City vs. Country

Having lived for 12 years in the country on 13 acres but now living in the city surrounded by houses on either side, I can find merits for both. In favor of city living: mail service and trash service. We can now walk down a short footpath to our nice mailbox and pickup the mail each day. This beats having to go into town to the post office and retrieve the weeks mail from the box. Regarding trash service, it certainly became a chore to haul the trash to the landfill or to once a week roll the large green receptacle down the long driveway to the street. We now have a very short trip from the house to the street where it is picked up twice a week. Tax dollars working for the residents! But, wait, tax dollars...yikes. We are paying nearly three times as much for taxes as we ever did in the country.

We can now get to the stores, the restaurants, the mall, the theatre and work in short order without much preparation and without undue and complicated scheduling. When we want to see friends or have a social outing, a call or two and we are together enjoying a meal, a concert, or a movie. Great fun and certainly "modern" in our progressive society. Church is close, parks are near, the airport is 5 minutes away, museums, galleries, and there is no denying the value of having a doctor and hospital nearby. All these and more make city life the preferred residential choice.

In the country we had skunks, snakes, raccoons, rodents, wild cats, wild dogs, coyotes, drought, dust, scorpions, wasps, and the ever present fear of wildfires. I kept a gun and knife handy and never stopped trying to get rid of cactus and mesquites that constantly threatened to take over what little grass struggled to live in our front and back yards.

So why in the world do I miss country living? The space, the sky, the quiet, the solitude, the rugged individualism, the removal from society, all these and more contribute to my slight discontent with city living. Living in the country, I never felt the desire to get away or take a vacation, but in the city, the idea of going somewhere else is compelling. Home, of course, is where the heart finds joy, but in the city, your home is a stone's toss to your neighbor's home. In the country, feel free to throw a stone far away, there are no neighbors who can see nor care. In the city, the neighbors may not know you but they are curious and are constantly watching your yard for a hint of neglect or some kind of nefarious activity.

Yes, I miss the solitude and the space. Conveniences aside, the magic and charm of the country is still in me, and while I love my home, perhaps one day I'll live in a place that contains the best of both worlds...a home in the country with the city nearby.