The Mennobrarian

Seeking room to breathe

03:26, Monday, January 14, 2008 .. Posted in Just Thinking .. 1 comments .. Link

There is a saying around our house which I squawk a little too off-handedly when things get frustrating during our home improvement efforts. The saying is "Let the next owners worry about it!"
It makes me feel better to say it because it reminds me that for all of our efforts, we one day hope to sell this home, turn a modest profit, and move on. But move on to where, is always a question mark. It may be another ten years before we are realistically able and ready for our next home. Places that may seem like perfect locations today may not look the same in another decade.

Many people in our part of the country have started to migrate south and west-ward, in search of a less expensive standard of living than the northeast can provide. Yet, it is really not the cost of living here that is my biggest challenge, but something else. It's the population density. The traffic, the crowded stores, the constant development, the feeling of people on top of people.
"How come every time you go the store it takes so long to park and every place seems so crowded?" a friend in another state asked, during a phone call.
"Because it is so crowded, because there are no parking spaces, and because you might have to go to four different stores to find one thing because all of the shelves are empty!" I told her.

I joke with my husband that they could literally build multi-story Targets here, that is, an entire Super Target on top of a Target with maybe a supplemental Target on the third floor, and the shelves would still be empty. (I just use Target as an example, they could do this with any mega-store and it would be successful).

Another side-effect of the exploding population is an increase in pollution. I have been an allergy-sufferer for most of my life, but they seem to improve greatly the minute we cross the border into Ohio. Much of the mid-west is a respite for my itchy sinuses and teary eyes. I couldn't believe it when, on our wedding trip, we met a man in Nebraska complaining about his allergies and how awful he found them to be in that state. I practically pulled up a chair to give my testimony on just how much of an improvement Nebraska was for air quality.

I have to wonder if this is just a case of longing for the good old days, or whether I have some real concerns. To an extent, it reminds me of how people talk about the Lancaster county area. It usually starts when someone makes the observation that is has changed so much, has become so commercial, has so many new housing developments and shopping centers, as they remember how spacious it looked like thirty years ago. Then the next person says that they remember how it looked fifty years ago with even less development and that's when the county was really nice. And then finally you'll have someone chime in that things really started to change there around seventy years ago when they brought in the tourism, etc. etc. (and nothing has been the same since.)

Am I just reacting to a natural progression, or dreaming of a greener lawn?
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:-)

10:01, Tuesday, January 15, 2008 .. Posted by Psalm23
Hello, again! :-)
I thought your post was very interesting. I did not know that you live in a busy place. :-) I thought what you said about Target was funny.
Well, I had better go now!

Love,
Rose

***Hi Rose, although we live in the country, we are just as much at risk to people building new houses and stores as anyplace else, I guess. And you can drive just ten miles from our house and you would be well out of farm country. It's getting busier all the time. ~Monica~****

Edited by Mennobrarian on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 10:03

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