Dallas is a pretty big city, I know. Dallas is actually the 9th largest city in the U.S. and the third largest in Texas, with a population of 1,241,162.

It's the home of the:

Dallas Cowboys football team.

Texas Rangers baseball team.

Dallas Stars hockey team.

Dallas Mavericks basketball team.

FC Dallas soccer team.

and Texas Motor Speedway.

It's where the frozen margarita machine and what would become the microchip found in every device on the planet were invented, and where a 52 feet tall cowboy stands, proudly announcing himself as "Big Tex" in Fair Park.

The Dallas Arts District is the largest urban arts district in the United States, Highland Park Village Shopping Center was the first planned shopping center in America, and the first convenience store, 7-eleven, was started in Dallas.

Dallas is also home to former President George W. Bush and the George W. Bush Library and Museum, located at SMU.

Eighteen Fortune 500 companies located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area include such industry giants as ExxonMobil, AT&T, AMR Corp. (American Airlines), Fluor Corporation, Kimberly-Clark, JCPenney, Southwest Airlines, Texas Instruments, Dean Foods, Tenet Healthcare and GameStop. Dallas ranks sixth in the number of Fortune 500 company headquarters and is the fifth largest media market in the United States.

After telling you all of those exciting facts (I left a few out, I don't want to put every other city to shame), you can see why I am so proud to call Dallas home. This being said, Dallas has its limits.

There is a difference between being from a Dallas neighborhood and from a Dallas suburb. Richardson is not Dallas. Plano is not Dallas. Garland, Frisco, Allen, Flower Mound, are all not Dallas. The list goes on, and do not get me started on Fort Worth.

If it takes you longer than 20 minutes (okay, 30 minutes to allow for traffic) to get to NorthPark Mall and, more importantly, your mailing address does not include the token "Dallas, TX," you are not from Dallas.

If 635 and 75 are just numbers to you, and they don't evoke a dismayed head shake, you are not from Dallas.

If the names Winspear, Meyerson, Trammel Crow, Perot, and Nasher mean nothing to you, you are not from Dallas.

If all you know Dallas for is the TV show from the 80s and JFK's Assassination, you are not from Dallas.

Dallas is a great city, one that I am lucky and proud to call home, but we can't have just anyone claiming it as their own!

I know there are many people who are from the aforementioned cities who are complaining while reading this article, thinking: "Well, no one knows where I'm from, so I just say I'm from Dallas! What's wrong with that?" Well, my friends, it's easy to say "I'm from *insert city here*, which is about *insert distance here* from Dallas." Be proud of where you're from, and then you can explain where it's located based on the surrounding cities.

I'm not here to bash on the surrounding areas (Except for maybe you, Fort Worth. As far as I'm concerned, all we have in common is the DFW Airport. Keep the Stockyards, we've got a lot more going for us), but I've noticed the trend in lumping everything together. And it's the opposite of what we should be doing. Texas is such a big state; it's the second biggest in the country, and it actually takes longer to drive across Texas than to drive from the edge of West Texas to California! Let's be proud of where we're from, no matter the size. In the end, only the best of the best get to call Texas home.

Sincerely, your Texas-tattoo-adorning, Lone-Star-State-loving, and DALLAS-hometown-reppin,

Molly