St Paul’s!
Greetings from Canada, your semi-socialist neighbor to the north!
Canada is a wonderful country. The people are kind. The neighborhoods are safe. The healthcare is “free,” (At least that’s how they refer to it. Yet of course nothing is free. There are plenty of taxes to help subsidize the system, but how else are you going to pay for everything? But no one complains. So, good for them. However, having a country that is only 35 million to our 321 million does make juggling some things quite a bit easier.)
We were on the road for 6 straight days:
Prosper to Nashville, Tennessee.
Nashville to Staunton, Virginia.
Virginia to Hartford, Connecticut.
Connecticut to Queens, NYC.
Queens, back to Connecticut.
Connecticut up through Vermont to Montreal.
(one day of no driving, staying with Katie’s brother in Montreal)
Montreal to Toronto.
Toronto to the table where I am currently sitting at Katie’s in-laws.
On Monday we’ll head down to Buffalo to see my family.
Apparently Buffalo was named one of the top 50 worst cities in the nation to live in, coming in at #22! Which is funny, since it’s where I’m from, so I love Buffalo. It couldn’t possibly be a bad city. My grandpa lived and died there. He made lunch for me there. He took me fishing there.
And so you grow to love your home. It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of it, how it is measured, or analyzed. It’s yours. Time sows itself into the place where you live and brings forth love and contentment. And having come back to Buffalo and Toronto, places I lived and loved, I can say that everything in me now leans toward Texas. I’m happy I’m on vacation. But I miss my home. I love Prosper.
Tom+