the skyline

One of my gripes about Dallas is that we live 15 miles in any direction from the nearest Costco.  I happen to like their roasted chickens and they are way cheaper than anyone else on quite a few of our staple items around the house.  If there was one within 2 miles of us in Chicago, why can't there be a closer one here?  But I enjoyed the scenic route as I went to what their website claims is my closest location in Duncanville today.  I was driving north up 35E into Dallas, a route I have taken more times than I can remember, all my life from San Antonio up to Big D.  This afternoon, the skyline took my breath away and gave me goosebumps.  I always loved Chicago's skyline but it wasn't mine, if that makes any sense at all.  I lived there for three years of borrowing the city life and borrowing a place that wasn't fully mine and never would be.  I'm a Texan, born and bred.  There is something beautiful about our urban sprawl (there is plenty of that in Illinois, I can assure you) and something precious about a place that moves at a quick city pace but also takes the time to slow down.  I'm noticing that things aren't open as long of hours as they are in Chicago, the bars aren't hopping at 10 a.m. and that's ok.  Places close on Sundays for family, fellowship and of course, football.  I feel more at home here in a place that melts together the urban life that I so enjoy and the slower pace of the South.  This is my spot and it feels so good to be in an area where the urban movement and revitalization is still in it's beginning stages.  We're in a place where we can finally grow as a family and as individuals both in literal terms and in the more abstract.  Our neighborhood has it's gritty spots and moments but my three years in the big city prepared me for it and hardened me against things that other Texans may scoff at.  I even think the homeless people that hang out down the street are friendlier.  When I came up the highway and saw the many buildings with familiar names that I grew up with, I knew for sure that this is the place I've been waiting to be for a long time now.  This skyline feels like my own.