Is everything bigger in Texas?

During the drive across west Texas with the 80 mph speed limit and deserted landscape, Texas certainly felt big. A couple days ago in Houston, the four levels of overpasses and the 10 highway lanes each direction felt pretty big. The turbo diesel, extended cab, V10 trucks were also big. But I suppose that’s to be expected when the oil is right under your feet.

A big ego is understandable from a state that was a stand-alone country for nearly a decade and requires all high school students to take a course dedicated to Texas history. It is this spirit of independence that has been immortalized in one of the most well known moments in Texas history—The Alamo.

174 years ago, next week, Davy Crockett and a handful of men made their last stand against thousands of soldiers in Santa Ana’s army. The men hailed from across the United States and were standing up against recent centralization of power in Mexico City. Less than two months after they all made the greatest sacrifice, Santa Ana was captured and his army expelled from Texas earning de facto independence (a treaty formalized the independence two years later in 1838).

Our Texas experience may have been less historic than Davy Crockett’s, but it turned out a little better for us. Although we have never lived in Houston or San Antonio, we reunited relationships built in France, Connecticut, Illinois and Tennessee. Despite our country’s dispersion and diversity, our almost daily meetings with friends and family make each stop seem uniquely familiar.