Surprising longing

We lived in Texas for just over 9 1/2 years. 9 1/2 long years. In a place where the "good" grass was what the rest of the world considered crabgrass, weeds. Where that good grass was infested with fire ants, the sting of which would cause you to swell and blister and itch. In a place with heat that would knock you down and humidity that would sit on your chest and push the breath out of you. In a place where the skies turned yellow and tornado warnings constantly ran across the bottom of the TV screen. In a place where ice storms would blow down I-35 and lay down inches of thick ice on the roads and freeze your car doors shut. And then the next day it would be 90 degrees again. In a place with two seasons, hot and hotter than hell. Our pipes froze, our air conditioner froze over from overwork, all within 6 months.

But you know what never happened in Texas? Rodents never crawled into the engine block of my car and did $400 worth of damage to the electrical system.

Today, I miss Texas.