The Agony and The Irony

I have recently discovered, much to my surprise, that I'm a city girl. I grew up in an average size town of about 100,000 people and was content to spend the rest of my days there. It never occurred to me that after I got married we might end up having to move somewhere else but that's exactly what happened.

After spending 37 years in the same town we moved to Lafayette, Louisiana where we spent the next 8 years. Lafayette is about double the size of my hometown but still not a big city. We were comfortable and content there but as fate would have it Jayson was offered a better position in his company which required us to move to Houston.

Being the 4th largest city in the U.S., Houston was completely out of my comfort zone. I had always thought I would hate living in a big city with millions of people, insane traffic, and hour long commutes. Much to my surprise, I find that I actually prefer it. Of course we live in the 'burbs but I  love having quick access to a large metropolitan area where there is always something to do or see.

Shortly before we moved to Houston, one of Jayson's coworkers (let's call him Bob) had already relocated here. About a year later Bob took a different position with the company and ended up moving his family back to Lafayette. Then a few months ago Bob was let go which is just part and parcel for this economy. Fortunately he was able to find another job and he moved his family to Snyder, Texas.

I've been to Snyder, several times in fact. Actually I've been *through* Snyder several times. I can't imagine why anyone would ever stop there on purpose. I don't mean to offend those who live in or love Snyder, it's just a very small town and not my personal preference for a place to live.

When Jayson told me about Bob's relocation I asked about his job because I couldn't imagine what kind of opportunities there would be in a town of 11,000 people. I imagined Bob might be working the drive through at the Dairy Queen. Then I thought about his family and what they would do. Would they take a family outing to the Scurry County Museum or the public library? Or would they treat themselves to a movie at Cinema Snyder which boasts TWO whole screens, and is open SIX days a week?!

For all their shopping needs Snyder has its very own Walmart. Should they require a mall, Snyder is conveniently located just 90 miles from Lubbock, Midland, San Angelo and Abilene whose malls might not have a Sephora but they all have a Radio Shack AND a Sears, by gosh.

Okay so I made fun of living in Snyder. Bob and his family may love it and I truly hope they do, but I'm fairly certain that if I had to live there I would slowly shrivel up and die. Do they have wifi there? Or are they proud of being conveniently located just 90 miles away from 4 different sources of wifi? Frightening thought.

The universe has a funny way of slapping you upside the head sometimes. Jayson was recently "let go" just like Bob was and is searching for a new job after spending the past 19 years with the same company. He's applied for over 20 different jobs in the past two weeks and talked to numerous recruiters but he's only had one interview and it was a phone interview that lasted less than 2 minutes. He was starting to feel a little discouraged until a company contacted him and asked him to come in for an interview. Do you care to guess where that company is located?

Snyder, Texas.