This blog has been edited in the following ways from the original: the loose ends of thought strung along have been tied together in three final paragraphs. I apologize for any confusion that any previous editions might have caused.
This is the view that I see every day when I'm out walking Bailey and we turn away from the road and head home. How great of a view is this?
Last month, when I spent a week in Denver, I wholeheartedly realized something: I love living in the country.
I also loved being minutes from anywhere in the big city. Restaurants, stores, and other places that we do not have ready access to up north are only a few miles away in the metro area.
When I was in the car going somewhere, however, I was not a fan of the traffic.
Denver traffic is not bad, comparatively, and I have not had any serious issues when driving in Denver in the past; however, I was not (and am not) sure that I could trust myself driving on the cities and streets. The thoroughfares and main veins are fine, but it's the side streets and connecting points that were ultimately my undoing.
I'm not saying I'm chicken to drive there; it would just take some serious adjustments.
Then, when I got home, I was discouraged by the amount of traffic that was passing up and down my road. I wanted my quiet country retreat back. It used to be that I could sit outside in the mornings with a cup of tea and listen to nature waking up, as if the sun was playing a symphony with her dancing rays. But now, there is increased automobile and airplane interference.
I realize by living in a society which so values globalization that such noise is nearly unavoidable, but new residential developments and oil rig production has brought more automobile traffic to my once more-peaceful road. The increase in airplane traffic has been caused by construction on a small neighboring airport, which has rerouted the inconvenienced flights to the municipal airport in my area.
But, my area is still quieter than Denver was.
Summertime has always been my favorite season in the country. I love the light, the shadows, the life that happens all around me. (Except, of course, for the spiders.) This year, however, has been wrought with wind and heat. I cannot go outside and enjoy the season; it's either blustery or oppressive.
I have been grateful for Bailey's need to go out during the mornings and evenings, though; those are usually the best times for light and temperature.
Since February, the plan has been for me to join my boyfriend in Denver once he has secured a job enough to afford an apartment for the two of us. (I could be looking for work down there at the moment, but I would have no place to stay while working should employment find me.)
The Denver trip did nothing to damper these intentions.
So what, then, was the point of this entire blog, in which I praised country living and seemingly occluded any desire to live in the big city?
It was nothing more than a reaffirmation that I love where I live.
The lives of people who live in the city are different from the lives of people who live in the country. The pace at which one lives, the self-sustainability, the dangers, the views, the noise...all different. I appreciate where I grew up.
And I love the bittersweet thought that, someday sooner than I want to process and think about, these 3+ acres in the country will be mine.
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