my mental map of suburbia.
I’ve been slowly re-adjusting to living at home in good old Cranberry Township with the fam. I haven’t lived here since the summer of 2008, so its been a little over four years. There have been so many changes with shopping centers and restaurants popping up everywhere it’s hard to keep track of all the new things!
There are a lot of similarities between Cranberry and Harrisonburg. Mostly a bunch of shopping centers and restaurants. Target, Wal-Mart, Buffalo Wild Wings, Jimmy Johns, Starbucks, Office Depot, Barnes and Noble, Panera, Applebee’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Michael’s, etc, etc, etc. You get the idea. Lots of big box retailers and chain restaurants. Making your suburbia eerily similar to my suburbia. Some of these things were in Cranberry first then Harrisonburg got one or vice versa.
This is where my brain is getting super confused. I have this mental map of shopping centers and restaurants that has morphed into one and it’s extremely difficult to differentiate between Cranberry and Harrisonburg in real life.
Earlier this week I was driving to Staples to get something printed. I pull into one of the many shopping centers in the ‘berry and realize this is not where Staples is located. I was in the shopping center that has an Office Depot. In Harrisonburg, Staples and Office Depot are right next to each other, however, in Cranberry Township they are not. I pull into a parking spot and bust out Edith, my iPhone, and search to see where Staples is.
Later that same day I ordered a handmade pan pizza, pepperoni and bacon, from Domino’s via their convenient app! (If you haven’t tried their handmade pan yet you are missing out.) I chose carry out since I was already running errands. I’m driving to the location of their store when I panic and start thinking that I’m actually headed to a Pizza Hut. I pull over to double check. I was right. I was headed towards Pizza Hut. I had zero clue where the Domino’s was. Edith again comes to the rescue. My favorite part is that Domino’s is in the same complex as my old dance studio which I attended from 4th grade until I graduated from high school.
My blurry memory of Cranberry is giving me this false confidence that I know where I’m going. I just need to remind myself that I probably have no idea where I’m going. At all. Ever.
Categorised as: living the dream
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