The Where I Live series aims to showcase our diverse city and region by spotlighting its many vibrant neighborhoods. Each week a local resident invites us over and lets us in on what makes their neighborhood special. Have we been to your neighborhood yet? Get in touch to share your story.
First and foremost: I am a homebody. My home is my most precious place to me, so I’ve never taken the decision of where I would live lightly. From the city down to the plot of land my home was built on, I have carefully chosen my little corner of the world.
I was born and raised in San Antonio on the far West Side before Alamo Ranch became the bustling shopping center it is today, and back when Loop 1604 below Bandera still had traffic lights instead of a freeway. I grew up playing with the other kids on my block, playing in the youth soccer league and competing on the swim team. My love for my neighborhood, Northwest Crossing, laid the foundation for my love of this side of town, despite being a bit farther out from the city center.
Eventually, I had to leave San Antonio for college and later pursued a career in winemaking, which took me to different parts of the world, like California and New Zealand, for months at a time. But my parents’ house in San Antonio was always my home base where I found rest after exhausting harvest seasons.
After deciding to shift my career path towards food science to give myself more stability, I settled back into San Antonio comfortably, spending a couple of years in Southtown before deciding to purchase my own home.
Even though I grew up on the far West Side only a few miles from where I live now at The Overlook at Medio Creek, this area of town was rather foreign to me prior to moving. I grew up believing in a common misconception about the area surrounding Marbach Road: that it was unsafe or undesirable. Maybe the area has come a long way since the early 2000s, or maybe I’ve just reassessed my own inherent biases, but I’ve found that stereotype surrounding Marbach to be untrue.
My neighborhood is full of young families and first-time homebuyers like myself who are proud to live here. And I’m only five minutes away from two Whataburger locations. What more could you ask for?
There’s more than just a plethora of fast food joints. I get all the benefits of being near the Alamo Ranch shopping center without the brutal traffic that 1604 and Culebra Road carry. I have easy access to both Loops 1604 and 410, as well as Highways 151 and 90. The Shops at Dove Creek has also expanded with the new Costco. There are parks nearby as well, like Heritage Duck Pond Park, where my dog and I like to go to watch the ducks and turtles.
When I chose this neighborhood, it was still developing. I was able to pick the plot of land my house would be built on. It was the first of countless decisions I had to make on my house: the floors, the light fixtures, the doors, the paint colors, the appliances … By the end of the meeting with the builder, I was definitely experiencing some decision fatigue. But it was never difficult to choose San Antonio or the far West Side because it already felt like home.
Since moving in almost two years ago, the rest of my little neighborhood has mostly filled out and is almost complete. I’ll be grateful when the construction stops and I no longer have to worry about a stray nail causing a flat tire. I’m happy to have a home in which to nurture my homebody tendencies.
