Kyle has changed tremendously, but if you grew up here, you can probably relate to a few of these.
1. Everyone, at some point, started their sports career at Hays Soccer, Baseball and Softball complex.
Your dad was your first coach here. You probably tried baseball for a season, and while 3 years old you were in the outfield picking flowers during your t-ball game, you saw the kids playing soccer, and wanted to go try that out. At some point you had a quirky team name like "silver bullets" and your team name was mostly decided on your team colored jerseys.
2. There was cross town rivalry: Hays vs Lehman.
It’s always been there, but lets face it, it’s gotten a lot harder to keep up the animosity because you’re BFFs with them on the weekend.
3.The house on the hill.
Before Seton came and took over half of Kyle, you remember that little tiny house at the very top of that hill.
4.DQ was our only restaurant.
For the longest time if you were eating fast food, you were only eating DQ. If you wanted other fast food, you had to hop on the 35 and go to the next town over.
5.The St. Anthony Fiesta and Tree Lighting.
That was your social hour. You better believe you were begging your parents to go to these events because this was your way of social interaction. The whole town was going to be there and you were sending a myspace message to your crush, making sure he or she was going to be there too and where to meet up.
6.You babysat your teachers kids.
Honestly, you know your 5th grade teacher is still teaching at your elementary school. You’re Facebook friends with your middle school teacher, and you babysit your high school teacher’s kids. It was never weird, because you already spent all your free time hanging out in your teacher’s classroom, you considered them to be your second family anyway. Besides, you were getting paid.
7.You were in the paper, at least once.
With such a small town, Moses somehow captured a quick picture or interviewed you and you made it into the Hays Free Press. And somewhere deep in an old photo album, your mom has it cut out and saved.
8.You and your friends were really creative at having fun.
Honestly, there was nothing to do in Kyle circa 2006. You were probably out riding bikes, playing outside, or going on random adventures with your friends. Until HEB came around, then you were probably running around in there playing store tag.
9. Friday Night Lights.
Yep. You know, when the entire city shut down and everyone was at the stadium ready to watch some good ol’ football. You were sporting lobo or rebel onesies since before you could even shout “go lobos/rebs”. Your parents were out there screaming their guts out and cheering for these high school boys like it was NFL football. Meanwhile, you were trying to hang out under the bleachers with all your friends, trying not to get caught by security who always made you stop hanging out down there, and go back to your seat.
10. Everyone knows everyone.
Childhood best friends are likely to last when living in a small town. You’ve been through elementary school, middle school, and high school together. The Tamayos still own the same house at the end of the street. Families have streets named after them. Your dad is BFFs with the owner of Piscis, and almost a quarter of your high school is somehow related to each other. You know your neighbor, and you can easily talk to people like “Hey you know, Stacie from down the street?” and it’s somehow followed by “Yeah, her dad owns BonTon?”
Although it might be rough, you know you loved living in your small, little town. It’s amazing to see how much Kyle has grown in the last ten years. And even if you move away, you’ll always know where your roots started, and the ten problems you faced (almost) everyday. Here’s to you, Kyle!
