All Local Discounts Apply
Woohoo! Today I Became an Official Lone Star Stater! And not just a Texas resident, a Marathon Texas resident. This sleepy little desert town I live in boasts a population of 450, so small the trains speed through it without stopping at the old station, and there’s a grocery store called the French Grocer where I now qualify for a hefty local discount. I’m officially a Marathon Local! With a PO Box and everything. I love how that sounds. It’s certainly special to me. Marathon is now my homebase, where I hideout the winter cold, and travel from.
So this is my new drivers license (learners permit). I laughed when I saw the photo – taken just a startling minute after hearing I’d passed. I look so, haha, I guess bewildered? Like a deer in headlights. My old PA ID I look so radiant, sure of myself, cocky even. Even though this one is so lame in the self-confidence department, and one of the worst photos ever taken of me, I still prefer the new one. It has great memories of that day, and it’s bursting with adolescent dreams that weren’t remotely possible in my previous life.
Olivia Meiring
ABSOLUTELY. You hit the nail on the head there.
Karen Wright Gilbert
LOL. A lot of people have huge misconceptions about Texas. That pretty much doesn't worry Texans. If you had wanted to find Bush fans (argghhh), you could have come to our county. Very Republican. It wasn't when we moved here, though. The people of the desert are very much individualists. They tend to be libertarian, or downright anarchist! Mainly they just want the damned "gummint" to leave them the hell alone.
Olivia Meiring
Yes it absolutely is amazing. Back then I couldn't stand the idea of Texas, I had NO idea what it was like. I had no idea I could travel through so much of it an not encounter a single Bush fan. I thought about that exact thing you wrote just yesterday, and how I knew you back then too. And how once I got to america you suggested I try out Austin, and I was like, "is she crazy?" hahahaha
Karen Wright Gilbert
I would never have imagined when I first met you that you would one day end up living in Texas, much less Marathon. I love that town, too. You were still living in Brighton then. Isn't life amazing?