A Boomer Returns . . .

Here's an email from a reader who has recently moved back to the city; included are some pluses and minuses of the move. Raised on the eastside, he and his wife lived in Summerfield, Texas for 20 years. A few years ago they sold the Summerfield house and moved to the Fairmount area of downtown.

Why? His email message:

I worked on the far west side, my wife worked downtown. I rode (bicycles) with a bunch of guys in Benbrook during the week. I would drive down to ride the Trinity Trail or meet guys in Westcliff on the weekends. We had some favorite restaurants in town like Fuzzy's and Cafe Express and we would pick up hard-to-find items at Central Market. We began to realize we LIVED in the city, only our house was in the suburbs. While out and about, we would constantly say, "You know, if we lived here, we'd be home by now."
. . . . Before one year was up, the house felt more like our home than the previous home of 20+ years. Other pluses:

• Cool, non-chain restaurants on Magnolia I can ride over to the Trinity Trail
• It takes my wife 7 minutes to get to work.
• A yummy Taqueria nearby
• Not far from Colonel's Bikes and Gorecki Auto (Volvo specialist on Vickery)
• Fuzzy's, Paul's Donut's, Carshon's
• More Halloween trick-or-treaters in one night than 20 years combined in the 'burbs
• Swing dancing at Preservation Hall Neighbors you actually talk to
• I ride my bike to work once or twice a week (12 mi each way)
• An active neighborhood association minutes from downtown and cultural district activities.
• Easier to East Side and Arlington, when necessary

Minuses:

• Still a few panhandlers and ratty rent properties around Gunfire heard in close proximity on New Year's and July 4th (so far, it's amusing) The number of possible home improvement projects can get overwhelming (and takes time from riding).
• Critters: a raccoon got into the garage and chewed up my bike saddle and I had to pull a dead rat from under the house.
• Graffiti on our back fence from the alley
• Train horns crossing Hemphill at all hours.
• No Boopa's Bagels.

That seems to be a common story. Get out of the car, have a short commute to work and relaxation, let someone else tend the big yard, and begin enjoying the activity of the city.

Thanks Martin.