You get the idea. Texas is HUGE. If you've ever seen a map, I shouldn't have to tell you this. Of course, as a person who is not a native Texan, but who has lived in multiple parts of Texas, I also believe that the hugeness of Texas is something you kind of have to experience before you truly understand it. The first time I drove across the state, I was shocked by the sheer hugeness of it.
Anyhow, I have to tell my non-Texas friends that when I talk about what goes on in my part of the state, it's REALLY freaking annoying when you extrapolate that that's how it's done in the entire state, from Brownsville to El Paso to Dallas to San Antonio. It's just NOT. No, El Paso doesn't recycle glass, but when I lived near Austin, there was a GIANT recycling dumpster outside my barracks that took every single thing you can think of, and probably some things it never even occurred to you to recycle. That was in Texas, too. Does your entire state recycle the same way? Of course not. So why would ours?
Similarly, if I say I am so thankful to live in Texas because it is a midwifery-friendly state, please don't bitch me out about how you have a friend in Sherman who couldn't find a midwife to assist her with a homebirth 20 years ago. First of all, have you ever been to Sherman? If I were a midwife, I wouldn't practice there either. Let's just say the client base is not huge. Secondly, 2o years ago? Do you have any idea how much things can change in a couple decades? Yes, even in a backward, redneck, red state like Texas, progress is sometimes made. When I refer to how permissive our laws are here, I am in no way implying that every single person will find every single option within a 15 minute drive of their doorstep like I do. I live in a MASSIVE city. Those who do not may have to drive an hour, and almost all big city midwives will take clients who are up to a couple hours away. Mine does. (Yeah, even your friend in Sherman could hire one of the DOZENS of midwives who practice in Dallas-Ft. Worth if she were in need of those services today.) Remember, I took on an hour (or more) commute to the birth center to avoid a hospital birth, and that was in Savannah, GA, which somehow, nobody gave me hell about... Sometimes people in TX have to do the same. It's a BIG state, and most of the stuff happens in the cities. If you're in a small town or a rural area (and TX rural takes rural to a new level. Trust me on that!) you're going to find that you'll be driving a little to get what you want. I thought people knew that. It's not unique to our state.
I just think it's hilarious. Every single time I mention something about what we do here, or how some of our state laws benefit my family a lot, or how great it is to be where we can find what we need, some crazy fool who's never even set foot in Texas has to weigh in on how some friend of a friend in some completely different part of the state had the opposite experience ten billion years ago, OR if I say something about El Paso, people think it applies to the entire state! I swear people have been treating me like the world's biggest dumbass ever since I moved to TX! I am not imagining this either. I have asked my native Texan friends about this, and they ALL have the same things happen. The US at large really has a lot of preconceived notions about Texas, and for some reason, they flat refuse to treat it just like any other state. Why??
If you don't believe me that this place is really quite normal, please come visit. You'll be surprised to find out that we're really a lot like most other states... except the food's better, and so is the music.
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