I’ve lived all my life in Jacksonville, Florida. As I’ve explored different sections of the city and gone to more events, I’ve realized some interesting things about it. For starters, Jacksonville is the biggest city by area in the contiguous United States. There are some cities in Alaska that are bigger, but Jacksonville is the biggest city in the lower forty eight states.
Despite its size, however, Jacksonville doesn’t feel like a big city. One reason for this could be that the city is spread out enough to give everyone plenty of elbow room. This could contrast some other US cities with much larger populations in far smaller areas that might feel more cramped as a result. Another plausible reason may be that each section of Jacksonville has its own distinct feel. The area by the beach feels completely different than the more rural areas, and those are nothing like the downtown area, and so on. This makes Jacksonville feel like four or five small cities that have been combined to create one big city.
It may also explain why I sometimes run into people from my past. For example, two days ago at my job, I helped a customer who happened to be one of my elementary school music teachers. We hadn’t seen each other in at least fifteen years and we spent a good while catching up. This is just one of several times in which I’ve been reunited with a past teacher or schoolmate at one of my jobs. I’ve also had these sorts of occasions outside of work, although sometimes I’ve happened to run into friends I see on a regular basis rather than people I haven’t seen in years. In any one of those situations, it reminds me of how close and connected Jacksonville is and how it feels more like one or more small towns instead of one big city. That’s one of several things I enjoy about living here and why I plan to continue calling it home for the foreseeable future.