When I lived in the city of Chicago, I was judgmental about the suburbanites who would venture into the city on the weekends, especially during the holidays or summer. I cursed their presence during traffic jams, I was annoyed when out-of-city drivers were in the loop, I was incredulous when anyone decided to move outside of the city limits.

Now, the tables have turned.

We’re in the suburbs. We no longer have the cache of saying “We live in the city”. We’ve moved 15 miles outside of the city limits.

Recently, I saw an acquaintance of mine who lives in Chicago, whom I haven’t seen since we moved. It was like Robert and I had suffered a death of a close friend or family member.

Her: “Wow, I can’t believe you live in the suburbs, how is it?” (said with a very sympathetic tone, and a fake-frownie face)

Me: “We really love it – we have a yard with real grass, trees, animals…”

Her: “But gosh, it’s just like you are in a whole ‘nother world – so removed from this world of being in the CITY. I mean, you’re so far away from THIS world.

Me: “Well, it’s the same world, just different. We love it.”

Her tone, her sympathy, her entire demeanor indicated that we were to be pitied, poor couple who couldn’t hack it in the city and had to escape. Exactly how I treated people from the suburbs when I lived in the city for 15 years.

So it was a good lesson to learn, but I wanted to point out that she’s actually BORN AND RAISED in the suburbs.