I’m home from 16 days of Europe–4 were spent traveling and I saw a LOT of interesting people and situations. Each time I take a trip like this, I come home wanting to kiss the soil.
Yesterday I had a conversation about how most poeple who live in the US take it for granted. I contend that even really poor people in this country have adavantages they don’t even realize. For one thing, shopping. Even if they don’t have much money, they can still go to a really nice grocery or department store that is probably fairly convenient to them, unless they live in a very rural area. We have amazing stores with everything one could imagine buying!
Convenience–I love getting in the car and zipping around. I agree that Europe has much more public transportation than cities like Dallas, but more people have access to cars here, and we can actually get around to most places.
Familiarity–the older I get, the more I love being around what is familiar to me. I just visited my friend Nadia in Mykonos, and she loves her house which is out on a point, facing the Mediterranean. She doesn’t like it when boats come and anchor there, because she loves her view of the sea and the islands across from her. I get it–she has been looking at that view her whole life. Her father built that house, and she now owns it. And she loves it. She doesn’t want to live there full time, as she still enjoys her life in Paris, but she is so grateful that she has this familiar home to come to as often as she likes.
I get that, because I know it is one reason I love to be in Dallas. I grew up here, I feel at home here, my friends and Mom are here, and it is familiar. Everytime I think about living someplace else, I get a heart tug for home. That is one reason I admire my mom so much for being able to move from her home and into a retirement community. But it took her a year to adapt to it, because it just wasn’t familiar enough.
Cleanliness–Dallas is a delightfully clean place to live. Most people keep up their homes, and people don’t litter on streets like they did in earlier times. People care about their city and it shows.
OK, I know I’m waxing poetic about my home base, but I’m just so grateful to live in a place I love and have all the benefits I have from it.