Whenever Edith hears whirring blades high above our house, she is quick to point them out. "Helicopter!" she proclaims several times a day.
Growing up in rural northwest Ohio, I wonder if I had even heard a helicopter by the time I was two years old, let alone seen one. But we hear and see hospital, news or police helicopters several times a day here in Columbus.
It's the helicopters that really brought home to me how different Edith and Atticus's upbringing is going to be than my own. Perhaps not in essentials -- I feel I have basically the same ideas about raising kids as my parents do -- but in atmosphere, certainly.
The cornfields of my childhood have been replaced by houses just more than a hand's reach away for Edith and Atticus. The closest grocery store when I grew up was a 15-minute car ride away. We can walk to Kroger here -- not to mention the library, rec center and quite a few stores and restaurants. It takes my dad several hours on a riding lawn mower to cut the grass. Paul and our push mower can get our postage-stamp lawn done in less than an hour.
Of course, with city living also comes more traffic, more noise and more crime. But I'll take my chances. I like it here, and I hope Edith and Atticus will have as happy of a childhood as I did -- no matter how different it is.
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