…with herpes! Ok, so I don’t have herpes (though if I did, I would definitely opt for this treatment), but I always thought it was funny that “Living the life that I want” was the slogan for Valtrex. I’ve gotta say, I would much prefer not to have herpes over managing it with Valtrex. But I digress.
On Saturday, Wifey and I loaded the kids into the van and went for an exploratory drive of Dallas. You see, we hate living in the suburbs. As I have written of previously, the ‘burbs are just not our bag for a host of reasons and we have been longing to relocate into a more urban setting. I have a pretty nice gig teaching theatre here in town that I’m not ready to leave at present, so we thought that we would check out the option of living in Dallas and just commuting to work. That way, I can keep my job but we can live in an environment that is better to our liking. Wifey downloaded a geolocating realtor app on her phone and we took off to start our tour. We came across several nice houses in our price range, but unfortunately we discovered that the entire Dallas urban area is basically the same as the suburbs: strip malls, major retail outlets, and chain restaurants. Everything we would need or want to do would still require us to drive, as Dallas is incredibly sprawling. And the areas that are more localized have demolished all of the historical buildings and houses in favor of more suburban, expensive models. It was incredibly disheartening. After having wracked our brains for months to try to come up with a solution to our suburban woes, we had convinced ourselves that this would be the answer only to have reality crash into us head on.
On Saturday night I was incredibly short and ill-tempered, feeling discouraged and just a little bit sorry for myself. Wifey tried to console me by saying that we would just make our home into what we wanted it to be, that we didn’t have to be defined by our surroundings. We would make the best of our situation. So I snapped at her that her idea wasn’t good enough and was just settling in a place that we hated while trying to put a smile on it. A proud moment for me, I must say (note the sarcasm). I went to bed feeling frustrated.
But when I awoke on Sunday morning I started to think about what Wifey had said the night before. The truth is we can find another place to live with more of the external perks that we prefer, but our day-to-day lives will be pretty much the same anywhere, so why NOT start there? We should begin by making our home the place we want to live and not relying on our house to make us happy. After all, isn’t the preoccupation with the physical and material trappings of life what we really dislike about the suburbs anyway? And even if my own preoccupation is on the other end of that spectrum, isn’t it still along the same line?
So I started to list in my head some ways to make our home life more awesome, habits and routines that make me happy, make me feel like I am living the life that I want. And we are starting to integrate them as time and money will allow. Yes I still have to drive to the mega-supermarket to buy all of our groceries, and yes many a date night will take place at a crappy chain restaurant, but the company I keep on those dates can’t be beat and the home that I bring those groceries home to will be the simple, loving haven that I desire. I’m going to live the life that I want…without herpes.
30-Something Dad 