There I was in front of the Monte Carlo, facing a crosswalk and a couple of cars, and as I approached the crossing, they both stopped.
I was shocked, flabbergasted to say the least. No cars behind them, no other pedestrian crossing, just me. I looked around to make sure and proceeded crossing, thanking the drivers as I went in front of them. What a quaint small town!
Flashback ... I was born in Puerto Rico, raised in New York City—The Big Apple—from age 12 to 18, and then I joined the military (the U.S. Air Force). The Statue of Liberty at Ellis Island, 176th Street and the George Washington Bridge, Rockefeller Plaza, Madison Square Garden, the Public Library, the Empire State Building, 42nd Street and Times Square, the subway system. New York City? My playground.
I studied at the High School of Commerce (in front of Central Park at West 65 Street). I walked, ran, roller-skated, bicycled my way from East Side to West Side,
up and down Manhattan with its millions people. Most of them were on the subways or at the crosswalks at any given time—500-800 people jostling
to cross any given intersection, at any time of day, where everybody jaywalked, squeezed between cars, cabs, bicycles and people.
Irish, Italians, Puerto Ricans, Jewish, African -Americans, we were all a melting pot of a community. Poor, young, daring, students all, trying to survive the awful winters and the even hotter summers.
What brought me to Mountain View? Long story. I am so ever happy I have settled here and will live the rest of my life among a community that I have grown to cherish and love.
From a huge metropolis to a very small town. Of all of my good and bad decisions in life, this I would rate as the best.
A place where I'm comfortable and among friends. Mountain View, I love you!
