Tuesday’s Tune – Deep in the Heart of Texas

It’s Tuesday and time for another edition of Tuesday’s Tune. A couple of weeks ago, I went home for a brief visit. Down Thursday, home Sunday.

the original ‘peanut photo’ taken June 2019

WARNING: While my trip how was brief, this post is not. It’s a long read.

Home is Texas, Sugar Land, to be precise. Sugar Land is a town southwest of Houston, though it’s hard to tell the dividing lines between the two these days.

The stars at night
Are big and bright
Deep in the heart of Texas
The prairie sky
Is wide and high
Deep in the heart of Texas

It was a business trip of sorts, my stepmother died in January after a brief illness. She would have been ninety, ten days ago on the thirteenth. When she died, in January, we sorted through her apartment  and dispersed what remained of her belongings. In the end, I  packed several boxes full of pictures, letters, family memorabilia and shipped them to her niece and nephew in England. What we couldn’t keep, we donated. I decided I wanted a cedar chest which had belonged to my paternal grandfather. At the time, I tried to have it shipped home, but I couldn’t find a cost-effective freight forwarder or another way to do it, so I placed it in the storage locker and planned to come back during the summer to pick it up.

Fly down, rent a car, and drive back. I wrote about the return trip, or at least a part of it last week in my W^2 – farming post.

There is a lot to process when you lose a loved one. Saturday was the fifteenth anniversary of my dad’s death in ’09. His death, and my grieving, is part of why I started blogging in the first place. Therapy of sorts, I am work in progress.

My brothers and I have seen a lot of each other the last few years since our mother sold our home in Sugar Land and then passed away within a year. A year later our stepmother fell, was hospitalized, moved out of her home, then we moved her from Mississippi to Texas in the middle of COVID, a couple years later we sold her home in Mississippi, and now she has passed away. In all of this we lost our only aunt to cancer. It’s been a tough stretch for us, but we’ve grown stronger and relied on one another to weather the storm together. Bend but not break.

Our family moved to Texas in the early sixties. Texas was booming. My dad was in the oil business, a chemical engineer. We moved as he found new opportunities and grew his career. I was born in North Carolina, my middle brother born in Alabama, and my youngest was born in Texas, southwest of Houston. We’d move thrice more – twice in Texas and to Paris and back – before we landed in our home in Sugar Land.

Growing up in Texas we learned (we were taught) Texas is BIG and a whole ‘nother country. I remember singing the song, ‘Deep in the Heart of Texas’ in elementary school music class.

The stars at night
Are big and bright
Deep in the heart of Texas
The prairie sky
Is wide and high
Deep in the heart of Texas

Texas is home, even though I’ve lived almost half of my life here, in Illinois.

I arrived Thursday morning in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryll. The hurricane had struck Houston early Monday morning and several days later, many parts of the area were still without electric power. One brother had his power restored Monday afternoon and the other, still did not have power when I arrived Thursday morning.

I met my middle brother at his house before we went to the storage facility, unfortunately he couldn’t find the key, and we ended up needing to engage a locksmith. By the time the locksmith arrived, my youngest brother was able to  meet us at the storage locker. Once we were in, we emptied the storage locker and retreated to my middle brother’s house. While we there, deciding stuff and catching up – his power was restored.

The stars at night
Are big and bright
Deep in the heart of Texas
The prairie sky
Is wide and high
Deep in the heart of Texas

Thursday evening, I had planned to go the Astros baseball game. I had invited both brothers, but they politely declined. I hadn’t been to an Astros home game since 2019, so I was excited about going to the game.

Thursday night’s seats – camera well on my left, Diego and his family to my right

I arrived early enough to get the giveaway, find my seat, and grab a bite to eat before the game began.

I sat low, I was able to find a cheap seat in a good spot. Three rows from the field near the dugout, my seat was up against the camera well where the team’s media department snapped photos and managed the team’s social media. My seat mate was a a 12-year-old boy and his family from Brownsville. We talked a little bit, but he was interested in the game getting his baseball signed – by game’s end he had four player’s signatures. It was fun to watch the camera crew and the game. It was a good game, and the Astros won.

For the seventh inning stretch, the Astros play the traditional “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” like most baseball teams. They follow it with “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” It was recorded by Mo Bandy in 1982. It is fun and catchy and the crowd sings “Deep in the Heart of Texas” with much more enthusiasm than “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

Friday morning, I spent time with my youngest brother at his house before driving back to my hotel to get some work done. While I was working, a thunderstorm rolled through and knocked the power out the power went out. It also knocked out the water pressure, so I gathered my stuff, and drove my to middle brother’s house to take a shower before we went for a late lunch before Friday’s game.

