This is Home: A Letter to My Community

Fred Stewart, GM - Backyard Grill with Committee

Anthony Messina, GM - Union Kitchen Towne Lake with Committee

Metta’s Local Eats Dine Out for Charity 2nd Quarter Top Contributors 2021

Cottage Baker/Artisan 1st - Old 300 Ranch 2nd - Alchemy Bake Lab 3rd - The Spice Hippies 4th - The Flour Petal Bakery Restaurant 1st - The Backyard Grill 2nd - The Union Kitchen Cypress 3rd - Cypress Trail Hideout/Pappa Charlie’s Barbeque 4th - The Union Kitchen Katy 5th - Bao Bros Bistro Multiple Location 1st - The Union Kitchen 2nd - Ambriza 3rd - Romero’s Las Brasas Craft Beer/Wine 1st - Brew: 30 Taphouse 2nd - Wicked Boxer Brewery 3rd - The Hidden Cellar Wine Bar Storefront Baker 1st - Angel’s Churros ‘n Chocolate 2nd - Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee and Bakery 3rd - Cake Fine Pastry 4th - The Cupcake Cowgirls 5th - Just Love Coffee

This is Home.

A LETTER TO MY COMMUNITY.

BY ALLISON OKUNEYE

There is no place like home. A phrase that we have heard a million times. Most of us know that it's never actually about the "home". It is the feeling, energy and love that we all want to experience inside of the home. The thing that I missed THE MOST about Cypress for the last 2 years was that Texas "feeling".If you know, you know. I never realized how important that feeling was in my daily interactions until we moved away. It's the little things, like chatting with the cashier at the grocery store, driving around without people honking their horns in anger at everyone,the genuine care and consideration for those around you, and the willingness to help and give whenever you are able. (I could go on and on..but you get the vibes) We knew we had to get back to this community, and two years later, here we are. Before we even had luggage out of the car we had neighbors offering their help. The thing about Texans, when they offer something, they truly mean it. That feeling, experience and community that we missed so badly was there right away upon arrival. I got choked up and emotional because this was what we missed. This was Home, and I had not even stepped into our house yet. Over the next few days we met so many people who showed us so much love (and bourbon) and the genuine, caring, authentic excitement that was shown was overwhelming. There was a genuine excitement to welcome us into their homes and lives with open arms. I wanted to share this experience as a reminder to all of us that we are active participants in the lives of those around us and THAT is what makes this community unique. We all know how great Texans are at in times of need (Ice storms, Harvey, etc.) and we should also keep that same energy in our daily, mundane interactions with each other. The love that we felt from our neighbors, and our community at 11:30 pm on a random Friday night in July after a 15 hour drive, meant EVERYTHING to my family. Thank you to our neighbors for the warm welcome, and thank you to our community for making the adjustment so easy. There TRULY is no place like home, and we are officially HOME.