END OF WEEK ONE IN TEXAS (4/15/09)

I'm really enjoying Texas so far. The weather is great. The people are friendly. My insurance rates have gone down by half! Grocery prices are a bit lower, especially for packaged goods, but dairy prices and organic is the same if not a little bit higher. Granted, there are some differences: pigs feet in the refrigerated and freezer cases and Bed Bath and Beyond sells a Texas-shaped waffle maker. There still is a lot to explore; I hear that there is a new farmer's market at the town center near us every Sunday.

We're staying in Pearland, which is a city with about 90,000 people. It resembles Lynnwood, though it's obviously a bit bigger. (Isn't everything in Texas? :)) We're also looking at the community of Sugarland, so I'm hoping to enroll Shantih in a camp there to get a better feel for the area.

We met two families today, so I will have playdates on the schedule soon I hope! Both part-time working moms--one is on a maternity leave with two-month-old twins. With a four year old son as well, she is a busy lady! The other mom I met at a local park, and she is a pharmacist with a 2 1/2 year old. Her daughter is right in the middle of Shantih and Alexis, but I'm sure that we can make something work.

I've found the Pearland Recycling Center, so I've started collecting my bottles, cans and newspapers, if nothing else. Nine years in Seattle has burned recycling into my brain!

For the most part, it doesn't feel THAT different. In many ways, suburbia is suburbia. The shops are the same: Bed, Bath and Beyond, Chili's, TGIF, Target, etc. People dress a little dressier, appropriate for warmer weather, but there isn't that much difference. Then, Monday night, I went to an orientation for a possible elementary school for Shantih and realized that I was in TEXAS. They had a slide show that showed their annual kindergarten rodeo; they have a real cowboy come in and talk with the kids; there was a texas flag in the gymnasium that had the oath next to it (I guess you pledge allegiance to the Texas flag,) and it goes on.

I'd thought about the fact that Shantih and Alexis would be Texans before we moved here, but it really sunk in on Monday night. My childhood memories of jumping in giant piles of vibrantly colored, Autumn leaves might be their memories of hot summer days at the water park. In many ways, the hot, humid summers of Boston have helped me look forward to this move, summer just doesn't feel right to me without some serious heat. Will that imprint on my kids and affect what they will look for in a home later in their lives?

For the moment, though, I'm looking for camps to enroll Shantih in this summer. We have a trial class at Little Gym on Friday. And Shantih is looking for friends. Alexis is looking for home. So, in a sense, we're all on the same page.