Happiness in the Country

It's no secret that I'm a fan of Sex and the City. When the show was on, I thought it sounded ridiculous (and I still think it is, actually), but a couple of years ago my sister loaned me her entire library of SATC on DVD and that was it. I was hooked.

Thanks, Sis.

I have to be honest: yes, I'm looking forward to the second movie. Why? I have no idea. It's so utterly ridiculous and over-the-top, but it makes me laugh.

It makes me laugh a lot.

I was reading an article last night, though, about how a writer decided to leave the "glamour" of New York and move halfway across the country to escape the rat race. While shows like SATC make city life seem so glamorous, fast-paced, and exciting, her article brought a reality to that kind of life that I'm sure many people enamored with the show fail to realize: city life is dirty, hard, and although you may be surrounded by hoards of people, it can be lonely.

And then it starts to sound a lot like the country (well, minus the hoards of people).

Just one person...and a fire.... "Hi, Dad" (or should I say, "Howdy, Pa?")

The article really made me happy for this life. I could have chosen any life I wanted when I got out of college, but I always wanted my horses, to live in the country and be outside, breathing fresh air.

I don't have to try to side-step a urine puddle on the subway. If I encounter urine here, I either yell at a dog or scoop up the soaked shavings and wheel them outside, whichever may be appropriate, given the circumstances.

I don't have to hear people yelling in an apartment above or below me or out on the street. At night, the most noise I hear is from a coyote's howl or the hoot of an owl.

I don't have to pay for parking, or walk several blocks to feel grass under my feet, or push through a crowd of people to get a coffee in the morning before work. I park wherever I want, can walk right outside my door and can listen to the sound of the cottonwoods in the wind without a single other noise around.

My dogs can run off of their leashes, and no one is around to complain. They ride in my pick-up truck, hang their heads out the window and watch the cows go by....

Now, don't get me wrong. I LOVE to visit the city. I love theatre, opera, sushi, concerts, and a good martini. I love museums, art, and all the great shopping.

But when it comes right down to it, I'm a country girl. I may dislike country music, but I'm a real country girl--I'll admit that much. I know how to change a tire on my truck, I can fix fence without even thinking about it and I don't mind having to get dirty to get a job done and take care of my critters (yes, I said "critters").

There's just something good for the soul, to be in a place where you feel like you can breathe.....