After years of absence, often the best way to return to our hometowns is through the filtered lens of time. As the years drift us back into nostalgia, we are struck by the clarity and fondness of our memories. Who ever said, "You can't go back again," forgot about the satisfying emotions of a time and place for our childhood and teenage crush years. I believe most of us have never forgotten our first love, our first kiss, our dreams and fantasies, and our music from the past. Certainly, I had a rich cultural heritage experience that shaped and molded my thoughts and actions as an adult. Money was tight, but living was right. McCamey, Texas, was my teenage incubator. In school and on the field of sports we were the mighty Badgers. Our West Texas culture revolved around Texas history, football at any level, God, and country, virtually in that order. After all, we lived only fifty miles away from where "Friday Night Lights," was reality and the location for filming of the movie.We had our legends. The lost treasure of Maximilian from Mexico was said to have been buried only ten miles away in Castle Gap. The Goodnight-Loving trail passed through the same gap going to and from Horsehead Crossing, a major watering hole and fording spot on the Pecos River. We had our heroes like Sammy and Martha Long. Sammy was a Texas Stte Trooper shot down in his prime and his wife, Martha, was our Home Economics teacher who was a legend in her own right. Pansy, was a high flying trapeze artist beauty, whose husband perished in a circus brought to the bustling oilfield community in the late 1920's. Pansy never left, because that is where he was buried and became legendary for her recycling efforts, radio flyer wagon and walks 150 miles to San Angelo every now and then to do her banking. Yes, folks, she deigned to ride with anyone and walked both there and back by herself. Then there was the ill-fated Shell million- barrel oil tank that when filled crushed the base and all the oil ran into the ground. Humble Oil set up its first headquarters in McCamey.All of the legends, high school memories, friends, relatives, and activities come alive in this poetic depiction of what it was like "once upon a time."