Rules to live by: (1) Always post a sentry during the afternoon siesta; (2) Choose your underwear very carefully.

Today is a day dear to the hearts of Texans everywhere, young and old, near and far, past, present, and probably future. For the record, I was not born in Texas. I moved there when I was six and moved away when I was 20, but I received a thorough indoctrination while there.

Today is the 173rd anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto that occurred on April 21, 1836, not far from present-day Houston. If you are not familiar with the battle, you can read all about it here. I hope you take the time to read the entire article, because it is a truly fascinating account. If you do, then and only then will you understand the title of this post.

Texans, being Texans, are justifiably proud of having defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna’s Mexican forces in a fight that lasted just 18 minutes. Hundreds of Mexican soldiers were killed or captured, but only nine Texans died.

Texans, being Texans, decided to erect a little monument in recognition of that fact. The San Jacinto Monument turned out to be the world’s tallest memorial column, 55 feet taller than the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

And Texans, being Texans, also decided to engrave the following modest inscription on the base of the monument:

“Measured by its results, San Jacinto was one of the decisive battles of the world. The freedom of Texas (not part of the United States at the time) from Mexico won here led to annexation and to the Mexican-American War, resulting in the acquisition by the United States of the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma. Almost one-third of the present area of the American Nation, nearly a million square miles of territory, changed sovereignty.”

As Mama used to say, “Don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back.”

Still, my indoctrination seems to have worked. Today’s post is about San Jacinto.

Remember the Alamo! (and other events)

Having grown up in Texas, I know that I know that I know (as Kathryn Kuhlman used to say) that today is the anniversary of the day in 1836 when William B. Travis, Jim Bowie, and Davy Crockett (yes, that Davy Crockett), along with almost two hundred others, were killed at the Alamo in San Antonio by the much larger army of Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna. Texas had declared its independence from Mexico on March 2nd. Just fifty days later, on April 21st, Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto, a place near the present-day city of Houston. A structure taller than the Washington Monument now stands there as a memorial to Houston's victory and Santa Anna's surrender. Both the Alamo and San Jacinto are "hallowed ground" to every Texan. Texas won its independence from Mexico, but not before suffering major losses at the Alamo and at Goliad. Later, after nine years as a sovereign nation, Texas joined the United States in 1845 as the 28th state. It was annexed directly into the Union without ever having been a territory, and part of the annexation agreement was that Texas could divide into as many as five states any time it wanted to. That option has never been seriously considered, however, because no Texan would ever want to give up the Alamo.

Today is also the day that will be known in our family as Ellie's Second MRI. Back in October 2006, her first MRI revealed that the rotator cuff in her left shoulder was torn, and that's how we came to know Dr. D., orthopaedic surgeon extraordinaire, who repaired it on the day before Halloween of that year. Last year was surgery-free at our house, but 2008 seems to have turned into The Year Of The Knee. Dr. D. replaced Ellie's right knee on January 7th and he is scheduled to replace her left knee on March 31st. But she injured her right shoulder somehow while pulling herself up in the hospital bed in January, and the pain has become worse. So today she is having another MRI in Marietta at one o'clock. We will not know the results until next Thursday.