Life in the Big Burbs

I'm really trying to weigh it out. Life in the big city, or life in the big suburb. Right now the scale is leaning heavily on life in the big city. Granted the city was Jerusalem compared to Fairfield County Connecticut but still there is something vibrant and quirky always going on in any city that, quite frankly, I am personally not finding here in the burbs. I look out and watch the leaves fall off of the trees.

Wait, a school bus just went by. OK, I'm back.

It's a beautiful time of year in New England. The harvest moon will be appearing soon and the leaves on the trees are beginning to show their splendid color and there is a snap in the air that makes you brew a hot cup of spice tea and curl up on the sofa. But that's the problem, curling up on the sofa.

What's there to blog about when you are curled up on the sofa? The hours can turn to weeks and months on the sofa and then your entire life has passed before you. But the tea is sure good and soothing.

Wait, an SUV just drove by going the other way.

In August I was happy to get back from Jerusalem to the burbs of Fairfield County. In fact, I couldn't wait to see my family and friends. To stick my mouth directly under the Dunkin' Donuts coffee pot was my fondest dream. Walking without military surrounding me and people decked out in their religious uniforms of all persuasions thrilled me to me to no end. There was a song in my heart getting into the bucket seats of my Saturn and driving, just because I could and had to.

Wait a squirrel just stopped on top of the New England stone fence in front of the house.

He picked something up. I thought there was going to be some action but he turned around and went back the other way. I guess squirreling away those acorns is serious business. Did I ever tell you that I once saw a white squirrel? Really. Pure as can be. That's another blog entry, in fact, that turned into a sermon two years ago.

I admit that it is thrilling to see a deer walk by and the six point buck that meandered through the backyard was beautiful. Relearning to enjoy a different sort of beauty has been my task in this last month. Hence, the lack of blog entries. Slowly however I'm making sense of this new yet very familiar life here in the burbs.