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SIGNALS AND NOISES
The Joy Of Silence
How my life changed when I moved to a quieter place
Until just recently, I thought my life had all the silence it needed.
My town is so quiet, people call it Mayberry on the Bay, and my leafy neighborhood is typical of it. In the evenings, you’re more likely to hear porch swings creaking or barred owls hooting than someone bellowing “Honky Tonk Woman” after last call at the Lucky Horseshoe Saloon out on the highway.
But a couple of months ago, I moved to a new home just up the street. And I saw how many degrees of silence can exist, even in the same neighborhood, and how much difference they can make in your life.
I’d lived for years in a beach cottage in a low-keyed subdivision when, in January, finding a new place on short notice became urgent. My town has a daunting housing shortage, and I didn’t have the luxury of looking for a similarly quiet place. Finding anything at all would be a challenge.
Almost miraculously, I found a new home two blocks from my old one. I ended up on the same street, with the same neighbors and amount of space, and with a similar view of sunsets over Mobile Bay. You might think I’d just traded one white picket fence for another.
