Character Shorts

6

The city is a strange place. I'm not sure when I began to see it as home, but sometimes I'll see something and remember how odd that would have once been to me, and how foreign the busy streets and constant noise used to feel. Visiting the city used to be an adventure, something worthy of a day-trip or an overnight stay, but it wasn't a place for living. And yet somehow, that's what it became for me. Occasionally I realise that I'm perhaps not a city person, not yet. It's not as though I don't like it here. I actually think I prefer it, but I am painfully aware that this is not where I'm from. Sometimes the crowds still scare me. Sometimes I'll travel to a bookstore or a cafe just to get away from the stampedes of people on the street. Sometimes the hustle and bustle makes me wish I could be little again, holding dad's hand as he draws me through the masses. Being independent can be draining. I can be homesick for no reason, but the second I go home I am hit with a longing for the city. I love the city. It might be crowded, but its full of opportunity. I've done home. I know it, and it has nothing left to offer me. The city is all I could ever want, and perhaps that's why it can sometimes be overwhelming. But I think that's how it should be.