Have Snot Will Travel

In our early married life, my husband and I moved a lot. In fact, we were in a pattern of moving about every 3-5 years. Not just to a new place, but to new cities in Texas. It just worked out that way. We lived in Austin for around 5 years. But, we didn't have any family there and we got it in our heads that we didn't "fit" in Austin. So, we moved. (Since then, I have come to regret this some and have missed Austin and my friends there whom I keep in touch with today.)

Better work opportunities and being closer to my family moved us to the suburbs of Dallas. The big "D" wasn't as awful as a lot of my more liberal Austinite friends told me it might be. Granted, we did move into the plastic surgery capital of Texas, Plano (at least it seemed like it). But, I got used to hearing people talk about the latest "work" they'd had done at my aerobics classes. Still, we found our niche, found nice people that we worked with, and we liked it there O.K.

Then, a few years later, another carrot was dangled in our faces during the internet boom. Getting in the ground floor of an internet start-up was just too tempting. And this time, the move would put us in the same city as family--my husband's birthplace and near his parents who are getting older and might need our help one day. Plus, we'd had our son, who was around 8 months then, and we wanted him to live near at least one set of grandparents. So, moving to Houston was too tempting to not jump on.

I like living in the 'burbs of Houston. A lot of people I have known in all three cities have ranted about living in the 'burbs and how cliche it is. They'd much rather be in town where things are less cookie-cutter and more interesting. But, I don't care. I'm a 'burb kind of girl. I like having a pharmacy within walking distance and a grocery store almost as close. I don't mind some of the cookie-cutterness of the neighborhoods, as long as I feel I can decorate my house and landscape my yard the way I want it and I get an awesome and big house to boot. I also like having some undeveloped areas around me too--although those are quickly getting built up around here.

And, Houston seems to be more laid back than Plano--more like Austin was, minus its two extremes--the homeless-hippies or the government faction at the Capitol. Houston is very multi-cultural and has AMAZING museums and opportunities for kids to learn new things. While there is no zoning in the city here, which people blast because it really makes it look ugly thanks to all the billboards, the parks in this area are some of the most beautiful in Texas. The climate is more tropical than most of Texas as well, so lush green and flowering plants thrive here. Where I grew up, your grass just got brown in the summer and you better like cacti and other drought-loving plants because in the dry 100-plus-degree temperatures of the summer months, well that's all that survived.
And, we've made nice friends here. We love our neighborhood for the first time and have gotten connected with people here. We built our dream home and I'm having fun decorating it when the pocketbook allows. So, I have NO intentions of moving (knock on wood), especially after next year when my son goes to kindergarten. Nope, this is where we plan to stay.

EXCEPT...I think that my entire family is allergic to this place. And, my husband agrees. Quite seriously, I have never had allergies in my life. But, I woke up this morning with snot flowing from my nose like a faucet. My son has allergy-induced asthma and has to take steroids. My daughter has shown signs of this coming on too. I know more kids than I can count who have to take breathing treatments who live here. I don't know if it is the pollution from the city or the refineries (which are pretty far from us), or all the trees in bloom, or what. But, our bodies are telling us they don't want to live here. And, it sucks.

Today, I bent down to pick something up and my nose spontaneously dripped out a stream of snot that was unsniffably destined to hit the floor. It was so gross, but I had no control over it. And I had JUST blown my nose. In fact, I blew my nose so many times this morning that I switched to using my durable-yet-soft Viva paper towels instead of Kleenex. And I'm STILL blowing. It is like someone turned on a switch in my septum and it's been jammed into the "go" position.

Someone told me that after 7 years or so, your allergies can change. We've been here 5, so I'm holding out for a few more years to see what happens. That is, unless my husband gets some other offer that takes us to who knows where--I guess all we have left on our circuit of the Lone Star state are San Antonio or back to our college stomping grounds in West Texas. Lord, help us...sniff, sniff...