Home Is Where The Heart Is

I have been back in Atlanta for 4 years today..Sometimes I wonder if leaving Brooklyn was a good idea or not. I really, really miss the vibrancy of the city I grew up in since coming to this country in 1972 from Guyana..New York is such an amazing place to live and Brooklyn the best borough..I lived in the flatbush section of Brooklyn or little Haiti as I lovingly referred to it..

Where can you get off of the Q-train at 1am and still find the streets full of people..stores open and your favorite chinese restaurant still open waiting on your order of shrimp fried rice and half of a fried chicken..YUM YUM!!!..

I miss those things living in Atlanta..Marta stops at midnight..stores close by 10 and restaurants by midnight..Thank God for Walmart..at least I can find the things I need to make my fried rice and fried chicken..YUM YUM!!!..

There have been some 2 really good changes to my life since leaving Brooklyn..I have my daughter and my son..They make everyday more enjoyable for me..I sometimes wonder what life would be like if I had stayed in Brooklyn..

I miss the train rides..I miss being able to walk anywhere at anytime without odd looks..Just about everyone in Atlanta drives a car or some other type of vehicle..Traffic in this city is absolutely the worst..

I miss hearing all of the different dialects spoken in a 4 block radius..music to my ears..The different smells of meals being prepared wafting out of open windows..The corner fruit stand that carries the fruits and vegetables I grew up eating as a child..Sure I can find those things here at the farmers market..The feel is just not the same..

I long for a mango or a fruit salad that runs me $1 - $2 bucks..Not $4 - $5 bucks..Give me a break..I want roti and curry without having to make it myself, although I love to cook..I just have to walk around the corner in Brooklyn and I have my choice of 4 different spots to choose from. Here I have to travel over 20 miles to get what I don't even consider something that should be in the running..

OH MY..Am I in an abyss..If so get me out of here before I dissolve into the something I don't want to become and that is a dis-enchanted transplanted northerner..