Madi Reyes potential final draft #2

The speaker, Madison Reyes, shares her experience of growing up in her hometown of Katy, Texas. Initially, she struggled to find something interesting to talk about for a project, but then realized she wanted to discuss how her hometown has changed for her since leaving for college. She fondly remembers her childhood home as a place of celebration, with her parents always hosting gatherings and events. She also cherishes her close-knit neighborhood and the feeling of safety and community it provided. However, when her parents decided to move away, Madison had a hard time accepting the change and felt disconnected from her new neighborhood. Over time, she has come to appreciate the memories and experiences she had in her hometown and is grateful for the life it gave her. Despite the difficulties of change, she recognizes the impact her upbringing has had on shaping her as a person. Hello, everyone. My name is Madison Reyes, and I am a junior communications major. And for this project, I have decided to film a podcast. And initially, when Dr. Beck assigned this assignment to us, I was pretty stumped because I don't really feel like there's anything super interesting about my hometown. I'm from Katy, Texas, and for the most part, we are just known for sports. And I just didn't really feel like there was anything interesting for me to talk about. And then I started to realize that I think I was thinking a little bit too deeply about the assignment and thinking more about the history side of it rather than how it shaped me as a person and who I am today. And so that's when it kind of hit me that I wanted to talk about how my hometown just is not the same place for me as it once was since leaving for college. So I kind of want to take you guys to the beginning. My parents moved to Katy and into my childhood home when my mom was pregnant with me. And at the time, the neighborhood was a startup neighborhood. So my parents were the same age as a lot of our neighbors in our cul-de-sac. And I was very lucky enough to be surrounded by a lot of kids who were the same age as me. And so I got to grow up and kind of be around them. And it was pretty cool. And so I would play with all of the kids in my cul-de-sac basically every day after school. And it was amazing. And it's kind of funny when I say this, but I would have definitely considered my house growing up the quote-unquote party house, mainly because my parents just made an excuse to celebrate anything. If it was the Super Bowl to St. Patrick's Day or to even just, like, I don't know, Labor Day, something crazy. My parents just always had people over, especially the neighbors, all the time. And it was so great. And weekends were always the best because I knew that I got to stay out a little bit later with all of my neighbors swimming in my pool while all of my parents and the neighbors were in the backyard with us, singing karaoke, laughing, talking, and semi-watching us play in the pool. And, yeah, my dad was or is still in construction. So he's always been, like, a super DIY kind of guy. And I vividly remember my dad growing up making a movie screen out of PVC pipes and bed sheets and putting it in our front yard and getting a projector screen. And we hosted Super Bowl potlucks to watch and stream the Super Bowl in our front yard. We had a couple of Christmas movie watch nights as well as Halloween. So it was always really cool. And that kind of just gives you a little bit of an insight of what my life was like growing up. And, I don't know, my life was, as a kid, just simple. I went to school, came home, played with my friends until it was dark out, and then I went to sleep and I did it all over again the next day. And I just loved the neighborhood that I lived in. I felt safe there. I knew that if I was on a walk and I needed help or if I was home alone and I was ever in danger, I knew that there would be somebody to come save me or rescue me with just a phone call. On top of that, my bedroom was also a huge comfort space for me. I always looked forward to spending time in my room, especially after a long day at school in high school was when my anxiety was at its peak. And I just remember always just wanting to be in my room and just spend time in there just because it was so cozy and I had kind of made it my little sanctuary, if you will. And I honestly, I just loved where I lived. I remember having to move for college was really hard for me. I was home basically every weekend because my best friend, who is still my best friend now, actually lives three doors down from my childhood home. And she stayed home for college one year. She did a year of community college in Katy. So I always just used that as another excuse to go home and see my family and my friends. And so, yeah, I just always loved being home. I loved being home, and then one day, randomly out of the blue, my parents told me that they were getting ready to move on from my childhood home and move. And this was a really hard thing for me to come to terms to. I remember I begged them, and I begged them to not leave because I didn't want to. I loved my home so much that I just didn't want to leave. And ultimately, they decided that it was the best decision for them financially. And this was really, really, really hard for me to come to terms with for a while. I avoided coming home for a time because my parents decided to move about 20 minutes past my hometown. And I remember the first time that I drove home, I drove past the exit that I would normally take off of the highway to go home. And I remember crying and just being so sad because life just didn't feel the same. And I already knew life was going to be different moving away to college, but I knew that I at least had some sort of, you know, constant going back home to my hometown whenever I would go and visit on the weekends and during breaks and stuff. But that all changed, and it felt like my world kind of flipped upside down because I just didn't really know how to handle it. And I just remember, you know, the first time I came home, my new neighborhood was not anything like the neighborhood that I used to live in growing up. I didn't know the neighbors. They didn't know me. They didn't really know my parents either because a lot of the neighbors were older, so they either were never home or just didn't really come out of the house much. And I just didn't feel safe in my neighborhood. I didn't feel like I had a community of people that would have my back if I was ever in danger because they didn't really have any reason to, you know, protect me or feel like they needed to. And so, yeah, I avoided coming home for some time, and it's been or it will be two years in May of this year since they came home or since they moved. And, yeah, since then it has been – it's definitely gotten easier, but it still is hard for me. I think since my parents moved, it's kind of made me realize how hard change is something for me to come to terms with, even though I know it is inevitable and it does happen. I think this was something that I wasn't ready for and wasn't expecting, especially because it was so out of the blue. And now all I'm left with is memories of my childhood. And at first it was really hard for me to even think about it. I honestly felt very selfish and guilty for feeling upset and feeling the way that I did about my parents moving. But I think as months have gone on and time has gone on, I've just started to really grow in appreciation and realize that, although I no longer live in my childhood home and my hometown anymore, I am left with so many amazing memories and so many great things for me to reflect on. And I know that my childhood was not perfect, and by no means am I trying to paint that picture that it was because it wasn't. But I do know that I was surrounded by a whole lot of love and a lot of great people. And for that, I'm so grateful, and I would not change any of that for the world. And now I'm just lucky enough to sit back with the memories that I have and reflect on them and be able to tell my children about it someday. And that is just a great feeling to have. And I'm so thankful that my parents moved to Katy and gave me the life that I had. But, yeah, I think that this was just a really great reflection for me. And I'm just so thankful for every experience that has brought me to the point that I am because I genuinely would not be the same person that I am today without my hometown and my upbringing. So, yeah.