I grew up in a nice, cozy suburb of Vancouver. I lived in “the city” until I was 23 years old. Varying suburbs, none of them far from the hub of activity that is Vancouver.
Then I moved here.
In rural BC, things are vastly different than in the city. I must admit, the first couple of years here were hard. People who grow up together in small towns are cliquey (sp?) , to say the least. It’s very difficult to make new friends. Especially when, at the ripe old age of 23, I was not yet a mom. Seriously. Luckily, this has changed, and I have a good network of friends now. I also managed- amongst D’s coworkers at one of his jobs - to meet a woman I would consider a true friend of my soul.
The truth is, I enjoy living in a small town. I like my corner of the wilderness. It has it’s problems, but there are some amazing people living in these parts. As much as I miss my family and friends in Vancouver, I now find it hard to imagine returning to the city. I don’t rule it out, though, because you just never know what the future may bring.
What I Miss About the City:
- grocery stores open past
6 pm 8 pm 10 pm. Admittedly, we have come a looooong way since 1996, when this town shut down completely at 6 pm every night. Earlier on weekends!
- shopping. I try to shop locally, to keep the economy going, but it’s hard. We do not have a shoe store, for example. And even when we did, they never carried my size. (11)
- friends & family being nearby
- the potential for major career growth and/or change
- activities for my kids.
What I do Not Miss About that Same City:
- traffic. I estimate it takes less than two days for my road rage to return in full force when I’m in Vancouver.
- housing costs. I won’t say what we paid for our house in 2001, but it’s less than some people pay for their vehicles.
- the crazy pace of life. There’s something to be said for living a bit slower.
- the lack of a “community” feeling. I’m sure there are exceptions to this, however hard they are to find. My parents have lived in the same house since 1977, and they barely know any of their neighbors. WTF?!
An example of something I don’t enjoy about living here is the pine beetle epidemic roaring through our forests. It’s sad. A bug that cannot be stopped because nobody paid enough attention. A bug that has systematically turned once-green forests into swathes of red & dead sticks. Our beautiful one-acre property is going to be logged in the near future. Logged. When I think of loggers, I do not envision them coming to our property to cut down 90% of our trees. Yet, this is my new reality.
Because we have power lines running through the north and east sides of our property, Hydro has kindly offered to come in & fall the “hazard” trees. No cost to us. The catch? They drop the trees, and that’s it. No clean up , no hauling.
It kills me to know that we’ll have a mostly-bare lot by the end of April. I want to cry.
Perhaps the bug could never have been stopped. Perhaps railing at the government’s long ignorance of this issue is pointless. I don’t care. It pisses me off that the first hint we heard of this on the “big city” TV channels occurred when the pine beetle finally breached a “worthy” area of the province. Yes, it reached a city. That got someone’s attention. No matter that this little bug has eaten a path of utter destruction throughout the north of BC. Now it’s threatening a fucking golf course! We must act!
Grr.
Note: We had already decided to log the trees when Hydro contacted us. An acquaintance will be doing the work, and we should actually clear some money from the deal. I don’t particularly care if Hydro falls the trees near the lines, as long as they don’t fuck with our septic field or do it too soon (the wood will dry out, weigh less, and bring in less money at the mill).
