Culture Shock

One week from now, I'll be in a suburb of Albany, NY with my husband and daughter, visiting my parents. I've been in the Los Angeles area for seven years now; going back home always produces some culture shock, especially in the wintertime.
For one thing, it is COLD in Albany in November. Two Thanksgivings ago in New York it was blizzarding and 20-something degrees. I remember taking a nighttime walk with my parents in the swirling, biting snow, straining to keep upright in the whipping wind. About 50 yards and three minutes into our stroll, S turned back. "I'm out, it's just too cold," he announced, and retreated to the warm indoors. My parents and I trudged on. I like to think that I haven't gone completely soft since moving out West.
Another thing about suburban Albany that always strikes me when I go back is the quiet, and the space. The neighborhoods feature large, wide yards and homes set far back from the streets. The houses are large. In the winter, especially, everyone is inside their homes or their cars; the neighborhoods seem empty and deserted. There's a sense of stillness one doesn't get in L.A., where everyone seems to be in perpetual motion. When my parents drive us back to their house from the airport, I always feel a strange little pang of loneliness, like, "Where is everybody?" There are beautiful trees and buildings and bridges and homes, but so few people, it seems.
At night, in bed in my parents' guestroom, the utter silence is both lovely and disconcerting. Here at our home in L.A., we hear airplanes, the occasional dog barking, the light footsteps of our friends who live above us, even our cats wrestling and meowing. Even when it's "quiet" at night, there's always some sort of ambient noise.
I don't prefer one place over the other. They're just totally different. Both agree with me, for different reasons. Both are "home," in different ways. I'm not a city mouse, a country mouse, or a suburb mouse. I'm flexible, I like to explore and appreciate various places for what they have to offer.
It's funny, going "home" to New York, then coming "home" to L.A. It's nice, actually, feeling so comfortable in two totally opposite places.