Independence Day
On March 2 in 1836, Texas became a republic. On March 1 delegates from the seventeen Mexican municipalities of Texas and the settlement of Pecan Point met at Washington-on-the-Brazos to consider independence from Mexico. George C. Childress presented a resolution calling for independence, and the chairman of the convention appointed Childress to head a committee of five to draft a declaration of independence. In the early morning hours of March 2, the convention voted unanimously to accept the resolution. After fifty-nine members signed the document, Texas became the Republic of Texas. The change remained to be demonstrated to Mexico.
I, for one love the idea that Texas was its own country many years ago. I even promoted the Texas Secede initiatives in the 1980s when we were inundated by Michigan people crossing the northern border of Texas to settle in the oil-rich Houston area. Economy was booming; however, our streets became overcrowded with those people continuing to drive with Michigan license plates instead of switching to Texas ones that support our highways and roadways. And now, again we have people crossing our borders from all countries and states, depleting our water sources and using our tax dollars illegally. Okay, enough of that – I have a lot of transplants as friends. Individually, they’re great and I’m happy they’re my friends – the massive influx – not so much.
The main reason for this blog was to relate my feelings about independence. In 2016, I got the call from my direct-report at IBM Consulting that I was being resource-actioned. Corporate had been threatening us with layoffs since they bought the entire consulting practice of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, where I had been employed since 1994. I made it from October 2002 until March 2016, on Texas Independence Day. Of course, I panicked and saw a friend who had been attempting to get me to work for her ad agency. So, whew, I could start part time in July once my three-month notice was completed. Then, you know what I did? I celebrated Texas Independence Day and my independence from a position that caused health issues, required a minimum of 60-hour weeks, and was extremely stressful at Gruene Hall. I had fallen in love with Roots and Americana music that was so popular in the Hill Country. So, Gruene Hall was one of my favorite venues to listen to music.
So Texas Independence Day will always be a favorite holiday of mine. The years since 2016 have been good to me and I will continue to celebrate independence.