Ahhh, September….The beginning of Fall and a new school year. Although the sounds and smells of new school supplies are now dominated by the click and clack of keyboards and freshly cracked-open laptops, the woody scent of number 2 pencils and cotton-candy aroma of glue sticks still remain in some elementary schools. For some parents who now have time to do other things than entertain bored children, nostalgia for the clean-slate beginning of the Fall term transports the mind back to autumn in other locales, where there may have been actual turning of leaves and crisp breezes to accompany them on their morning walk. (Do kids even walk to school anymore? From the line of buses and cars in front of the local schools, it would seem not many.)

Here in Texas, while we still endure daytime temps in the upper 90’s, the nights are gradually becoming cooler and the winds less balmy. We retain the right to vent about our deadly and humid heat, being survivors of yet another summer, but we know that we have it so much better here than the Yanks do in the northern territories, where they are already seeing 40 degree days and…wait for it…snow!

Our few months of mild winter, with only the occasional ice storm that affords us a couple of unplanned days off a year, are a blessing compared to the North’s six-month freeze and constant blizzards. Their short 70 degree summers, for those who have never lived there, don’t make for very comfortable swimming.

A Texas Spring is admittedly a thing of beauty with its plethora of wildflowers, but Autumn brings its own splendor. Some of the biggest skies in the country grow a little more azure, the grass stops frying and turns a shamrock green before it dies, and the pink and yellow lantana and fuchsia crape myrtle are blooming. It’s cooler now at the Ballpark, filled with the red and blue of Rangers fans, and Jerry World overflows with the silver and blue of Cowboys fans. Small towns are decked out in their high school colors, which makes a trip across Texas back roads like traveling through a rainbow. And while we may not have many colorful gold and maroon autumn leaves, we have plenty of UT burnt orange.

There’s a new blurb on a local radio station that says “You can always tell a Texan, but not much.” You sure can’t tell a Texan that any other state in the union compares; we are a proud bunch who proclaim our status with bumper stickers like “Native Texan” or “I wasn’t born in Texas but I got here as fast as I could.” There are more songs written about Texas than any other state, and this love letter to our unique home will end with one that says it all.

“When I die, I may not go to heaven,
I don’t know if they let cowboys in.
If they don’t, just let me go to Texas,
Texas is as close as I’ve been.”