Terrie's Tales - March 10, 2010

I took Emilee to the Texas Celebration on the square. She got to make a pinch pot, tie-dye fabric with natural dyes like beet juice, and simulated Texas flags made from graham crackers and icing. ( I’d like to pass along an extra special thank you to Kim Wulf for explaining so passionately to my little uneducated Texan what each color of the flag represents. )

Emilee got to see a very talented parrot do a moon dance. But the much awaited stage coach ride was the treat of the day. She got to ride with her good friends Lance and Logan Holloway. Logan had already expressed an eagerness to get a look at the muskets, so I am pretty sure that had we been held up by bandits, he would have been our hero.

Myself, I wanted to ride the open buggy with Mr. Griffin. Jackson sure made it look fun.

I do wish however, that I could have paid a little better attention to the speeches and the booths on display. I’m pretty sure I don’t qualify as a Daughter of the Republic, but I am Texan none the less. Big E is the closest thing we have to an historian in the family, but I still enjoy hearing it and learning about all things Texan. I even like to imagine that I would have been a most excellent pioneer woman.

I tried to imagine myself climbing from a buggy to shoot the head off a rattlesnake as it attempts to snap at my youngster’s back side whilst taking a squat by the wagon wheel, or making a stand against circling Indians. The sound of my snorting laughter awakens me from my fantasy as I realize that this scenario would also involve bathing in frothy mud red creeks. I don’t see that happening. I better have been the daughter of some rich cattle baron, ‘cause this here girl ain’t about to go washing nuttin’ in a creek.

This of course does make me appreciate those who did come before us. Richard and Nell Hutchins, ya’ll be sure to tell your great-great grandmother, Mary Trammel Hughes who came to Texas by wagon, thank you for me one day when you see her in the sweet by and by.

One time when Zac and Liza were very young, about 4 and 2 respectfully, I drug them to the towering San Jacinto monument. Poor little darlings had to endure my emotional reading of all four sides. I held there little hands tightly (mostly because they were trying to run away) and tried my blubbering best to help my little Texans appreciate the sacrifices, the bravery, the loyalty, and the strength of the Texans that stood there before them on that swampy piece of land and the Alamo before that.

As I wiped the tears from my eyes one of them says, “Mommie, can we make a new penny flat. It only cost fifty cents.”

“Sure,” I say rather disappointedly that their appreciation lies at the feet of a souvenir vending machine, not at the feet of the dead.

Then we head over to the Battleship Texas. This more modern and tangible tour is more to their liking; although we are pretty sure it is haunted. Stepping back in time into the close quarters of the 1940’s era battleship was a little spooky. Or it could be my wild imagination was at it again.

This time of year always makes me think of the State of Texas. It was always the time of year in school that we’d color pictures of blue bonnet flowers, Mocking Birds, pecan trees, the Alamo and of course our flag. I can’t recite the pledge to the Texas flag anymore, but I’m glad to know that for now, someone is helping us all to imagine what it took to be a Texan in the beginning. Maybe it will motivate us to be the Texans we need to be today.
Come and Take IT!
G.T.T.
(You kids or sadly even adults reading this; look it up if you don’t know what it means)