Sad thing, I've been to plenty of places in the country, and the town I'm describing is arguably a nicer place to live than most of them. Americans like to put all these artificial divisions between themselves, but let's be real and just admit most towns in America are pretty much indistinguishable from each other. You got one or two main roads that are nothing but fast food joints, car dealerships, and like one or two bars, and then miles of housing developments until you reach either a major city or you end up in places where shooting deer still makes up a significant portion of your diet. I think the thing that always made the flaws in my hometown pop to me isn't that it's especially bad, kind of the opposite, it's extremely fucking mundane. Like I'd visit people I know in Colorado or Georgia and there's just really no major difference in lifestyle going on. And if that's what counts as a success story I really don't want to know what failure is.
Sure, different strokes etc etc. I do miss having a yard. But I also don't miss raking it, you get me?