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July 30, 2024
Growing Up In Bandera
By Glenn Clark
The Bandera Prophet
You will never be able to convince me that there is a better way of growing up than what you get in a small town. If you look back at earlier times in Bandera when graduating classes consisted of about 20 to 30 students, it tells you why we were all so close to each other. For sure there were no strangers among us. Even a new student moving in was immediately accepted into the small town way of life fraternity.
Some will say that it wasn't all that different than being raised in a city or going to a large school. But it truly was different as far how we went about our daily routines. I remember in high school everyone was either involved in sports or they had an after-school job. There was no going home to flop on the couch to watch television. Video games weren't invented yet so our free time was limited to dragging main or heading to the river.
We even had a different way of describing things. If an expensive restaurant was the topic of discussion we would most likely be calling it a "swanky joint.” I still haven't gotten over the change when thongs were being renamed flip-flops. I do believe that a new fangled underwear fad was responsible. I still use the old term to show defiance and it makes people laugh.
It was along about that time the term "cool" became popular. We picked up on that pretty quick from the movies and TV, but we were known to get outside our comfort zone, too, and use a word like copasetic. We weren't trying to show how smart we were, but just being silly teenage kids having fun at our own expense. How cool it is to hear kids today still saying "that's cool.”
In our small town it wasn't unusual to see unlicensed drivers on the backstreets. Running errands for our mom or just making a short trip to a friend’s house were common and acceptable behavior back in the day, as long as we were abiding by unwritten laws. Sheriff Miller and his deputy Walter Welch had a pretty good idea if you had a drivers license or not. Vehicles were distinct and recognizable in those days. Our old 46 Chevy truck stuck out like a sore thumb when I was driving, but I was never stopped.
As teen boys fascinated with cars and trucks, we took notice every time someone in town got a new car. Sometimes they would show up on race night out on the Hondo Highway at the Double Buzzard quarter mile track. It was Bandera's answer to San Antonio's Double Eagle race track.
All through my Growing Up In Bandera years I have met lots of city folks who said they wished they could live in the country. Very few have I met who as country raised people said they wished they could live in the city.
#409 2024
Some will say that it wasn't all that different than being raised in a city or going to a large school. But it truly was different as far how we went about our daily routines. I remember in high school everyone was either involved in sports or they had an after-school job. There was no going home to flop on the couch to watch television. Video games weren't invented yet so our free time was limited to dragging main or heading to the river.
We even had a different way of describing things. If an expensive restaurant was the topic of discussion we would most likely be calling it a "swanky joint.” I still haven't gotten over the change when thongs were being renamed flip-flops. I do believe that a new fangled underwear fad was responsible. I still use the old term to show defiance and it makes people laugh.
It was along about that time the term "cool" became popular. We picked up on that pretty quick from the movies and TV, but we were known to get outside our comfort zone, too, and use a word like copasetic. We weren't trying to show how smart we were, but just being silly teenage kids having fun at our own expense. How cool it is to hear kids today still saying "that's cool.”
In our small town it wasn't unusual to see unlicensed drivers on the backstreets. Running errands for our mom or just making a short trip to a friend’s house were common and acceptable behavior back in the day, as long as we were abiding by unwritten laws. Sheriff Miller and his deputy Walter Welch had a pretty good idea if you had a drivers license or not. Vehicles were distinct and recognizable in those days. Our old 46 Chevy truck stuck out like a sore thumb when I was driving, but I was never stopped.
As teen boys fascinated with cars and trucks, we took notice every time someone in town got a new car. Sometimes they would show up on race night out on the Hondo Highway at the Double Buzzard quarter mile track. It was Bandera's answer to San Antonio's Double Eagle race track.
All through my Growing Up In Bandera years I have met lots of city folks who said they wished they could live in the country. Very few have I met who as country raised people said they wished they could live in the city.
#409 2024