Happy Houston

Growing up in the northwest, I’ve always considered the mountains home. When I travel to new forests, thick with trees and rocks, I breathe easily. I don’t want to see far, unless I scale that hill. A view requires some work, and that feels right.

The beach is relaxing for sure. The waves going in and out, the gentle breeze dusting your face while the sun warms your skin. That happy face a cat makes when lying on their back in the sun, that’s how I feel laying on the sand. It’s a great place to visit. But it’s not home.

Flat spaces feel almost foreign. It’s like the ground became playdough, and a giant kid decided it was time to smoosh.

Cities have never evoked any kind of grounded emotions. Don’t get me wrong, they are incredible places to see the big show, follow your favorite sports team, or shop for things you simply can’t find in a small town. I love cities for what they provide. But for me, they are ultimately only for visiting. Or at least that’s what I thought.

Then I went to Houston for a week. My family even lived there for two months last fall. Now, flying home after another week's stay, I think something changed. Houston is the first city I can imagine living in. I missed it when we left in the fall, anticipated returning this winter, and now feel a little strange knowing there isn’t any return trip planned. Here are some of the things that I loved.

The People

I found the people to be really kind and thoughtful. At an individual level, my interactions were always nice. Conversations came easy and usually had some good laughs. Even going through crowded places like a baseball stadium, I always felt at ease. The diversity is also really wonderful. Every kind of person seems represented in equal proportion. I don’t know how to describe it other than feeling culturally balanced. When this happens, tensions or differences seem to dissipate. Obviously, this isn’t something that can be achieved anywhere. But when you walk through it, the vibe is really good.

The City

Seattle is the big city in Washington, so I’ll use it as a barometer. Seattle has a population of 775,000 living in 84 square miles. Houston, by comparison, has 2.3 million residents spread over 640 square miles. Here’s how I describe Houston to friends, “It’s like four Seattle's, all spread apart, so you drive from what feels like a city for 30 mins and then are in what feels like another city, but it’s the same city, and there’s still two more corners.” So it’s big, but it’s Texas, so you can still easily drive anywhere in a truck and find parking. When we lived there, our apartment was next to an 18 lane highway. I loved hearing the navigation say things like, “move to one of the 5 right lanes before taking the exit.” Even with the huge highways and large city centers, it was still easier to drive and find your destination than Seattle. Much easier actually.

Great Attractions

If you go to Houston, get a city pass. It saves you a lot of money, and all the places it offers are excellent. The Museum of Natural Science was so awesome that we bought our own year pass, knowing that it would save us money by the many times we anticipated returning. And return we did, quite often. There are so many incredible exhibits that you need multiple visits to take it all in. Don’t miss the dinosaurs, that collection is amazing. NASA is well worth the short drive out of the city. Awesome parks, sports stadiums (we caught both Astros and Rockets games), animals (the zoo is so much fun - our inside joke was that every exhibit seemed to have a random turtle in it), and food. Lots of delectable food. Let’s just say we weren’t let down by any common attractions. We extended our final trip just to revisit our favorite spots.

The Doctors

I know deep down what I really love about Houston. It’s the doctors. That was the whole reason we went, and why we kept going back. Some of the most incredible medical centers exist in Houston: the University of Texas Cancer Center, the Memorial Hermann Health System, Houston Methodist, and of course MD Anderson. I’ll always have a special place for these doctors, as they were the ones that not only discovered my wife's rare cancer, they designed the treatment plan, and allowed us to implement it at two different medical centers in Washington so that we could stay close to home while they monitored from afar.

Last winter a ski instructor was so kind to my daughter that she mentioned it at home. I love that person so much, just because they were encouraging to my child. I still think about that one kind gesture from a community member. So you can imagine how I feel about the people that cared for my wife for the last two years. It’s indescribable how much they mean to me.

I still love the Northwest, and have no plans of leaving. More than any physical location, it’s the friends and family that keep us grounded. It’s my community that I want to interact with at the grocery store or park. The people you care about form a stronger connection to what we call home than any building I’ve ever put my bed in. Maybe the biggest reason I found myself so at home in Houston was the people we built relationships with. Yes, as I think about it, that is it.

So who is it that makes you feel at home?