And the Winner Is…

My parents divorced during my eighth-grade year.  This prompted my mother to do one of the most courageous things she’s ever done.  She loaded all our worldly possessions into a U-Haul truck and moved our three-member household—minus my dad, of course—out west, to Big Spring, Texas.  Because she has lived there ever since, I continue to be connected to that little town out on the Great Plains.

Over the years, I’ve formed a love-hate relationship with the place.  I love its big skies and rugged, cowboy demeanor.  I adore its breezy, summer evenings.  I find its quietness—in contrast to Cairo’s loudness—extremely attractive.  I also like, very much, the town’s bicultural character—one often hears Spanish being spoken on the streets and Tejano music being broadcast across the airwaves.  As you might guess, Big Spring is chockfull of wonderful Tex-Mex restaurants. 

I don’t like the politics of much of the citizenry, though.  Many in town seemed happy during the Bush years, probably because one of their own—a god-fearing WASP with a real talent for jingoistic thinking and speaking—was occupying the White House.  Today, on the other hand, they believe that America’s “Marxist” president has to be stopped (before it’s too late!) because he has secret plans to do all sorts of evil things, like sending the feds house to house to confiscate guns.  When I hear one of the locals make such a claim, I never know whether to guffaw or sob.

When Azza was here, we’d often go on walks just as the sun was about to drop down behind the horizon line.  Now that she’s gone, this continues to be one of my favorite methods of passing the time.  As a matter of fact, I took my trusty Nikon along on one of these recent strolls so that you could see a bit of Big Spring. 

I want to say a few things before you watch.  I apologize for the poor audio during certain portions of my little, two-part documentary.  (I did refer to the evenings here as “breezy,” and you’ll hear evidence of that here.)  I also suppose I should warn you ahead of time.  There’s very little chance that my movie is going to be receiving any Academy Award nominations in the near future.