The Dobie Walk

When I first walked up to the Dobie House, I did not even know I was there. I just noticed the houses and their landscape. I was thinking about how some day I cannot wait to have a house of my own with hopefully, a beautiful garden and a creek nearby. I found the house to be very charming. The older houses that seem to characterize the University’s surroundings fascinate me. They add so much history to the area. They remind me of how many people have come before me. When I am in this house, I find myself to be part of a tradition.

Proceeding from the house toward the mustangs and longhorn statues gives me a since of nostalgia. I feel as though I am somehow experiencing what the "west" was like. The mustang statues appear so real and full of energy. The horses appear to be frozen in a moment, yearning to leap off of their stand. I cannot help but think what a beautiful sight it must have been to see the land how it was before man interrupted it with his buildings and infrastructure. Dobie said that, "The earth does not think and does not care what people think, but it gives and takes with undeviating justice, and it remembers". I wonder if it will remember what man has done to it; how we have in a way killed its natural beauty and many of the animals which inhabit it?

I imagine a time when the land went on forever and the horses and longhorns even buffalo roamed free. What a sight that would be, to see Texas unaltered and home to so many wild animals! Dobie said that the longhorn "was also a home lover and a persistent returner to his querencia". I think I am very similar to the longhorn in this respect. I too long for home and find that I sometimes need to return back. There is something about home, specifically Texas in which I desire to go back. It sets me at ease to return home. It is my safety blanket.