So last week, I was at a conference in El Paso.  It was the first time I’d been back since I was a six-month-old baby.  My grandparents moved from Gießen, Germany to El Paso, Texas in 1959 when my grandfather was transferred to Fort Bliss.  Compare and contrast…

Ever the optimist, my grandmother took it as an adventure to create a green oasis in what was obviously a desert.   Apparently she was very proud when the ‘grass’ started coming up.  Then the next-door neighbor asked why she was watering the tumble weeds.

Anyroad, this is the house my grandparents built, that was later home to my parents after they got married and where I was ‘born.’   Although you can’t really tell, there are six cars parked in the front yard, one being a white and lime-green Cadillac El Dorado – awesome.  ‘Pepe,’ the chihuahua that came out to bark at me seemed à propos.  To paraphrase Thomas Wolfe… sometimes, you shouldn’t go home again.