The Island Journal

I was talking with a friend a few weeks ago and asking him some questions about a place he once lived and my current working location, Houston Texas. I have been working here for the last few weeks and my sister lives here. The difference between my sister and me, besides everything that is, is that she won’t be going back to Shreveport at the end of the week. She loves living here and has for years now while I’ve been content to live in the comparatively small city of Shreveport. I’ve visited large cities like Houston (third or fourth largest in the USA) and Los Angeles (the second most populous city after New York) and I’ve worked in small towns. I grew up in Stonewall, Louisiana which was a village until shortly before my family lived there. I never noticed the extremes, though. I mean, sure… people complain about Houston traffic until they’ve driven in LA. People in LA complain there’s nothing to do until they visit Shreveport. It’s not about where you are… it’s about who you are. I’ve always said that.

Ten or more years ago, I was in Bellevue Washington just outside Seattle. Up until that point, I’d never even been on an airplane… this was before I gained traveler extrodinaire status and got my first hotel platinum member’s club card. I was in Bellevue for three months training for a position with a tech company and I loved it despite the cold. I also found it to be unusually sunny, expecting dreary Seattle from the television or movies I’d seen. I enjoyed my time there and then… came home. I was not tortured by the banality of Shreveport afterwards. I didn’t long for the coffee places, the artistic vibe, or the romance that was Washington State. It was just a place I had been and was there no longer. I was still me, after all.

It is not the place you live, the friends you have, the stuff you own, but the “who” you are that matters and that brings you satisfaction or happiness or contentment. There are benefits and drawbacks to living anywhere you might choose. There are easier to find jobs in most larger cities. In small towns, you’re limited when it comes to avenues of income. There are interesting places to go in big cities, sure, but they are distractions from what really matters most of the time. Seclusion in small towns is nice, but interaction with other people, while something I mostly find annoying, teaches us something about ourselves as well. I see the ins and outs, the pluses and minuses of living in different communities and honestly, I am unaffected by these considerations. I live in my own little bubble and I am happy there with me… well, not JUST me. I’ve invited someone else.

I had made a deal with my soon-to-be-wife that if she’d finish her thesis and get her Library science degree, we could move to Houston if there was a job there for her. I have offices here so I wouldn’t have to worry about changing jobs or finding a new career. Alas, on a visit she realized that there were no homes in our price range where she wanted to live in Houston. I wouldn’t mind living on the out-skirts, but she would want to live in the Heights, an area a lot like Highland in Shreveport where we live now only with the odd shop, restaurant, gallery, or bar mixed in for good measure. I can’t say that I am surprised, but she seemed so unhappy that we couldn’t move where she wanted. Shreveport, though, is not “that bad”.

I am comfortable in Shreveport because I am generally comfortable. I can be comfortable in Chicago, Houston, Seattle or Saint Louis. If I lived in a big city, I’m sure I’d go camping or hiking more, but otherwise, it would have little impact on my life. I am really only home for a week out of the month anyway, so who cares where I sleep, right? Lindsay, on the other hand, likes to be distracted and having gotten a taste of New Orleans in her formative years, loves “big cities”. New Orleans compared to Houston is a small town but extending the comparison to Shreveport, we currently live in the country. Things are different when the population rises and I can see the draw for anyone who liked night life or culture. There are more interesting things to get involved with in a larger city than the one in which we live. While I question the need for distraction, I can understand the better opportunities. This is one of the areas in which Lindsay and I differ… entertainment is not all that important to me. If we could have afforded a $300,000 house we’d probably be moving fairly soon. We are, however, looking for a home in Shreveport… in Highland.