How You’ve Changed

This entry explores a few memories of one of my hometowns, Victoria, Texas. For those of you visiting the blog with no experience in Victoria, just imagine how much your own hometown has changed over the years. Change is universal, but can be so shocking to an expat! This entry is cross posted at Ni Howdy.

In a repeat of a journey I first took 25 years ago, I have arrived in Victoria, Texas from Denver, Colorado. I was only 8 years old in 1984 when my parents informed my brother, sister and I that we were leaving Colorado for my father’s new job in South Texas. After considering Seguin (their chosen house was too close to the airport) and Cuero (a town with big football dreams but maybe a bit too small) they finally settled on Victoria. With a house bought, we knew there was no staying in our beloved Colorado. We flew into Corpus Christi that summer and drove a rental car up the coast. I’ll never, ever forget the wash of heat and humidity that confronted us on arrival. I was immediately worried that I would never breathe again. The heat and humidity were not helped much by being crammed into that car with my siblings, mom, dad and two giant chocolate Labrador retrievers.

We moved into our first house, in the Cimarron subdivision off of John Stockbauer. My parents made to placate our broken hearts on leaving the snow slopes of Colorado with a new sport – trampoline jumping. At Bernie’s Boats & Motors, we received our first lesson in the Texas language. My mom, perhaps worried we didn’t appreciate the giant tramp, said, “you guys better use this.” The nice salesman couldn’t help himself, “Ma’am, we say ‘ya’ll’ here.” These days, my parents are fluent, using “fixin’ and ya’ll” with a native’s ease.

My first school in Victoria was in Deleon Elementary’s third grade. My memories have faded, but I will never forget the joy of picking my first dewberries in the fields behind that school and plucking moss off of the trees in the fields in front. Now I drive down John Stockbauer and can’t even see the school buildings. The fields are full of houses and nearby, a giant new high school is taking shape.

Through the years, we moved from Cimarron to a house off of Mockingbird, where I attended Rowland Elementary, and then eventually to Goliad County, where I rode a bus for the first time and learned how to raise chickens and cows. Further moves took my family to Kuwait and myself far and wide, from Central America to Europe to Canada to Asia. I’ve always returned to Victoria, always returned with mouth wide at the changes I see each visit.

For those of you who have lived years in Victoria, the changes taking place here are visible to you on a daily basis. Perhaps they are not shocking to you as they are to me.

To suddenly roll into town and find your favorite dollar movie theater is shuttered, to see
the full price Cinemark abandoned, replaced by a giant cineplex behind the mall. You see,
when my friends tell me they are heading out to a midnight screening of New Moon, I imagine them pulling into the parking lot between Blackwood Toyota and Lack’s furniture store. And I still think of the shiny and huge HEB next door as a K-Mart. Driving to Hasting’s, I’ll inevitably turn to the right instead of to the left, finding myself at a liquor store instead of book store (not that this is entirely bad, mind you.) I used to think Victoria ended at Northcrest, but am now amazed to see an entire shopping center there. Who knows what’s next.

Back in my Victoria College days, I ate quite a few meals at Applebee’s. I remember clearly when it opened and how long one had to wait for a table. Now Montana Mike’s sits in its place, although I imagine the opening lines were just as long. There are new restaurants all over the place. I remember shopping trips to Corpus Christi always included lunch at Chili’s and how I wished Victoria had one. I have to admit real sadness at the loss of Village Inn, though. Once upon a time there were no Starbucks, just Village Inn and Denny’s for a cup of Joe.

Even the roads of Victoria have changed. For years, any trip into Victoria we made meant a drive down Business Highway 59, over the Guadalupe River bridge, into Old Victoria. Now we can bypass all of those stop-lights and head straight into North Victoria via the Highway 77 loop. I remember when “the loop” meant the truck route of Highway 59 that deviated to the East at Aloe Field and bypassed the city to just north of the airport.

New overpasses, new stoplights, new median dividers, new fast food joints, new hotels, new drugstores…

My, my, Victoria, how you have changed.

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