On my one day trip to Houston to visit the Brazilian consulate, I also met a good friend from college days, who recently got married and moved to a new house. The house was just beautiful, and about 20 times bigger than any pathetic little apartment I had ever had in New York. I had forgotten about the living opportunities Texas suburbia can offer to people of my age and income level. It lets them be adults and have appropriate space to store and accumulate more possessions. I loved the house, and especially the huge kitchen (I have a thing for kitchens, despite hardly ever cooking) but it mostly made me feel claustrophobic, funny enough. I got used to minimizing the amount of stuff I have, optimizing usage of little closet areas, stacking things up as much as possible, throwing away half of what I have, every time I moved. Imagining having a house like this made me anxious. What would I do with all this space? The space was closing on me..
I don’t think I could handle it. I will have to change so many behavior patterns. Having to drive everywhere made me so tired in the past few days – I completely forgot about my life being this way. I think I will stick to big cities and crappy apartments, at least of a while.
On the way back from Houston, I saw maybe 100 BBQ houses. I guess it’s a Texas thing 🙂 Going to take coastal (East & West) visitors to one of those today. I also decided to be adventurous and stop at a random small town truck stop for a snack break. A watery coffee and a donut later, I am happy to report that I am still alive.
Grobetrotter 