Not the America I know

I was watching television this morning, but I found myself reading the news off my iPad and paying more attention to that than I was  to watching "Morning Joe." In frustration, I turned off my iPad and television and took my morning shower because I needed a reboot from all the negativity, and the know- it- all. It was 7:00 A.M., and I wondered if the old Guerrera's was still in business.

It didn't take me long to wake up, because as soon as I opened the front door, a swarm of yellow jackets were hovering over my head. That used to be a common occurrence in my youth, but  its been years since I've seen them,so I kept going to my truck ,knowing that I could take care that problem when I got back. It'll be a 3-minute job (2 1/2 minutes looking for the can of Raid wasp spray) to freeze them from 3 feet away.

When I got to the corner of Teakwood and the Houston highway, I was reminded of why we need a traffic light there.

As I was headed to the Mexican restaurant on Ben Wilson, it's as I was seeing Victoria growing before my eyes, I noticed the flurry of construction activity all along the Houston highway. I am amazed that they put so many apartments on that tiny acreage of land. Five head of cattle and two horses couldn't survive on that small plot of land.

I picked this area because this is where we bought our first home and lived there for about 30 years. It didn't take long for the positive vibes to start over taking all the negativity, that I have been absorbing for weeks. I was surprised to read a comment at the VA about the other side of town staying on their side, but some things never change, for some. In the booth next to me ,there were only two of us in the restaurant (not Guerra’s but a new name) so without even trying I overheard a man, which I presumed to be in his sixties, make his order, all the while the while talking on his cell phone in Spanish and English, lining up his lawn cutting jobs for the day. His last call was to Javier, who had overslept, saying that he would be over in 20 minutes, and he had him a taco and then asked him" cream and sugar right?" Can you imagine your boss doing that? As I was leaving, two men and a young teenager, who was still trying to wipe the sleep out of his eyes, were making their way into the restaurant. I was fortunate, that I didn't have to go to work with my step dad because his company would not allow it, so that made me a spoiled adolescent who spent his summer playing baseball until he got home and then the chores began.. The real tortillas, beans and migas took me way back, and I'm feeling a lot better but I'm probably going to need a dose of Houston this weekend to recover fully.

I'm not saying that my era is better than today's because in many ways it's not. I just need to stop now and then to reflect on where I came from, where I've been, and where I'm going. I've got to stop thinking that there's an app, book, or some new theory for that because, as I told a poster last week, "for everything that you read in that book, look to your left, and you will find another book that will contradict everything you just read." I’m pretty sure we didn’t acquire our parenting skills from a book. If you are like us,you made all the mistakes with the first one and tried to improve with the next child but quickly found out that children are as different as night and day. That's the information world we live in. It's no longer Aunt Martha's remedy for colic, dad's wire and masking tape fixes, or as we are now finding out, keeping private information a secret.

I’m sick and tired of people giving their version of the American Dream as if it was a truth certain. The ‘American Dream” can be that man who owns his own grass cutting business, which allows him to spend more time with his family. I’ve always thought it was about opportunity and not about bank accounts and assets. We saw what the most popular version of the “American Dream” got us in 2008.