Missing Waco

I got homesick for Waco. We were in town for Baylor Homecoming and to visit our Baylor Bear. Leaving Plano at a little after 6 a.m. I gave up trying to sleep sitting upright before we got too far down the road and laid my head on my husband's lap. He woke me just before we pulled into campus. And he bought me coffee after we found our spots for the nation's longest collegiate homecoming parade. The man knows what I need to function.

The parade was much shorter than it has been in the past. Phil sent me an article about one missing entry. It was struck twice on its way to the starting point. Haley and her Tech Raider (she made him wear a Baylor shirt) joined Callie, Clay, Phil and me in our place across from Morrison Constitution Hall. Callie stayed busy diving for candy. She couldn't understand why people kept throwing the the young children next to us and not to her, a thirteen year old. It just didn't compute.

My favorite moment came when the Indian Students Club stopped in front of us and danced. A small girl from the crowd joined them in their dance. The saddest moment was when the bear came and a little boy jumped from the curb and tried to join her. After being stopped by the handlers he found refuge in his daddy's arms and sobbed his eyes out. He eventually rejoined his brother on the curb but his heart wasn't in it.

Lunch was at the fabulous hole-in-the-wall burger joint, Duble R Burgers, in west Waco. There isn't even a readable sign to mark the place and yet it was packed. I miss these kinds of eating establishments that have been around forever and don't need mass advertising to keep them opened. They have so much for character than chains.

Waco has more character than Plano. We have our historical area in Plano, but it isn't the same. I miss the beautiful neighborhoods with the big old houses surround by giant trees and the areas of cozy homes all nestled around downtown. Maybe it is the hilliness and how the streets run all different ways and sometimes make no sense at all. I guess I can't put my finger on the one thing I enjoy the most. Everything tied up together makes Waco what it is. I love it and I miss it.