Thoughts on Texas

I can't believe it has been two months since my last post. We have left Texas and are almost settled in Lone Tree, just south of Denver. I thought that for this first post back I'd share some thoughts on Texas.

There were three real reasons for leaving Texas; weather, politics and schools. The weather was too hot too often, the politics were too often for sale to the highest bidder and providing quality education is simply not a core value for enough Texans. (An aside here, education, for many years, did not have to be a core value. Young Texans could make a fine living on the ranches and in the oil fields without ever worrying about the quality of their education. As a result, Texas' political leaders always talked a good game about education but never did anything about it. That's still happening today. Although I believe Carole Keetin Strayhorn, if elected Governor, would likely begin to change that culture.)

There are, however, things I greatly miss about Texas.

1. Don't Mess with Texas. I miss the Texas swagger. My dad always taught his children and his students about the importance of developing a sense of place in narrative and in life. No other state has such a well defined sense of itself and its' connection to the land than Texas. I have no real understanding of why Texans love their land so much but I miss that strong sense of identity. It is contagious.

2. Keep Austin Weird. Austin also has developed a very strong sense of identity and it is well defined. Austin is the quirky, live-music capital of the world. I really enjoyed living in a city with that identity.

3. Texans are friendly. They really are. They are also generally pretty direct which makes their friendliness even more refreshing.

4. There really is something to the "can do" mentality in Texas. Texans are generally self-reliant problem solvers. I really like that attitude. The problem, of course, is that when carried too far it can become much more a selfish attitude in which one only takes care of oneself and fails to understand the importance of helping neighbors, fellow residents of one's city or fellow Texans. That happens all the time in Texas.

The good news is this, I've been able to get back to Texas once already and will visit again in July. I hope to find ways to visit Austin three or four times a year. It is a good place with many advantages. For me, it is a great place to visit -- but Colorado is a great place to live.