English practice 1
The Rat Race
When I was a little girl, my family was deciding to move1 from suburban Southern California to rural Northern California. All of my friends lived in the neighborhood where I had grown up, but2 I didn't want to move. Classes starting in the fall and unfamiliar faces looked at me with curiosity scared me stiff3.
For example, I asked my parents why they were doing this to me. I pleaded; begging to be allowed5 to stay behind and live with my grandparents. My mother, trying to explain to me, said, "Daddy needs to get away from the rat race." I imagined my father in his car, surrounded by giant rats racing him home and was blocking his way6. In my imagination7 he didn't look scared so much as frustrated.
I finally asked my father why he wanted us to move so far away from home. One of his main reasons, he said, was the long drive home after work. For him, the worst and most terrible thing9 about living in Southern California was having no time to go fishing, one of his favorite hobbies.
[1] My parents eventually picked Redding for our new home, partly because there were two lakes within an hour's drive, and we made the move. [2] Since my father's new commute was only fifteen minutes, he would be able to go fishing after work sometimes. [3] I was sad to say goodbye to my friends when we finally did move. [4] However, I had to admit that my father looked happier10 than he had in years. [5] Before the move, he used to complain about crazy drivers while eating reheated leftovers. [6] After the move, we had dinner and, talked11 about the weekend calmly as a family.12
As I got older, when we visited family and friends in Southern California,13 I could see the difference from the traffic at14 home in Redding. There weren't any huge rats on the highway, but as I sat in the car watching the endless lines of cars, I got a glimpse of what my parents had meant. Redding might have been unpleasantly empty of familiar associations for me but that same emptiness was more pleasant for my parents, because it included empty roads, empty skies, and empty days to fill as they pleased.15
