I love Houston

When I logged onto my ISP (I use dialup), the usual ocurred. A pop-up or two, quickly closed, my AVG updated itself, and my "Welcome Screen" appeared. It seems a San Diego suburb has been rated the "Safest" town in America.

Good for them. I'll never forget the day I moved out of California. See, "We Gotta Get out of this Place" had been my theme song for a couple of years beforehand. I loved Redwood City. It's a beautiful little town, just the right balance of developed and unspoiled. It had the best "Setup" of any place we've lived. Just two blocks to the transit center, commuter train station, two large grocery stores, drugstore, and giant bookstore. A few more blocks and we had the Post Office, City Hall, restaurants I still miss, the community college branch, and an awesome thrift store. Everything was close by. It was terrific.

However, I was paying $1000 a month to live down the street from a crackhouse, and the sex offenders, at that time, were paroled to a residential hotel that rented rooms by the week. Eek. Plus, I'll take heat and humidity. When I'm cold, so is everyone else. Not so in California. Generally, by the time I got warm everyone else was wailing about the heat.

So, I love Houston. The first time I set foot into the town I felt a bone-deep connection. When I look at the skyline of downtown, I'm so overcome by emotion I have to blink back tears (even on the mood stabilizers). It's visceral. I just love this town.

We've had some adventures. Our stockroom (BAD postal workers! Very Bad!) was burgled several times. We had endless petty theft as well, until we got the padlock. Our home was robbed once (the infamous naked wife incident), and Ron himself was robbed by a policeman while he lay bleeding to death in the road after his accident. We had/have a serial killer in Acres Homes - not close to us, and I don't fit the victimology. We've got 4 million residents, some of them are bound to be bad apples.

I still love it. We live in an international town, it's amazing how many various races and cultures come together here, to form a fantastic gumbo of humanity. Where else can I learn to say "Have a nice day." in Ethiopian, Farsi, Urdu, and Uzon (Nigerian dialect)? Where else can I find a Vegetarian Indian food restaurant, or an all-night NY style deli? No matter what your "style" we've got an apartment complex for you. Some of them even have valet trash pickup, or beg you to please move in with your large dog.

When Ron was hurt, he was taken to a world-class trauma center and treated like a king, even though he didn't have insurance. I never felt he was shorted on the quality of his care. Everyone, even the medical students, was kind and informed. They cared.

That's what it comes down to for me. In Houston, they still care. When Ron was in the wheelchair I very seldom had to open a door. Everyone was happy to get the door for us.

I love this town.