i’m just another suburbanite.
i haven’t always been. i grew up in the mountains, surrounded by rolling hills, vivid green trees (or, in the fall, vivid orange, red, yellow, and brown trees), babbling creeks, scampering wildlife, whispering breezes, the musky smell of the earth, and the spirits of generations of my family. my childhood was filled with the music of crickets singing, the silent awe of a sky full of stars, and blissful ignorance of homeowner’s associations or even “neighborhoods.” who needs such things when you live on the side of a mountain? your neighbors are either your family or the critters who inhabit the forests.
but times change. i grew up, went to college, fell in love and moved to the city. now, i’m surrounded by…houses. houses filled with strangers who smile and wave and take their kids to soccer practice in their suvs. and yeah, there are a few trees…scraggly, sad-looking survivors of the war on nature that is more commonly known as “urban sprawl.” the little quarter-acre that my husband and i call our own used to be just a small patch in a vast, rolling field. i pass giant trucks hauling off logs as yet another cookie-cutter neighborhood goes up just a mile or so down the road, and i get a bit of a lump in my throat. i think about my home, the place where i grew up and where my heart still wants to return to…but sometimes, you just can’t go home again.
One Response to “About”