Then she discovered the “Drive Through”

I have been living in the suburbia for more than a month now, and working in the suburbia for 3 weeks. I now own a car, and play golf on the weekends!!!

This morning, I discovered a drive-through Starbucks on my way to work. Sweet!

That’s true! when in suburbia, you do as the suburbans do!

I can hear the “I told you so”s already. But I have to admit, I don’t hate it. It’s just different and I think temporary, but not necessarily bad.

It’s no secrete that I have had a love affair with urbanism for years. In fact, my new apartment is full of big pictures of New York. I am ALL about public transit, little Cafés, mom and pop dry cleaners and beauty salons. But there are things that I have come to appreciate in Suburbia as well.

It’s quiet, clean, manicured and family-friendly. Every house has a couple of kids that come out in the afternoon to play on the sidewalk. On the weekend, people are gardening, adding more beauty to their big manicured landscape. Within walking distance, you can find a ravine, a small forest with a trail and perhaps a small lake with a boat club beside it. There is not a lot of traffic, the weather feels clean and there are no sky-scrapers blocking the view in any direction.

In my area, if you are into jogging or walking a good distance, you can run your errands locally, as well. If I drop off my car at the dealership for an oil change (a mile from the house), I can drop off my dry-cleaning, grab a coffee and buy my groceries in time to pick up the car. Not too bad for suburbia, huh?

But you know what I miss the most? It’s the foot traffic and having a choice of which dry-cleaner’s, hair salon, spa and shoe-repair store you want to go to. To be able to get some human interaction and find a little variety in stores, you need to drive a good 15 minutes, or you are stuck with what you have in the vicinity: one of each.

But even in this part of the suburbia, I can see a good sense of community. Just a month ago, people were offering to shovel the snow in each other’s drive-way. The local Starbucks gives my dad a free coffee every now and then for being a loyal customer and the neighbor’s kids like to say hello when you get home and park in the driveway.

I am yet to try the local community centers. I hear they have nice swimming pools and gym facilities. The good thing about driving is that you can always leave your gym bag and your golf clubs in the back of the car, so that you can stop by, at the spur of the moment if you like.

That’s all.

The City Gal is dismissed for now.