Featured Grownups suggested we expound on whether we are city mice or country mice.
Anyone who has been reading my blog for over a week already knows I live in the country, and that I am happy here, so I made a list of benefits and costs to living in the country. I am not sure what the official definition of rural is, but I do know towns of a certain size are still considered rural, maybe even my closest town of around 40,000, which I consider plenty big. I only live ten miles away, so I can partake in culture, exotic foods (to a point) and most of the things I want to. If Itzak Perleman isn’t coming here, I can always drive a couple of hours to Omaha.
Just this weekend my seven-year-old daughter compared Lincoln, NE (pop 200,000) to New York City (pop 7,300,000 or so). Clearly we need to get out more.
I have lived in an area which is about as rural as it comes, so I will use that for a touch stone on rural living, rather than my current circumstances which are much more citified from where they were a few years ago.
COSTS
An hour and a half from WalMart
One grocery store
No clothing or decor stores
No exotic foods available
Most everywhere is a long distance call
Limited cell service
No 24 hour pizza delivery (or pizza delivery at all for that matter)
No museums
Everyone knows you, and they aren’t always respectful about that
No chic loft apartments available
BENEFITS
An hour and a half from WalMart
A grocery carry-out who takes your bags out and puts them in your car while you pay the clerk, without even asking what you drive
No temptation to buy clothes and junk I really don’t need or want
Being on a first name basis with most of my meat and vegetables
Having a four digit phone number
Limited cell service
Being able to see all of the stars at night
Meadowlarks and horses
I can send my kids out to play all day with minimal supervision
Affordable housing
Unfortunately I think it is easy to lose touch with nature while living in a concrete jungle, and nature is very important to me. I definitely like to visit the lights and action in the city; I wish I could do it more often, but I love coming home to the stars and the quiet of the country.
Jan 19, 2010 @ 11:02:00
The most compelling benefit: sending my kids out to play all day with minimal supervision. I would love to be able to do that.
Jan 19, 2010 @ 11:06:00
You saying lamb fries aren’t exotic? lol And yes~ the stars out here rock. Something our city guest always notice first. Enjoyed~
Jan 19, 2010 @ 11:33:00
@WildWomanOfTheWest – I have never had lamb fries, but I am not so fond of calf fries, although I do eat them from time to time. If you look at a nighttime map of the US, that dark oval in the middle of Nebraska is where I used to live. Astronomers have star gazing parties out there because it is darker than most anywhere else in the continental US.
Jan 19, 2010 @ 12:30:00
I think never experiencing the whole abundance of nature thing has made me not aware of what I’m missing, hah. As long as you’re happy, right? [=
Jan 19, 2010 @ 16:35:00
Thanks, you are linked
Jan 19, 2010 @ 23:32:00
Your Walmart comment cracked me up! We live one minute from Walmart, and I refuse to set foot in that place. Gives me the creeps on so many levels.
Jan 20, 2010 @ 09:33:00
@poisonedbyfairytales – I am going on seven years without Walmart. I hear you.
Jan 20, 2010 @ 13:24:00
You have a four digit phone number???? That is so cool! They added three more digits to ours about 13 years ago cause Baltimore city has upped the population of Maryland to the tenth. Funny!
Jan 20, 2010 @ 14:36:00
@SimplyCe – You could call local with just the four numbers until about 1995 then they changed things so we had to dial all seven. We had mail delivery every other day too, MWF on our route. Hard to believe.
Jan 21, 2010 @ 08:44:00
I like your lists of costs vs. benefits. Good take on this prompt!
Jan 22, 2010 @ 10:19:00
I’m a city mouse by location, but would love to be a country mouse.