Marly Unmarginated

I grew up in a small Texas town, and I never really left.

Sure, I’ve traveled. I’ve seen other skies and walked other streets. But there’s something about a town where you know the streets and the people on them that stays with you. Where your story is stitched together with Friday night lights, early morning coffee shop chatter, and generations of familiar faces.

This is the place where I grew up, fell down, found my footing, and raised my children.

And let me tell you, there’s nothing small about a small town.

The spirit? It’s HUGE.

It swells in your chest during a homecoming pep rally or a playoff game under those blazing stadium lights. It’s painted on storefront windows in school colors, and it waves proudly from the bleachers with pom-poms and cowbells. There’s a rhythm to the year here, football season, stock show time, the parade route marked in chalk and tradition.

But it’s more than just school pride. It’s community in the truest sense.

It’s your neighbor bringing over a casserole when they hear you’ve had a tough week. It’s someone pulling your trash can back up from the curb just because they noticed you forgot. It’s being able to run into the post office, grocery store, or that one breakfast spot (you know the one), and guaranteed, you’ll see someone you know, and you’ll stop for a hug, a laugh, or just a “how are y’all holding up?”

It’s not about being in everyone’s business, it’s about everyone being in it together.

We raise our kids here with that same sense of belonging. They grow up with second moms and bonus grandparents all around them. Teachers who taught us are now teaching them. And whether it’s a scraped knee, a ride to practice, or someone to cheer from the sidelines our people show up.

That’s just what we do.

And the friendships? Oh, they run deep. The kind that stretch across years, states, and seasons of life. We may scatter, but our hearts stay rooted. Bound together by childhood sleepovers, Sunday service, dance recitals, after school sports and those long summer nights when the air buzzes with crickets and possibility.

It’s not always perfect. Sometimes small towns feel… small. But even in the hard moments, there’s a comfort in knowing your people are just down the road, or across the bleachers, or pulling into the same gas station with a wave and a smile.

Because here in this little Texas town we don’t just live next to each other.

We belong to each other.

And that, my friends, is a kind of wealth the world doesn’t always understand.

So here’s to where the roots run deep.

To the places that raised us, and the people who still know our childhood nicknames.

To the dusty roads, the giant skies, and the kind of spirit you carry wherever life takes you.

I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Marly Unmarginated, homegrown, heart-full, and proud of it.

From the margins where the magic lives…Marly