Goldilocks

R and I just spent a lot of time traveling to and from the U.S. for Thanksgiving. We had arranged to meet family in Seattle (where my brother lives), so we traveled 14 hours on Wednesday to get there and 14 hours on Saturday/Sunday to come home.

The first thing I realized upon exiting the SeaTac airport in Tacoma was that it was much colder than the Dominican Republic. The next thing I realized, very close on the heels of the first thing, was that I had not packed the appropriate clothing.

I don't know what I was thinking. I had looked up the weather forecast before we left Santo Domingo and knew it was going to be 50 degrees colder in Washington. And yet, I didn't bring a coat, and I don't know why. Denial? Senility?

The short (very short, for me) walk we took at Golden Gardens State Park reinforced what I had long suspected - I have an internal temperature comfort zone of about 10 degrees - between 69 and 79 degrees Fahrenheit. Sad, but true. The Dominican Republic is too hot, winter in the Pacific Northwest is too cold.

The view from Golden Gardens - beautiful, but freezing.

Nevertheless, we had a good time:

The Fremont Bridge Troll.

We 4 at Pike Place Market.

R and I headed back to the Dominican Republic via the red eye on Saturday night. On the flight from JFK to Santo Domingo, I struck up a conversation with the gentleman seated next to me. He was born in the Dominican Republic, but had lived for decades in the United States. He was returning to Santo Domingo to spend time with his 90-year-old mother. "I'm always happy to visit," he told me. "I like to spend time with my family. But I could never live there again - there's too much traffic, too much corruption."

Today at work, an elderly Dominican gentleman came to my window. He had just returned to the DR, too, and was seeking notary service (something we also do at the embassy). I talked to him a few minutes and he told me, "I worked a lot of years in the U.S., but I'm retired now. I have a little pension so I moved home so I can spend time with my family. The U.S. is too much."

The Goldilocks Dilemma extends the world over, apparently. Too hot, too cold, too much.