Things I'm Gonna Miss About Living in the Country

This move is very bitter-sweet. While we are SO excited about having our own place and getting back to the city, there are things I'll really miss about being way out in the sticks.

First and foremost, I'm gonna really miss Brooks' parents. I know what y'all are thinking..."This girl is NUTS! The in-laws? Really?" Yes REALLY!!! Anyone who thinks this, have clearly never met Brooks Sr. and Sherrie! And truth be told, I've been blessed, like truly blessed with finding, not only a fantastic guy, but a fantastic guy who has really wonderful and amazing parents who actually LIKE me!! I KNOW!!!! 

Sherrie has become a confidant, and easily one of my best friends! She knows it all. And when i say "all" i mean ALL!! When i want to rip my hair out because Brooks is narrating yet another box of crap to me, i go tell her. When i don't feel well because of girly stuff, i tell her. When I'm in tears because the ex-husband has called to make me feel like a miserable human being and driven me to hysterical tears over our son, i turn to her. When i just want to chit chat about whatever...we do that. We have a lot in common which is helpful and really awesome! She's got a great sense of humor and has a shining light from within that i just can't explain. You have to experience it. I'm really going to miss her!!

Brooks' dad, Brooks Sr., I'm gonna miss him too! I'm gonna miss him giving me crap when Brooks says something off the wall and he says, "That's your boy!". I'm gonna miss his tirades about work. And in all honesty, as much as i am disliking the garden right now, i'm gonna miss him telling me i've planted it all wrong and what i should do the next time to make it better. I'm gonna miss his jokes and his stories. And him meandering around the house chewing on his cigar. I'm gonna miss him drinking a beer and telling me how much he loves his wife. Just thinking about it makes me cry. He really does love her more than anything in the world!

It's not like we're never gonna visit! But it's gonna be a big adjustment coming home to an empty and dogless house again.

I'm gonna miss sitting on the porch swing, watching the humming birds dive bomb the feeders. I'm gonna miss the random animals out in the treeline watching us in the dark (that happened the other night and it was a moment of total terrifying magnitude! We think it was a coyote). I'm gonna miss Gypsy (the crotch hound dog) and her incessant barking at nothing at 1 in the morning. I'm gonna miss her always being so happy to see us when we walk up stairs in the morning, even if we were just up there...she acts like it's the first time she's seen us in months! I'm gonna miss all of our really awesome neighbors!! They got pretty lucky when they decided to build this house...they've got cool neighbors! I'm gonna miss the storms out here. They get pretty intense! And even though I'm not a fan of the southern storms, I'm gonna miss them here as opposed to the city. I'm gonna miss the cicadas. They are SUPER loud this time of year and in a big abundance!!

I'm gonna miss our "pet" frogs and lizard. I've become a bit attached to these guys and have named them all...Hippidy Hop is the largest of the frogs, then there's Dimple and Thumper. Brooks can actually tell the difference between the frogs, even if they aren't with the others. He says their markings are all different. Blue is the lizard. I think he had a blue tail at one point. I even have been known to talk to our tail-less lizard while i drink my coffee in the mornings as he's hanging out sunning himself on the log near the door. I'm gonna miss all the fireflies out here. Yes i know they have them in the city, but they are in big abundance out here and are just cool! We don't have them back home so it's neat. I'm gonna miss looking up into the stars at night and actually being able to see them, and watching the meteor showers out here. I'm gonna miss all the wildlife...the rabbits, the deer, the turtles, snakes...all sorts of things, and ya see them all the time! Not like the one bunny in the city you might see all summer, but ALL the time! Daily! All the butterflies! They've been amazing to watch this summer! Just beautiful!! And they are EVERYWHERE!!! We drove down the road the other day and there must have been, easily 75 monarch butterflies on either side of the road. It was so cool driving through a shower of them like that! I wish i had taken pics!

Brooks' family; the aunts, uncle, cousins, papa and his grandma. Both sides of his family live out here. I know we will visit, and it's not like we're 2 hours away or anything, but I've grown quite attached to seeing them fairly regularly too. They're all quite fabulous!! Love those peeps! And I'm beyond thankful that they have welcomed me into the family with such open arms! I know somewhere down the road we'll be heading down the isle together...and I'm trying to figure out how to squish them all INTO the wedding, and which one of them we're gonna call first when we have kids and we all go on our annual camping trip!

