Big City View, Small Town Charm

This weekend I took my best friend to my hometown of Grosse Ile, which is an island just south of Detroit. She'd never been there, but all through college, I spoke of "the island" and all it "had to offer." Ok, not really.

It was a very interesting place to grow up, with a little bit of small town charm, a little bit of snobbishness, and a lot of love and everyone knows every one's business. Two bridges on either end get you on the island (although one is currently shut down for repairs), there are three golf courses (two are country clubs), and boating is quite prevalent, as well. There are no sidewalks, but you can walk or bike most places by travelling down the bike path that runs smack down the middle of the island from end to end, although it wasn't there until I was in high school. It was a wonderful spot for us to run on, it it is flat as a pancake, and we found ourselves churning out 9:28 miles, even on our "long" runs. But most of all, it was an island. And there isn't much there. You have to go off the island to do absolutely anything. It wasn't, though, until she came that I really realized how bad it was.

As we were driving from the airport, she was looking around, and her comments all centered around the fact that there is nothing around, as we made our way toward GI. I had never thought of it that way. There were farms, and houses, and a few strip malls, but when I was in high school, there was always something to do. It was nothing like growing up in a big city, but we always found something. It was quiet in the house as we sat, no hum of cars from every which way, and even getting home in the evening, if you sat and listened for traffic, you couldn't hear any. And as we went out to do things, and had to travel up to 30 mins to go to a movie, or sat at a local bar where there were a total of 4 people, I started looking at it through a different set of eyes than I ever had.

I have lived in a "big city" for the better part of the last 7 years. I love living in the city. There is always something to do, it is constantly changing. And I loved where I grew up. It had everything I needed at the time. I played golf, I went to school, I went to parties, and hung out with my friends. It was what I knew. But, as I started to look at it through Tiffany's eyes, there was nothing there. It was very dead. It was still all the wonderful things it was when I grew up, but it really had nothing there to do.

I love that my friend came to my home so she could see where I grew up; it shaped me and made me who I am. She said that on more than one occasion. I will always respect the island and all it has to offer, but I will definitely view it differently now; through very different eyes.