Just Call Me Stars: You're From a Small Town When...

You have to drive 2 miles on a dirt road to get to a party. The party is in a barn. With giant tractors and farm equipment inside the barn. And some guy's definition of "dressing up" to go out is tucking his t-shirt into his Wrangler jeans and throwing on his "good" baseball hat.

Okay, so this is not at all what the barn looked like where we celebrated some of my good friends' birthdays last night, but I know that when I tell people that we have parties in barns this is an image that pops into their heads. I love the completely shocked and confused faces of people when they find out that, yes, in order to have a party you must travel 20 minutes out of town down back dirt roads to a barn in the middle of nowhere. Sadly, most barns are not painted a bright red with white trim on the windows and doors. No, they are mostly just big buildings made out of boring gray material. And no, these barns are not filled with cute, cuddly animals. They contain giant, dangerous machines and dirty, heavy tools. First rule of barn partying, tractors and tools are not toys. We may or may not have learned this the hard way.

Yeah, imagine trying to have a friendly conversation with a long lost friend while standing next to one of those monsters. Last night, the youth of EC stepped it up a notch. Not only was there a huge barn party, but it also had a theme! Neon was the look of the night. Neon socks, hats, hair, shirts, underwear (come on girls, no need to show these), and even some neon vests hopefully borrowed and not stolen from the shopping cart roundup crew of El Campo's Wal Mart (super Wal Mart may I add). There were blacklights and strobe lights and glow bracelets galore. Don't judge me all you big city slickers, but it was a lot of fun! I wouldn't say that a barn would be my first choice for a party, but when you need a place big enough for a lot of people, and don't want to mess anything nice up, then they are a fabulous location! I convinced my roomie Alyssa, who is from the metropolis San Antonio, to join me in attending her very first party in a barn once, but it was a very bad experience, so don't ask her opinion on them. I don't think anybody who is from a bigger city would understand or enjoy the experience. It takes a person with very limited options for entertainment to truly embrace and accept this complete redneck and country atmosphere in which we are forced to party.

On a side note, Happy Father's Day to my dearest daddy! To celebrate, we ate hamburgers and cake, and he is now "watching" golf while taking a nap in the recliner. Hope all the fathers and fathers to be are having a great day! Love you dad!