same difference

Sitting on the balcony and listening to the sounds around me.  Traffic, trains, dogs playing in the little dog park on the next block, an occasional laugh from a sidewalk table below, more traffic.  And the sights; buildings of varying height made of varying material, lights at Cellular Field (evidently the Sox are in town), cars, trucks, motorcycles, buses, limos, cabs, Merchandise Mart all amber, the antennas at the tower just starting to glow.  The clock at the Boeing building.  Green Holiday Inn and blue Chase, and rose to the west as dusk sets in.

If I were still living in my little house with the big yard outside of Huntsville, the sights and sounds would be somewhat different....and the same.  Instead of traffic it would be cicadas or crickets or tree frogs along with the occasional vehicle on the street.  Kids playing, lawn mowers, trains, sirens on the highway, an occasional laugh from a neighbor walking the oval with kids or dogs.  Sights - stars just beginning to pop out, the candle I might have burning on the deck, lights of the towers on Monte Sano, and rose to the west as dusk sets in.

Different, but not so much so.  Just as life here is different, but not so much so.  There's more variety in what to see and do, but still a lot of the same type things.  Sports, walking, shopping, eating, air shows and boat shows and concerts in the park.  There, I'd be less inclined to do these things by myself, or to go out of my way to meet with strangers with whom I share a common bond.  Here, I'm forced to do just that; the things I never would do otherwise.  I hope that, once I return to the familiar climes and landscapes I've known all my life, I manage to hang on to the willingness to go out on my own or to seek out others who enjoy like things.   There are many experiences I hope to take back South with me, and I'm starting to realize that I may take more than that.  I may take a new me, or at least, a different me.

Different, but not so much so.