The Absent Un clé: In search of Mayberry

After this last weather-related emergency that I went through, I had some time on my hands and let my mind wander into where in the world can you live where no black clouds can come up and make living stressful. Sort of like the old Andy Griffith show that was centered around Mayberry, U.S.A.

So, I started my search based on comparisons of locales I have lived in from the beginning. Born and raised in southwestern Minnesota, the cold winters, hot, humid summers that makes the corn grow, the mosquitos, and the occasional tornado or flood. Mayberry didn’t seem to have any of those. As I told my dad when I didn’t return to Minnesota after getting out of the Navy in 1975, “You don’t have to shovel sunshine”.

Since then, I’ve lived in California, both north and south (and places in between), plus in the Death Valley area. Earthquakes, clogged freeways, extraordinarily expensive are on the con side of the ledger. The pro side gives a glimpse of the beaches, mountains, and pretty nice weather most of the year. But leaving California around 1997 felt like the right thing to do – it wasn’t Mayberry. 

Kansas was next; outside of Wichita for 20-plus years.

Kansas is not Mayberry. Warm, humid summers, “tornado alley” – although in all those 20-plus years we never experienced or saw a tornado, I feel like I need to knock on wood after making that statement – ice storms, and dusty winds. When Kansas was in the rearview mirror as we moved to southern Texas, there were no thoughts that we were leaving Mayberry. 

After a bit over five-and-a-half years here in the Houston area, I can say without a doubt that this is not Mayberry either. A hurricane, insanely hot and humid summers, crazy politics, and when you leave our neighborhood, very intense and crowded roads and highways.

I recognize that Mayberry was a fantasy; a place that was created for the TV show. Sure, it had its problems that needed solving (mostly by Andy), characters that didn’t always get along, and a hint of the tragedies that happened before and outside of Mayberry.   

Nope, no Mayberry’s in my history. But a lot of memories with very few regrets.