I suppose this would be a good time to say what i'm NOT going to miss about being in the country...you know...to be fair.

1) The bugs! First and foremost the bugs! Oh the bugs!! Not like little city bugs. No. In the country they grow them MUCH bigger and they are everywhere!! Big ass crickets, big-enough-to-carry-a-person-out-of-a-room-big!! The water bugs, the cockroaches, the gnats, the flies, the wasps, the BIG HUGE Japanese hornets that are literally the size of my hand, the bore bees, the regular bees...they're all enormous out here! Too big for my liking!!! I damn near had a freakin heart attach this morning when a bumble bee landed on my shirt as i brought Brooks' coffee out to him while he was outside. It landed and i literally started saying "UmOlmGddhdKdlsdhdjfYsliejjlksjlzne!!!!" Which i assume translated to, "OMGGETTHISTHINGOFFMENOWOMG!!!!!" Normally a bumble bee wouldn't bother me, but he was BIG and fuzzy and on the boob of my shirt and did i mention he was big?!

2) The spiders! OH FOR CRAP SAKE THE SPIDERS!!!!!! I have lost count at how many I've made Brooks kill for me! Yes, he will kill for me! He's done it. The daddy long legs aren't the issue unless they encroach on my area. Then they die. But it's the brown and black widows and the wood spiders that i mind and there are just too many out in the country!

3) How a trip to the grocery store is never "quick". It's not THAT far away, but it's a bit. Not like a 5 minute trip. It takes a good 15 to get to the nearest Foodlion!

4) Spending so much on gas getting into Greensboro.

5) The garden. Yes, it was my idea to expand it. Yes, i planted most of it. No, i didn't weed much due to the rains so the weeds took over and i found a massive wood spider in it and haven't really been down there much since. I'm happy to shop the farmers market instead of growing my own for a while.

6) The Kit-ath. This is our made up word for Kitchen/Bathroom. I'm NOT going to miss making coffee in the bathroom. I'm not going to miss microwaving popcorn in the bathroom. And i'm not going to miss washing coffee cups in the bathroom sink either. It'll be nice having separation of space with these two rooms again.

7)  Chiggers. I shouldn't have to explain this one but i will anyway. I got them the other day after i went down to the neighbors to pick black berries. Vicki told me to use bug spray if i went down there. I totally forgot! I got home and i thought the red splotches all over my legs were mosquito bites...as they LOVE me. Nope. Chiggers. Had to hop a quick shower before dinner and then spent a good 20 minutes painting clear nail polish on the spots. I read up on them later and found that they don't actually burrow under your skin and lay eggs. THANK GOD!!!! It's a very common misconception that i was thankful for! They've stopped itching for the most part now, but good lord! I was miserable for a few days!!!

8) Not having service on my cell! This may totally sound like a first world problem, and i suppose it is, but living way out here has made making a phone call or getting a text difficult. We're a ways away from the cell tower apparently and the signal is sparse. Many days when someone does call and leaves either of us a message, it'll take anywhere from 1-6 hours, or sometimes several days to get a message! CRAZY!! When i call Chandler i have to go outside, stand in the middle of the yard, on one foot, with my arm out waving it around like i just don't care, for him to hear me clearly for 5 minutes, then i have to move places and change arms. It gets old. So i definitely won't miss that one!! 

9) Not doing stuff. Being this far out isn't horrible. But it's a drive from Greensboro. Almost an hour. So if Brooks and i want to go to a show (we have a LOT of friends who are in bands we like to see), or go to dinner somewhere other than Cook-Out, we have to drive. Well that's fine and good and not a massive issue really, but if we want to go have a drink with a few friends, one of us has to be a DD. It's a pain in the ass to have to drive that far when we are both tired, one of us is tipsy and we've got an hour in the car. It'll be nice to be within walking distance of a lot of stuff again! Shows and all!!

10) Living an hour away. Seems there are some people who think that because i have a boyfriend I've dropped off the face of the planet and totally forgotten about them, when in reality it's because I DON'T LIVE IN TOWN ANYMORE!!! People don't listen. But i hate that there are a few out there who think it's all his fault that they never see me anymore. HELLO?! We live an hour away! Get over yourself!! 


I think that's it. I'm sure there's more, but this is the list on both sides of the equation. The good and bad. Country vs. City. Ying & Yang. Now, if you'll excuse me...perhaps I'll try and pack another box. Moving day will be upon us sooner than we realize.