The Tourist
I’m a city girl.
Only I’m totally NOT a city girl.
Oh no. I am not. But, alas, I have city dreams. As a teenager, I wanted to live in THE CITY. I wanted to shop in local boutiques and discover new hole-in-the-wall restaurants and ride the subway wherever I needed to go. I wanted to surround myself with old, beautiful architecture and museums and CULTURE. I wanted to avoid big malls and places like California Pizza Kitchen and I wanted to never have to drive a minivan (or ANY car for that matter). I wanted to be a hop, skip, and jump away from my pick of cute little coffee shops. I wanted to buy hidden treasures at used book stores and eat street meat. Basically, I wanted a life completely different than the way I grew up.
But, *sigh* I would totally suck at the city.
So, I live in suburban Toronto, for those of you locals that means, um, north of HWY 7. I have a large house with a large backyard and lots of grass. I drink my coffee at Tim Horton’s..that is NOT within walking distance. I buy all my books at Indigo. The only architecture near me is called "BRICK" and there are no museums near me, unless you call The Promenade Mall a museum, and I'm guessing you don't. And I drive a car. AND a minivan. In fact, even if I wanted to take the subway, I’d have to drive at least 20 minutes to even get to a subway station. And I’m that person, the one who is wandering aimlessly, the one who sits in the seat directly facing the map so she shouldn’t miss her stop, the one who gawks at the homeless people, the one who tries desperately to NOT make eye contact with the people standing inches away, the one who totally fails at riding the subway seamlessly. I can’t even drive downtown for events like this without having to call the husband mid-panic attack to force him to give me explicit directions because holy one-way streets! and do not even get me started on what happens when I try to flag down taxis...oh no, it's NOT pretty.
ALI + CITY = TOURIST
Basically, I chose a life completely THE SAME as the way I grew up. And you know what? I’m totally okay with this…even if I have to live vicariously through my sister and through people like her who know how to ride the subway and have to go to laundromats to do their laundry. (what's a laundromat?!?!?) And you know what? I would totally eat at California Pizza Kitchen, you know, if it ever came to Canada.
What about you? Are you living in the city? in the suburbs? what do you love about it? hate about it?
An original Canada Moms Blog post. You can also find Ali embarrassing herself over at Cheaper Than Therapy and embarrassing celebrities over at Juice: Entertainment News with Extra Pulp.
