On a recent trip to Chicago on business, I rediscovered the fact that I am very much a small town girl. Sure, I may live in a city now, but it is nothing compared to something like Chicago.
The town I grew up had a population of 225. Nope, I didn't forget any digits on that one. The nearest town offering a Walmart is roughly 15-20 minutes away. There are no malls, unless you count the tiny outlet mall, which I don't. The nearest REAL mall is about an hour away. The median household income in that town is about $28,000. I bring up these stats just to show that there really isn't a whole lot going on.
However, my uncles and I always managed to find something to keep us occupied. My uncles are 3 years and 5 years older than me, so we grew up as siblings. The younger of the two and I were especially close. We'd scour through the 90 acres of fields and woods, exploring and having adventures. My fear of snakes is rooted in those times, in fact. As you can imagine, there were many of them on my grandmother's property, and any time we'd spot one, Uncle J would yell, "RUN!! I'll kill it!" He was my protector from all things serpent-y. I shall forever thank him for that, despite the fact that I shudder every time I see a snake now, even at the zoo.
Even when my grandfather bought my uncles a Nintendo, Uncle J and I spent much of our time outdoors. We'd camp out near the pond and go fishing. Once he even made a fire and cooked one of the little fish speared over a stick that he'd whittled with his pocket knife. I did not eat it. He did. I can't remember if he got sick the next day or not.
When it rained, we'd go stomp in puddles outside or go play in the water that collected in the huge ditches along the gravel roads. Yes, that sounds gross to some of you out there, but we didn't think anything of it. What's a little mud? Some women pay to sit in mud. And on the off chance we couldn't play outside, we'd play hide and seek in the basement, in the pitch black darkness. I swear I almost broke my nose one time running into a door frame chasing after him.
Uncle M and I were much more studious. We'd play school. I think he's part of the reason I started school already knowing so much. He had all these old books and papers, and we even had a desk. It was awesome. Me? Nerd? Why, yes, thank you.
I tell you all of this to explain the experience I had in Chicago. You know, to set it up. I highly doubt kids raised in Chicago go fishing much or swim in ditches or even pick blackberries and get a stomachache from eating so many before even getting home.
I was only in Chicago overnight, and most of the time, we were working or driving, so I didn't even get to see much of the city. But it was enough for me to realize that it was wildly different than what I'm used to. Though I live in a city now with a population of 450,000 - 2 million in the metro area - it pales in comparison. It isn't so much about the number of people either. It's all in the attitude.
People in Chicago are far too busy to say hi to one another or even be polite drivers. IMMEDIATELY after the light turns green, people start honking. There is no opportunity to react before being honked at. And pedestrians and cars are equally important, both trying to make their destinations, neither one paying any attention to the other. So many people have so many near misses. Stop signs are optional. And it goes on and on and on all day and all night. Trust me, I stayed right downtown and didn't have the intelligence to think to turn on the fan to drown out all of this honking and sirens.
One thing I did appreciate and wish were more available where I live is the idea of mass transit. Sure, we have buses, but no one takes them. We definitely do not have a train, although The Hunk and others keep telling me "No, HB, you DON'T want to ride the train. It's a scary place." So, I guess it's just one of those things that sounds good in theory but in practice isn't so glamorous.
All this was basically to say that I came back to my mid-sized city, happy to have a little bit of both a small town feel with convenience, but I really feel sheltered. I long to travel. I could have spent days in Chicago, sitting in inconspicuous places, observing those that live there. But I'll never live in such a huge city. I like being a small town girl.
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