Today the Today show had a feature on "The Best Places to Live in Rural America." It spoke of people moving from large metropolitan areas to rural areas, often areas in which they grew up or had childhood associations with.
I thought, "Like me!" Except, well, The Frontier isn't exactly rural. Isolated among rural farmlands and wide open spaces, yes, but not really rural. The county itself, according to the US Census, has just shy of a million people - 978,701 to be exact (978,702 if Baby Girl ever decides to come). Not rural.
Curious, I looked up the population of the county from which I just moved - 1,010,443 - a difference of only a few thousand people. I about knocked my laptop off my lap. County F in Virginia seems like it had to have more than just a few thousand more people than The Frontier county in which I live. Maybe it's the traffic. Maybe the smaller area and increased density. Maybe it's the fact that it's a suburb of a larger city. Maybe it's the cultural and ethnic diversity.
Whatever it is, the two feel a world apart. Surprisingly, I felt a little like the people in the segment - even if my move was from a major metropolitan area to a "second tier" metropolitan area and not exactly a rural locale.
Confession: I kind of like The Frontier.
Correction: Okay, maybe that's too simple (and too shocking for those who have known my decidedly East Coast persona for any length of time). I like what has happened to us in The Frontier. I like the simplicity, the reduced congestion and less frenetic pace. I like the adventure. I love the mountains - and the first glimpse of fall I had yesterday as I caught a glimpse of the changing leaves in the foothills. I love walking through the neighborhood and knowing people. I love that Himself loves his job and our new home ("home" as in The Frontier, not the Hobbit Hole - I still get harassed about that). I love that somehow we've been able to escape the "Keeping Up With the Joneses" poison that had seeped into our lives, unbidden, over the course of years. I love the memories that surround me - the old Union Pacific train station where my dad used to take me to watch the trains, the downtown area - my first urban experience, the comedy club where I spent many Friday nights in college...
It comes down to the fact that I like being in a better position in life than I was before The Move. Whether it's Baby Girl who's changed my perspective, maturity or just the inevitable process of aging, I've changed a little.
DC will always be my first true geographic love, but I cannot deny that The Frontier still holds a little bit of "home" in its grasp.
2 comments:
I'm glad that you're able to call The Frontier home. Change is tough for me, and I fear that after our next move - whenever it may be - I will have a hard time calling any other place home. After twenty two years, home will be tough to redefine.
See the advantage is, I've never lived anywhere for 22 years. Other than the 14 years spent in the teeny town in which I grew up, I've never lived anywhere longer than 4 years. At that, home is easily redefined.
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