Farewell, Houston

When I came to Houston 9 years ago, I was a just doe-eyed college freshman. But I fell in love with the city as quickly as I unpacked my bags. Mostly, I fell in love with how much there is to know about Houston.

I was raised in Carthage, Texas, a small town of about 7,000 people nestled against the Texas-Louisiana border and sheltered by a dense forest of pine trees. Thanks to my mother, I had done some traveling and experienced little slices of diversity. But never had I experienced anything like Houston.

I still remember my first off-campus adventure. After joining the UH Forensic Society, also known as the speech and debate team, my friend Kamil invited me to an apartment party with some of his friends. When we arrived, I didn't know anyone there. But to this day, I count many of the people I met that night among my dearest friends.

I spent a lot of time with Kamil my first two years at UH, mostly because I enjoyed his company but also because he had a car and I did not. I often tell people that I didn't live in Houston those first two years. I lived on-campus, inside the tame and muted bubble that it offered. The following year, I pledged and joined Theta Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority, Inc., finally got a car and an off-campus job. It wasn't until then that I started to explore Houston on my own and learn its mysteries for myself.

Though I was raised in East Texas, I grew up in Houston. It was here that I struggled with issues of identity and fought to define myself in a world where everyone else had already formed an opinion of me. It was here that I first encountered the world as an adult and here that I learned to overcome life's little obstacles. There were times where I struggled to pay bills or didn't pay them and suffered the consequences. I cried a lot. I laughed a lot. I made friends and I lost friends and I built my own community, a community I would lean on time and time again. I graduated from college here. I grew and evolved. I became the woman I am today.

I am grateful to every person I met here, every beautiful soul who touched me or taught me or supported me. I am most grateful for the memories I will carry with me: walking Cougar Village as a resident assistant; stuffing my face with a gyro sandwich at Niko-Niko’s; hanging out at the Mezzanine Lounge with my co-workers from Pappadeaux or enjoying a glass of wine after hours with my co-workers from Crisp; waiting in the Frenchie’s drive-thru with my sorors after a night of shenanigans; every UH Homecoming; every New Year’s Eve; every happy, drunken night that ended with me falling asleep safe in my bed or tucked in on someone’s couch.  

This city is a part of me, engrained in the fabric of my being and imbued in the chambers of my heart. Though I’m leaving Houston, I will never forget all that I have learned here. While I hope to visit often, I am beginning a new journey with a full and open heart.

I'm headed to the Triple D; Dallas, Texas.  A new city to learn. A different terrain to conquer.

I have no way of knowing how Dallas will shape me or who I will become as I navigate this new chapter of my life. The only thing of which I am certain is that I am looking forward to the adventure. ❤️