Monday, December 18, 2006
question 2...
My old friend A. Scott White (CaveatEmptor), who I've known since childhood (maybe even earlier) asks the following:
A two-part question:
1) Name one thing you liked about Texas (in general) that you miss now that you're up in Washington.
2) Try to name the main thing you like better about Washington than Texas.
Hello, Toadman.
What do I miss about Texas? Just one thing? I suppose if the "one thing" wasn't my extended family, I'd be chastised. However, it should go without saying that I miss my family. You see, all my siblings, my parents, my nieces, nephews, and most of my cousins, live in Texas.
I suspect, however, that Scott knows that I miss them, I suspect that he's asking about something else. So, I'll give him something else that I miss about Texas.
Thunderstorms. I miss the massively giant thunderstorms. I miss the way the ground shakes when the thunder rolls, I miss the hours of brooding oppression while watching the Rhode Island sized storm clouds move in over the vast prairie. This just doesn't happen up here. There are thunderstorms, to be sure, but the Thunder is weak, tinny, and doesn't rumble in your gut and rattle the windows like it does down there. The thunder here doesn't make you feel a small.
The second question is pretty easy. I DON'T miss the sprawl. Or rather, I like that there isn't as much urban sprawl here. I like that I can drive for less than ten minutes and be in a pine wood forest, or wheat covered farm land. Or, I can drive just a little longer, and be on top of Mnt. Spokane. I like that.
It was almost shocking when we returned to Texas recently, for Thanksgiving, to be driving from my parents home in Boyd, toward the thriving metropolis of Fort Worth, and notice that many of the open prairies were now covered with tract homes as far as I could see. It was disorienting to see the tops of houses on the horizon, instead of the soft roll of the north Texas grasslands. It was a travesty, and a surprise, to see deer at my parents place one night. Deer that have been displaced by the growing city, and have been pushed out of their supporting prairie . I don't miss the massive crush of humanity. Not at all. I like small, quaint, open. That's the main thing I like about Spokane, and the inland northwest, in fact, and I'll fight to keep it this way.
I hope that answers your questions well Scott.
Hello, Scott.Labels: answers
