My favorite places to visit are cities. I have lived, all my life, in a mid-sized Midwestern city known for its cashew chicken, its single, strangely phallic skyscraper, and its friendly, safe and welcoming feel. I love my hometown - it will always be where I hang my hat. Well, at least 50-95% of the time! I enjoy the fact that I can go to my local stores and see familiar faces and schoolmates. I love the street that my salon is on. It's a wonderful place, and it is home.
But, while I love the smallness of my city and the people in it, I also crave the motion and energy of a big city. To me, there's nothing like it. Maybe its the ability to disappear that I enjoy - the feeling of being a tiny platelet rushing along in the bloodstream of a behemoth. I've never wanted to be a big fish in a small pond. The city affords anonymity - the ability to disappear in a crowd. I'll never, ever forget the first time I went to New York City and got swept up in the human tidal wave on Madison Avenue. It was exhilarating. Different cities have their own identity, their own spirit. I felt like a true American in New York. To me, it's the most patriotic city in our nation. I've been craving it lately.
Speaking of cravings, no city can ever replace New Orleans in my heart. It is my soul's mecca. I miss it like I'd miss a lover. That may sound a bit much - trust me, for me it isn't. Not to belabor a point, but there is something about that city that draws me. It isn't just one thing; it's a culmination of so many dizzying factors that combine into the perfect maelstrom of what makes me tick. I take a deep breath every time I set foot in that city. I love the smell of New Orleans. I love the people. I love the way it FEELS. It is ancient, immovable, and unapologetically true to itself. Someday, my husband and I will have a second home there. It may be a tiny closet of an apartment, but it doesn't matter. Going there is a pilgrimage to me.
There are many other cities I have visited. Chicago, with it's relentless cold and gorgeous parks and theaters, Dallas with its ribbon-candy network of freeways, and Kansas City, which we visit almost monthly to see my in-laws. Each of these places have left a mark. I love getting caught up in them - the differences are fun to see. The citizens of these cities have their own style of moving, their own ways of dressing, eating and even loving. I can't wait to be introduced to the West Coast. LA, San Francisco and Seattle are all on future itineraries. And I really want to go to Boston - I think I would love it.
While I enjoy a relaxing weekend in the country, I also need the rhythm of a city to show me what the rest of the world is like. People of many races, languages and cultures. The ability to walk to get the perfect cup of coffee and a gyro from a real Greek restaurant - these are the things that a city provides. Catching a train or a streetcar to get from one end of town to another is so much more exciting than driving there. The subway is a free form of late-night entertainment in NYC! Could I live that way all of the time? Probably not. The fast pace would wear on me after awhile, and I would miss my home base. It is, after all where I was born and raised.
And I have to admit, my pillow feels pretty nice after my travels - even when this "city mouse" has insomnia and is using it to prop herself up in bed as she writes. ;)
