[Love: My City & Me] : Pushing Me to Move, Begging Me to Stay. My City is Me
By: Mark Nielsen
My city tries to sleep but has a bit of insomnia.
It acts as a green screen in the background of my journey.
My city shows me all its colors and shades, its personalities and its pitfalls, providing the perfect ambiance for the scenes that unfold that day.
My city knows I’m fickle. I might not know it is perfect at the time - it is often rainy, and feels boring, and without surprise. Its consistency can prove to be…
But later, when the curtain closes on the scene, I realize it was all kinds of perfect, I was just too entrenched in the pursuit of something more to notice the beautiful scenery that continues to unfold behind (and beyond) me.
My city lives deep somewhere between my heart and my soul. It is my home and it isn’t.
My city morphs and changes and yet always looks the same.
It is full of adventures yet full of familiarity.
It always seems to be tiptoeing around in a quiet murmur yet is vibrant and alive.
My city provides a dot on a map. One that is covered completely by a red thumbtack.
It beat boxes and moans and honks and groans and wails a symphony that sounds different to each pair of ears.
My city loves me. Hates me. Pushes me to move. Begs me to stay.
My city has all those forks in the road that your city does….a choose your own adventure for an adult who yearns adventure yet is terrified of change.
My city shows me where the light is and rocks me to sleep with its hope.
My city dares me to be all I can be. Even if that means saying goodbye to it.
It tells me not to worry, it will always be there for me.
It knows no boundaries or obligations, it doesn’t know it’s name nor does it care.
It doesn’t know where the next town starts or what happens in the woods when those roads diverge. It just knows me.
And that no matter what, I will be ok.
