On My Mind: Cheating On New York City

Sorry I've been AWOL, folks. I spent a couple weeks in Mexico and Texas, but now I'm back. Mexico was lovely-85 degrees and breezy. Texas was surprisingly cold for April. Here's a souvenir from my trip. I took this shot of the sun rising on my way to the airport on my last day in North Dallas:
It was a striking sight and a rare moment of stillness and beauty. It got me thinking of the things I miss living in NYC. Don't get me wrong. I have family in Dallas and have spent much time there but have always considered the city flat in more ways than one. But this time was different somehow.

I kinda liked driving for miles and seeing cattle poking around on acres of ranchland, or hearing the chickens squawking in the backyard, or going to Walmart and seeing the cornucopia of fresh produce being sold for dollars less per pound than in the City. I liked how slow everything and everyone was, and how people worked with their hands and bodies, tilling the earth or putting up new houses. A life less glamorous? Yes. But simpler and more comfortable, I think.

I know I'm romanticing things, but that's what getting away is for, right? Recharging the batteries that don't get charged at home?

You know by now how I've struggled with feeling at home in New York. But I was thinking maybe I'm trying too hard. It's okay to love some things about this city and not others. What's wrong with appreciating other places? It's ridiculous and unnatural for me to feel I have to pledge some oath of loyalty to New York City. I know New Yorkers who say "Stop complaining. If you don't like it, then leave" or "You just can't cut it here" but that attitude is downright provincial...either said person has never lived anywhere else or is masking his/her own ambivalence about our City. Just a thought. Still, glad to back home.