Middle-class suburbia has been the place that I called home for all of my life. The dozens of subdivisions with countless homes and the Target down the street has become my source of comfort. So if you happened to grow up in suburbia, you may find this #relatable.
1. Landscapes
When you live twenty minutes from the city, the tallest building is your neighborhood’s welcome sign and a slightly steep hill is considered a mountain. Beautiful suburban scenery includes any man-made water system, the nearest shopping center’s street lamps, and the multiple road systems.
2. Driving through the country
Driving through the country is like being in a foreign country. The abundance of trees, fields, and few homes stirs a feeling of uneasiness inside. Because it’s so unfamiliar, countless questions go through your head: How do these people survive? Where do they go grocery shopping? Do they live off the land?
3. High School
Your high school was probably a 3-minute drive from your house, but with the morning rush hour traffic it could take up to 30 minutes to finally get into the parking lot. Your graduating class had over 500 kids, and when at graduation you realized you had no idea who at LEAST 75 kids were.
4. High School: Part 2
Your high school was filled with over achieving kids and half of the other school districts hated your school because it was filled with “spoiled brats.” Also, pretty much everyone in your graduating class went to college and they probably went to JMU or VT.
5. Grocery Stores
The amount of grocery stores (Kroger, Martin’s, Food Lion, Wegmans, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods) in the proximity of your house is ridiculous. You have the choice to shop at at least five different stores, but your mom chooses to drive the furthest to shop at Whole Foods.
6. The People
Families of four is the norm to see around suburbia. Moms are usually spotted in work-out clothes purchasing almond butter and gluten-free bread. Dads can be seen cutting the grass or weed whacking their yards. Children are either seen begging their parents for something in the store or riding their bikes on the sidewalk in one of the twenty different subdivisions
7. Chain Stores
Whether it is chain restaurants or chain department stores, there are at least 24,328,435,781,230,784 different ones from your house. Local stores are strictly for the city, besides the few popular ones found in one of the many shopping plazas.
8. Chick-fil-A
If you live in suburbia you most likely have a Chick-fil-a. Whenever you drive by, every parking spot is filled and the line of cars in the drive through is wrapped around the fast-food chain.
9. Family Vacation
It’s probably at a beach somewhere. Maybe Disney World. But most likely at a beach.
10. Neighborhoods
There are at least twenty different subdivisions filled with thousands of homes in suburbia. Almost every house looks exactly the same: two to three stories, fresh cut lawn, driveway with two or three cars, a front door with a seasonal wreath and a golden retriever.
Suburbia: a place that I usually rant about, but also a place that I have grown to appreciate over my twenty years of life.
