Oak Hill People

Mat and I have this inside joke about our neighborhood. There are places around here that we refuse to go to because we imagine they are frequented by "Oak Hill People." This is a very specific category of Austinite that exists completely in our heads. We totally made it up, but when we say it we both instantly know what it means. Does that make sense? For example, we have vowed to never set foot inside The Village Inn, Darque Tan, or Detour (you know that bar over by Goodwill?). And we have a running joke about that Boomerz Nite Club over on 290W close to the gun range place. In our minds, these are all distinctly Oak Hill-type places.

For the record I don't even really know what the boundaries of Oak Hill actually are or if we technically live in Oak Hill. Our exact subdivision is called The Villages of Western Oaks. This is another inside joke with Mat and I. We can shop at the new Excarpment Village and take our kids to the park on Slaughter Lane, but who are we kidding? We don't live in Circle C. We don't even live in Legend Oaks. Heck, we don't even live in Western Oaks. We live in "The Villages" of Western Oaks. haha.

So anyway, the boys and I had an Oak Hill experience this morning. I decided to take them to McDonald's at the Y in Oak Hill for breakfast and to play on the playscape. I sent Jackson out to the playscape while I got our food, and when I sat down I noticed that he was just sitting up in the playscape. For a long time all I could see were his feet hanging down. When he finally came in, he told me there were a bunch of bugs in there and he was afraid. As we were eating I noticed a bunch of big black birds out there on the playscape. Once, I glanced out and realized the birds were catching grasshoppers in their mouths and devouring them right before our eyes. We ventured out there after we ate, and there were sick and dying crickets everywhere. There were also these weird moth-type bugs everywhere.

Mat always says I'm going to make the boys sissies or something because I totally over-react about bugs. I also really hate birds of all kinds. With that in mind, I was trying to just go with it and let them play for awhile. I just couldn't take it after a couple of minutes, though. Jackson and I were both getting freaked out. (Luke didn't care at all. He was busy waving and flirting with this little Mexican girl who didn't speak English and her Daddy.) I started yelling at Jackson to go get his shoes out of the cubby. Panicked, he started to get the shoes but then stopped in his tracks when he saw a bunch of bugs on the ground in the way. He started yelling, "What do I do? What do I do?" So I shouted, "Wait there! I'll get them!"

I took off after the shoes and happened to turn around to see that Luke had gotten my Diet Coke cup off the window ledge where I left it and was drinking Diet Coke through the straw! And he was carelessly just walking around crunching crickets under his feet. So I went back and snatched him up and then grabbed Jackson's shoes and we got outta there! The guy and his daughter probably thought we were CRAZY! From now on, as weird as I think it is to eat chicken for breakfast, we're sticking to Chick-Fil-A and the indoor playground - far, far away from Oak Hill.

Okay, one more thing about Oak Hill. Mat is obsessed with this guy who writes a column called Have You Heard? for the Oak Hill Gazette. He really thinks this guy is cool and talks about him all the time. He even currently has his icon on iChat set to be this guy's picture! I may have to add him to my blog list...


UPDATE: If you like to go to one of the establishments mentioned above, it does not mean that you are Oak Hill People. We actually have a good friend who apparently goes to The Village Inn all the time. However, if you like to go to all the places mentioned above, you probably are Oak Hill People. :-)