It would appear that I am a selfish person. Not in a way you might think. Sometimes I am generous to a fault when it comes to giving. Then there are some things I am not inclined to share.
I think it is more someone else’s fault rather than mine that I sometimes feel the way I do. I balk when it comes to giving up the Bandera life I lived to create a place built for someone’s convenience.
I hate the fact that we have lost so many of the freedoms that I enjoyed as a kid living in Bandera. Progress has slowly stolen them from each generation. People are quick to point out what has been gained while ignoring what has been lost.
It irritates me no end that some people claim they want to keep Bandera unchanged as they plow ahead with developing more and more of the natural area along our river.
Someone who was raised in a concrete jungle will never understand what life was like for a kid running free on the banks of the Medina River back in my day.
Talk of walking trails and dog parks are a prime example of city ideas for country living. You can walk the whole city park with or without your dog. Where’s the need for some specially designated area?
Don’t get me started on concrete walking paths along the river. Now we could use some upgraded and additional restrooms in the park if you really want to improve things.
For most of my childhood I was consumed with the thought of being a frontiersman like Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone.
I could walk one block from our house and then drop down into a world void of modern conveniences except for an occasional vehicle traveling the gravel road along the river leading to the Mayan Dude Ranch.
As it turns out when I look back on my childhood days I realize I was more like Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer rather than those other heroes I was watching on tv with their black powder rifles and coonskin caps.
Trapping a possum and trying to smoke grapevine were two of the more memorable lessons learned on the Medina River. Neither was life threatening but definitely a painful reminder to quit listening to those friends I ran with as a kid.
It’s beginning to become very clear to me here in my later years why so many of my old friends are being labeled as grumpy. I guess it’s a matter of opinion how the history of Bandera is continuously being rewritten by folks with vivid imaginations rather than by using historical references.
I grew up hearing some of the wild west tales associated with our town and lots of them were based on their close proximity to the truth as they were passed down through the later generations.
Throw in a little Texas bravado as we are known to do and pretty soon you will have a campfire story to tell. Just don’t confuse us with Dodge City as we try to be whatever it takes to entertain the tourists.
I’m not sure Marshall Dillon could have handled some of the characters I associated with back in the day while Growing Up In Bandera.
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