Tonight was rough. Tears peeked through my eyes. And I had no idea why.
Then I was walking home and realized I haven’t seen trees for almost a year. A tree, yes. But not miles of trees. And a yard as vast as the city I now reside. (Sadly, the land surrounding my parent’s home is no longer a part of my life.) And I looked up and saw that there were stars in the sky. I can’t remember the last time I looked at the sky and thought about stars. This is fucked up. I am not a city mouse.
Of course Tony laughed in my face when I asked him to take a walk with me. Some lame joke about seeing his stars on E! True Hollywood Story.
How many nights did I spend outside on the road with nothing but stars and perhaps a dog at my feet? Climbing the roof of my church, inviting boys to come have picnics on the roof, up where the steeple light can warm your hands. Or my father’s pipe. Not a night goes by when he isn’t pacing the driveway thinking about words and smoking slowly, muttering to himself. And the smell. The smell of hay, pine needles, and pipe tobacco.
Besides getting to hear my upstairs neighbors have sex so loudly the building throbs, what is the benefit of living in a city? I’m asking, please, does anyone know? I could use some help.
Me and Mr. Jones 
you jacked my idea and wrote about it better than i could. i guess that’s why you’re a writer and i’m The Reluctant Receptionist!! (shameless plug)
I am a big fan of the shameless plug. I do it myself, often. The best, however, was Macy Gray’s dress at the award show when she had written accross her chest: “My new albume drops Sept. 13th” and on her butt simply: “Buy It!”
it wasn’t just boys on that roof…i still scale bulidings in the city. there’s no point in looking up at the sky, but i find it interesting to look down. the new perspectiv is a real mind bender for me. and you become this casual observer of passersby totally unaware of you.
swell. you’re right. i’m a liar.no, more like a writer of fiction. so, in point of fact, there were never any boys on the roof. i changed gender for effect and continuity of the blog. but i’m glad you remember. and read. we’ll see if i can’t be more inclusive in the future. hope to see you again.
what is the benefit of living in a city?Living in the city means you can appreciate the countryside without having to live there. It gives you prickly rough edges that people in the countryside edge cautiously away from. It means you can find places to go eating or dancing or exploring at completely inappropriate hours. I would mention the increased density of young, interesting, and attractive people, but I’m sure that’s simply a distraction.Has it grown on you? I never quite got used to the weirdly orange/purple cast to the sky on cloudy nights- there just aren’t enough stars. We did drive about half an hour north along the coast to get far enough out to see the Leonid shower, which was spectacular and made up for everything.