The Beginning

When people ask me where I'm from, I never know what to say. Baltimore until I was 12 1/2, Cleveland-ish until college, lovely Poughkeepsie for college, Boston post-college, Miami for grad school, and Philadelphia most recently. My dirty little secret is that I gauge my audience and use whatever city fits in best. I like the east coast- I don't mind visiting other time zones, but I feel unbalanced. I need east coastedness to feel settled and whole.

Maybe it is because that move to Cleveland-ish was a tad bit on the traumatic side. I still remember the terror of getting dropped off on my first day of 8th grade, including what I was wearing (a sweet polka dot tee dress). I think the only reason I'm not in a mental institution at this point is due to a quick thinking 4th period math teacher. Anyway, I swore that as soon as I could, I would move back to the east coast. Which I did. And stayed. And I never ever wanted to leave. 98% because I love it here in Philadelphia, but 2% because I HATE MOVING. I hate packing and unpacking and arranging and decorating. I'm not good at it. I really do not like finding a new place to live. I hate having to get adjusted to a new oven. I don't mind meeting new people or starting a new job or discovering a new city, but the whole moving thing really stresses me out a lot.

But now, due to an odd and perplexing twist of kismet, I am moving back westward, to Cincinnati (a city I find absurdly hard to spell), to a state I thought I would never live in again. Some may say I was being unreasonably stubborn by avoiding it. I'm sure I've offended my Ohioan loved ones with my refusal to even consider moving back, but I like what I like. I like liberalism and ethnic food, concrete, tall crowded buildings, loud streets and being near the ocean. I like being able to drive to NYC or DC or other cities ending in Cs. I even like the Lincoln Tunnel. I like that on a silly Saturday I could drive to DSW in NJ, Costco in DE (hello tax free shopping!), and then come home to PA with new shoes, a ginormous bag of chocolate chips and 12 pounds of salmon. I adore and love and am slightly stalkerishly obsessed with the restaurant scene in Philadelphia. I like walking to places. Or taking the occasional train. Don't get me wrong, I logically have nothing against Ohio. It has a lot going for it, with the stark exception of sports championships and the whole ocean thing.

So this blog will be my goodbye and I will love you forever letter to Philly and my life here, and my attempt at chronicling this new adventure to Ohio and handling it with what I hope will be more grace than I did 20 years ago. There will be no polka dots this time which will probably help.