot when I was younger, but in Europe. Our current home is the place I’ve lived the longest, so it has become home. I love the thought of sitting on a porch, drinking iced tea and listening to crickets and mockingbirds – we have plenty of tea but no porches, no crickets and no mockingbirds! The one thing I don’t envy is hot sticky summers. I enjoyed your anecdote about the cocoon, which reminded me of my own butterfly encounters.

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    • Thank you so kindly Kim. My husband and I have lived in our house for 21 years, and it is home to us. It’s the longest either of us have lived in one place. We’ve put so much work into it, and it is dear to us.

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    • I found a way to make it magical because we were poor and my step father was not a good man. Yes, I agree Rosemary. Thank you for the kind thoughts.

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  11. This was gorgeous and…for whatever reason…the sound of bug legs on a screen got to me. I haven’t thought about that in years and yet it pulled up summer nights perfectly.

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  12. The yearning…vivid and beautiful memories captured here. I feel like I’ve been to your beautiful Texas. You’ve rooted your story in a time and place; a backdrop and mood so well captured.

    There’s also something I love about the child watching a butterfly cocoon. It tells of a happy childhood, where days were unhurried days, children being children and have lots of time to be and dream. Beautiful story, Linda.

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  15. Beautiful memories.. I am sitting right here in Texas and know exactly what you mean. I was born and raised in Missouri, but Texas feels more like home than any other place I’ve lived.

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  17. Pingback: Sunday Social: Weekly Reading Round-Up - All In with Kimmie L

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