SPACE

I never realized the importance of space for a sense of well being.  Texans are accustomed to wide open spaces.  I think that's why so many people here can save pets..large ones.  Horses, Great Danes, German Shepards, Greyhounds and Burros are some of the pets in rescue sanctuaries that we know of personally.  In New York space is limited.  My last visit to Park Slope and Manhattan was proof of that.  The city is filled with energy, diversity, culture, beats and rhythms,  street and folklore, commerce, multiple languages, heat, trees galore in PS.  But there is no space.   And once you get accustomed to personal space it frees you to be more aware of your own pulse, other people's existence, birds, trees, lizards, crickets, waves of sounds, roosters in the morning, cicadas and more.  It's not perfect here.  Too too many cars and everyone's on a phone while driving.  Each family on our block has multiple multiple cars and that's a problem.  But the space and the beauty of South 4th Street brings an inner calm that I have become accustomed to.  I will never return to a crowded city.  I am happy I began my life and my children's lives in that big salad of a melting pot.  Josh and Liz can go forward and not run to the Big Apple.  They can run anywhere...they can reach for the moon!