My home is a big charred mess and there is nothing I can do about it!

What an absolute strange turn of events, yet again. Everywhere we go, we seem to leave death and mass destruction behind.. I can give you 4 very specific examples of this odd phenomenon.

1. The World Trade Center collapses as we are travelling across country on our way back to NYC... We had sublet the apt. that summer and moved to Carlsbad, Ca.

2. The heat wave in Europe this summer and the possible upcoming trend. Manny had just left Europe to spend a few weeks in Cali with us before we all had to leave in August.

3. The black out in NYC this summer.... We had just left NYC and were visiting friends in Cali.

4. The Fires raging out of control in Cali right now. Totally centered around my stomping grounds... SD, Temecula, LA... Weird... We are now in Austria

Am I the only one to find this odd? I hope I can come up with a logical explanantion, but I don't know!

Why do I feel like I'm drowning?

I am really happy here in Austria. There's a standard of living here that I didn't know in the States. Everywhere I look there is beauty. Beauty in the land, in the architecture, in the age, in the people and yet it's still very isolating. I think I miss NYC. I don't miss my hometown in Cali, I miss Manhattan. I miss Central Park, the stinking subways, the 8' snow drifts (black and yellow in color) that cause major problems while trying to cross the street! I miss rude NY'ers...the Yankees, Giuliani (though I certainly don't miss Bloomberg). The skyscrapers.. the Taxis. I miss driving down streets so full of deep potholes that your alignment needed to be re-aligned nearly every week. I miss the sounds, the noise, the constant drone cut open by screeching sirens 'round the clock. I miss the brightness of the air during mid winter when all the leaves have fallen and from the top of the Great Hill you can see all of Mid-town and most of Lower Manhattan... I miss the Met (who woulda thunk it??), Broadway, steaks at Roth's and calamari and chicken souvlaki at Niko's. I miss sitting outside, drinking fine wine on a warm, fragrant spring eve. I miss the deep orange, gold and red fall. I miss it so much my heart tears at the thought and my head swims.... I feel like one of those damn bobble heads people love to decorate their dashboards with. But for certain, a much more wise part of me never wants to leave Europe!