Spanish views from a small town

For many years of the almost twenty-six years I've been living here, my intention had been to someday return to the United States. To me, most things were better there. Jobs were easier to find, there was a greater array of food to choose from, everything was in English, and there was snow in the winter. Over time, I have come to regard Spain as home, yet I still wanted to return, even if only for an extended stay with a return ticket at the end. Things have been shifting, what I believed has been discovered to have a foundation of quicksand. The pros of living in northwestern Spain: 1. Most food is fresh and locally grown. Yes, in some supermarkets you will find potatoes from Israel, and blueberries from Peru, but you learn to wait for its proper season or look somewhere else for produce closer to home, and not fall into the trap of paying twelve euros for a kilo of cherries in February. 2. There's barely any air pollution. Living away from the big cities of Madrid and ...