rsalinas191@student.alamo.edu
It takes 45 minutes for me to get from my desk in Room 212 of Loftin Student Center to my home in far South Bexar County.
I have to be on campus at 7 a.m. on Thursdays for production work on The Ranger, 8 a.m. on Tuesdays and before 9 a.m. other days to get a decent parking spot.
That means I have to wake up two hours before I have to be at school.
I ask myself everyday, “When are they going to invent teleporting?”
It’s not like I do not have a choice; I can easily get an apartment nearby or stay at my aunt’s house only a few minutes from campus.
I just love to be around my family, horses and donkey.
I love to go home and tell them about my day — “them” being the horses.
That is something I cannot do living in the city.
Every mile is worth the drive when I get to see them every day.
I don’t care; I can drive for hours; I never get tired of the answering soft neigh from the back of my land when I get home and I yell, “Boyyyyyys.”
It’s good my neighbors aren’t very close to us because the animals make a lot of noise.
My closest neighbors are my horses. They put the “neigh” in “neighbors.”
It’s also a good thing I do not live near this college; I don’t think President Robert Zeigler or anyone else here would appreciate hourly donkey honk.
My donkey, Señor, puts the “honk” in “honky-tonk.”
My frustration in the amount of time and gas I spend on the daily commute is nowhere near the love I have for my ranch.
The price of gas is my family’s worst enemy because we drive 4×4 trucks and SUVs.
Everything is bigger in Texas, right?
Yeah, my family and I are the poster children for Texas ranching families.
I would not be able to live up to my family’s name if I lived downtown.
Although I have to rush to class and pray the remaining gasoline fumes get me to school, I love where I live.
I would never trade life on my ranch for the convenience of a high-rise apartment downtown.
I can just picture that: three horses and a donkey waiting for me each day, eating the plants in the lobby.