For Friday night’s game, I chose to sit in the Crawford Boxes. These seats are named the street that runs along that side of the stadium. The seats are in left field and are known for being the landing spot for left field home runs. Friday night, there were three home runs that landed in our section!

Friday night’s seats

It was fun game, and I met some new friends – Ethan my seat mate was beside me, Aayan a 12-year-old boy and his father and brother behind me, and Mia, a 12-year-old girl, her dad, and her Uncle Joe in the row in front of me. As a teacher of 11 to 12 year-old kids I found it an interesting coincidence to have ended up sitting next to 12-year-olds BOTH nights.

I’ve shared this before, but the people you sit with and meet at the ballgame are often as much fun as the game. That’s what makes the ballgame experience – sharing the game with others. Ethan was decked out in his Astros gear and during the second inning break when the camera panned the crowd, we made the jumbotron. I think it was mostly his hat, though my hair might have been a factor!

Before the game started, I was setting up my scorebook when I noticed the young man in the row behind me looking at my book and I asked him,

“Do you know how to score?”

He replied, “no.”

“Do you want to learn?” I asked.

“Sure!” He replied as a I gave him a scorecard and a pencil I had purchased.

“I’ll teach you,”  then I explained how a scorecard is setup and how the scorecard ‘tells the story of the game.’

In between innings, we spent the rest of the game checking with each other, and I shared tips on how to check if it was ‘right,’ by looking at the scoreboard when batters came to bat, or after the play was over. I even explained to him you learn as you go, and everyone’s scorebook or scorecard is slightly different. In the middle of the game, his dad took he and his brother to get ice cream, and he left only after I told him I’d catch him up when he got back.

teaching and learning never ends, how to keep score

When the game was over, his dad thanked me for sharing how to score a game with his son and told me I had made his son’s night by teaching him how. I think it was it was the other way around, it made my night being part of the community of baseball fans.

Friday night ballgames at Minute Maid are Friday Night Fireworks. I stayed after the game, but I had to change seats as the stadium roof was rolled back and the outfield seats were cleared for the fireworks show.

It was a great show and as I walked out of the stadium with the crowd, I heard,

“Hey Clay!”

I looked in the direction of the voice to find Uncle Joe, Mia, and her dad.

“It was great meeting you tonight,” Uncle Joe said.

I nodded and agreed. I wished them a fun weekend in Houston and continued out of the stadium.

the finale of the show… a great finish to an amazing evening

I made it to my car and headed back to my hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel’s power had not been restored, but they did have backup generator to power the elevator. I texted my brother and he invited to sleep on the couch, and I gathered my stuff and checked out.

Before I knew it, it was morning and I needed to freshen up, pack, and hit the road. I had breakfast with my brother and my nephew before driving to Vicksburg.

And so, a brief trip to Houston was full and finished. It is always good to visit with family. I got the cedar chest I wanted, I spent time with my brothers, and I got to watch a couple of ballgames. Almost all of Saturday and Sunday were spent driving.

The sage in bloom
Is like perfume
Deep in the heart of Texas
Reminds me of
The one I love
Deep in the heart of Texas

I am home in Illinois for a couple of important house errands, one of which is complete. I’ll be going back to the lake for the annual canoe race and the week after with friends before returning for our daughter-in-law’s baby shower in August. They are expecting twins in November.

Summer is full, but so is life, if you are doing it right. Today is going to be an amazing day and in a few ways, it already is. So, I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, making connections in the most unlikely ways.

How is your summer going?

“Deep in the Heart of Texas”

The stars at night
Are big and bright
Deep in the heart of Texas
The prairie sky
Is wide and high
Deep in the heart of Texas

The sage in bloom
Is like perfume
Deep in the heart of Texas
Reminds me of
The one I love
Deep in the heart of Texas

The coyotes wail
Along the trail
Deep in the heart of Texas
The rabbits rush
Around the brush
Deep in the heart of Texas

The stars at night
Are big and bright
Deep in the heart of Texas
The prairie sky
Is wide and high
Deep in the heart of Texas

The sage in bloom
Is like perfume
Deep in the heart of Texas
Reminds me of
The one I love
Deep in the heart of Texas

Songwriters: June Hershey / Don Swander

7 thoughts on “Tuesday’s Tune – Deep in the Heart of Texas

    1. Yes, it was a compact and full trip. It was wonderful to see my brothers and talk about our next steps in person, rather than by phone. Hoping for at least one more baseball trip before school starts. Take care and have a wonderful weekend.

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