I'd just crossed the state line when I saw the sign that stuns East Coast drivers heading to Houston.

El Paso: 857 miles.

That was six months ago. I'd never imagined I'd end up in Texas. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Bostonian, sprung from those puking pilgrims on the Mayflower. Like so many before me, I came to Houston for a job.

I didn't know what to expect from Texas. Guns, cacti and tumbleweeds came to mind. I remembered reading the newspaper in high school, marveling at late-spring temperatures on days when Boston was still buried under a foot of snow. I'd heard talk of jobs and the economy, and of a city with no zoning. I'd seen a New York Times story about Houston's strip clubs, but nothing about the city's incredible diversity.

On that drive through east Texas, I shook my head at the Dodge Chargers and Ford F-150s flying by. I arrived, found a cheap apartment off Bissonnet, bought a bed. I discovered barbecue and Shipley Do-Nuts. The place began to rub in, muscle cars and all.

Since then, I've met a sheriff who moved here from Wisconsin, refugees from Nepal, immigrants from Scotland and India and Mexico. I've eaten tacos like I'd never tasted before. A few days ago, I read an essay by another Gray Matters contributor, Cort McMurray. "Nobody chooses Houston," he wrote. "But when you end up here, if you let it, Houston tattoos itself onto you."

More Information In the next few weeks, Gray Matters will explore coming-to-Houston stories. To share yours, email me at st.john.smith@chron.com. You don't realize until you get here how big, how pulsing, Gray Matters is. Experience the mishmash.

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That seems about right. You don't realize until you get here how big, how pulsing, Houston is. You don't expect that mishmash of languages, beliefs and races; of grime, heat and humidity; of opportunity, hustle and ambition.

Houston is a place you stop on your way to someplace else. It's where you go when opportunity pounds so loud you're afraid it'll break the door. It's less a destination than a place you wind up, much to your surprise.

It feels like an accident. But life does too sometimes.