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I had a ton of fun when the company I worked for sent me to Regina, Saskatchewan. I wore my "Don't mess with Texas" baseball cap.

It seemed like every Canadian I ran across just wanted to hear a Texan speak, so I pulled out the old Texas drawl and laid it on pretty thick. They ate it up.

The other company engineer that went with me (not a native Texan) mentioned, when we were alone, that I didn't normally sound like that. I explained that I was having fun, they were enjoying it, and it bought us a lot of good will.

One day at lunch one of the upper managers with the customer company asked me if I was a native Texan. My reply was, "Born and jerked up!" That too went over big.

It was quite a contrast because when I was in the USAF, people couldn't figure out where I was from until I told them. I had developed a very neutral accent.

I selected "Born and Raised in Texas and never left", but that's not exactly 100% true.

I spent just over 22 years in the USAF. I lived lots of places but Texas was always home, in my heart and officially (home of record).