When I was 16, I wrote an opinion article for my high school paper called “Suburban Life: Unhealthy and Unnatural.” It was a sad attempt to show everyone just how over this place I was. Now that I am back among the endless rows of identical houses, I feel much the same, made worse by the fact that I have now lived in cities and know what I’m missing. More than anything, I miss being able to walk places. Being within a fifteen minute walk to parks, restaurants, interesting shops, gelato, grocery stores, bookstores. Sometimes when I was frustrated, I would just leave my apartment and walk, making turns at will, seeing where my feet would take me. In Prague, I was able to find Strawberries and Cream at a tiny underground cafe. In Seattle, I would walk to Greenlake and sit alone on a bench watching people walk by me, eavesdropping on their conversations. I could feasibly leave my house now and walk, but it’s always the same old, same old, and I always feel like people look at me strange, like, “Where the heck is she going?” Sometimes I almost feel trapped, like I have nowhere to escape to. Like that picket fence is more like a cage.
Chrissy's Blog 
Holy crap, I think I remember when you wrote that! Geez.