Recess in the schools of Abilene can be cancelled for any number of reasons. It’s too hot. It’s too cold. The students broke all the rules that day. Baby rattlesnakes were spotted by a custodian on morning duty.
That last one is fairly common at my children’s school. I’ll admit that when my in-laws from Ohio visit, I play up this fact. There’s something about saying, “My kids couldn’t go to recess today because rattlesnakes were spotted around the playground equipment,” that makes me feel very Texan.
Despite an origin story that would suggest otherwise, I haven’t always felt Texan. I grew up in Menard, right on the edge of the Hill Country. My father was born on the second floor of Menard City Hall, and he raised me two blocks from that very location. My great-uncle, Nicholas Pierce, wrote The Free State of Menard 80 years ago, and it is still considered an important historical text in the area.
