Maggie's Farm

"As long as we can hop a train, or hop in the car, we can have it all. Farm, city, and friendly suburban neighborhood."

NYC is THE polis, though. Have considered cities and towns in my home state, but they're either too built-up with strip malls and ugly suburban big homes everywhere or transformed into overgrown, over-commercialized and fakey "trendy" college towns (ugh), to include that of my dear alma mother (can't bear the place now). Surrounding rural areas often have uninteresting small towns nearby which have in large part demolished their built history in favor of new, fake old, and tired hippie retro, and the surrounding countrysides are losing their natural charm and pristine character fast. There's developer money in them thar hills.

I give up on my state- development is taking an unaesthetic toll. There are more interesting locations, if one is to try to keep one foot in the countryside that stays as such and another in the city that is a real city. And it's a fun hunt.

Ah, shouldn't sound so negative on Texas and should add that certain people should take a chance on the places and a certain person there.

But others of us will be more interested in other cities, states and countrysides. To each his or her own. I'm liking the East coast still-- even the Northeast with snow, which isn't good for anything but downhill speed, Norman Rockwell winterscapes, and a lot of shoveling.

Fact is, NYC is a city, all right.

BD, your daughters are living the best of both worlds. Mine, too, when she can escape from fun urban Manhattan to friends' walden ponds, aggie farms, art installation ruralscapes, and celeb Mountauky retreats.

One can be a responsible ADD-ult, go to the city, and do his or her duty. Just depends on what that dooty is. For ex., mine dictates that i do so (and it be a civilized and appropriate one.)

But good for you for seeing through the life you needed to see through! I've done it, too, in a bargain of lesser evils. Life keeps moving on, though, and at some point there are still moral and optimal choices to be made-- stay or no.