Moving cross country has been hard on me. It’s been good for our family in so many ways, especially in advancing my husband’s career. It’s also forced me to go outside of my comfort zone quite a bit and that’s good for someone who can tend to be shy and fall into the same patterns.
But I will admit, I’ve always wanted to travel and a lot of why I was okay with this move was because I was just ready to see something new. The drive down here was amazing for that. I saw so much of this beautiful country. But since we’ve been here, we’ve pretty much stayed in the Suburbs of the Dallas/Ft Worth Metroplex. Yes, I’ve been stuck in the ‘burbs for four and a half months. That’s made me a bit batty. (We do get into Dallas on occasion, but even there we have not really explored)
Yesterday, I told my husband how much this bothered me. We decided to hop in the car and check out something new. My sweet husband was willing to drive wherever I wanted (we even talked about driving to Oklahoma just for something different) but it was 3:00 already and with little kids that didn’t seem prudent. So we picked a local (30 min away) lake and drove off quickly. After a quick stop for some snacks (we realized in the car that maybe it would be best to feed our kids dinner. Oops) we were on our way. I was shocked how big the lake was and thrilled to see some nature instead of the manicured lawns and gardens of my suburban neighborhood.
We had a lot of fun. We swam. We had dinner. The kids ran around the park chasing one another and giggling. I thought maybe Texas isn’t all that bad after all.
I did have a bit of Texas hatred when I stepped in a fire ants nest. Those are evil little creatures, let me tell you. It did put a bit of a damper on our trip because my foot REALLY hurt, but I am so glad that we went.
After some talking, we’ve decided to be sure and have a lot more outings, some as simple as this and some more involved ones, because I am so ready to see something new!
I am not sure I am cut out for the suburbs. The city, I can do. The country, I can do. The suburbs kind of crush my soul. We’ll see if I feel the same way when our lease is up and consider moving somewhere else within 40 minute range of my husband’s work. We’ll see. I do love our house… just wish it was located somewhere else.
What kind of person are you? City, suburb, country? Why?
I love the country to be honest. Living on 40 acres growing up was heaven to me.
Oh and you should come up to Sulphur sometime. It’s where I was telling you about. There is a great national part with waterfalls and all kinds of things the kids would love. It’s BEAUTIFUL!
40 acres does sound very nice 🙂
Sulphur looks wonderful! We will have to go there for sure!
I live in a place that kind of crushes my soul too, and not just because it’s a small town and I’m a city person. (I’m originally from New York.) But feeling trapped with nothing very interesting to do is a large part of what makes me feel negative about it. I agree that outings can make a huge difference in attitude!
I’ve always thought I was a country type and I do love it, but in recent years I’ve craved the excitement of a city. Possibly because I’ve never lived in one. 😉 Still, I’d like to give it a try at some point. I’m just glad we were able to raise our kids in a rural environment.