Rockville, MD.My hometown.
Doesn't this just look cozy? And it's just one subdivision in Rockville! There's many more to be found there. But hey, no need for a lawn tractor when a weed whacker will do the job!
I spent the last day and a half in my hometown, Rockville, Maryland. Well, it's not actually my hometown since I was born in Silver Spring, but it is where I grew up and I'd always considered it home. All I can say is Montgomery County has changed. I felt like I was in New York City, not Rockville, Maryland.
Every time I go back I find myself wondering how I could've once loved this place. This weekend, I couldn't stand the traffic, the unfriendly city atmosphere, or the house-on-top-of-house neighborhoods. Of course, if the houses weren't on top of each other, then they were pretentious, new money McMansions on perfectly manicured acres of land with not a bicycle, kiddie pool or Little Tykes playset in sight.
I went to the mall with Will for a couple of hours to buy a gift and card, and found myself constantly shaking off the willies. Everyone has a fashion statement to make. No one wore "normal" clothing. You know, the fashion-inspired Target, Old Navy or Walmart clothes. There were girls as young as eleven or twelve years old trolling, trying to act years beyond their age. The groups of adults were no better except they were trying to act years younger than their age! I felt so out of place.
I guess I can't expect to see the family values that I hold so dear in a Rockville mall on a Saturday afternoon, but I can certainly still see it in Salisbury. I see whole families at the mall together on Saturdays in Salisbury. I'll see teenagers, not preteens, most often stylishly yet appropriately and cost-consciously dressed for their age in Salisbury. I see families in the yards of their modest, albeit beautiful homes on my way from Preston to Salisbury.
I see more Preston kids working at local business to earn money for their "necessities" (aka cell phones, pickup trucks, concerts, movies with friends) than I see kids out shopping for designer clothes or driving luxury cars that daddy gave them for their 16th birthday. I'm still shaking off the willies while I type this!
I think I am officially getting old.
I know that I am officially glad to say that my kids call the eastern shore home. When I moved here, I detested those "welcome to the eastern shore, now go home" bumper stickers, but now I kinda get it. I was so glad to come home last night...to Preston!
I went to the mall with Will for a couple of hours to buy a gift and card, and found myself constantly shaking off the willies. Everyone has a fashion statement to make. No one wore "normal" clothing. You know, the fashion-inspired Target, Old Navy or Walmart clothes. There were girls as young as eleven or twelve years old trolling, trying to act years beyond their age. The groups of adults were no better except they were trying to act years younger than their age! I felt so out of place.
I guess I can't expect to see the family values that I hold so dear in a Rockville mall on a Saturday afternoon, but I can certainly still see it in Salisbury. I see whole families at the mall together on Saturdays in Salisbury. I'll see teenagers, not preteens, most often stylishly yet appropriately and cost-consciously dressed for their age in Salisbury. I see families in the yards of their modest, albeit beautiful homes on my way from Preston to Salisbury.
I see more Preston kids working at local business to earn money for their "necessities" (aka cell phones, pickup trucks, concerts, movies with friends) than I see kids out shopping for designer clothes or driving luxury cars that daddy gave them for their 16th birthday. I'm still shaking off the willies while I type this!
I think I am officially getting old.
I know that I am officially glad to say that my kids call the eastern shore home. When I moved here, I detested those "welcome to the eastern shore, now go home" bumper stickers, but now I kinda get it. I was so glad to come home last night...to Preston!
Must be getting late, I hear the church bells at the Methodist church on Main Street ringing which means it's nearly noon. Oh, do I love the small town life!
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