I'm Staying
Thursday I talked to both my Grandmother and my mom, who had the same idea in mind: “Let’s pester Elizabeth to move back to the South as soon as she’s out of grad school in December”.

I was rather susceptible to this particular suggestion Thursday because the most rotten month I’ve had since I moved here is ending. May started with crack of dawn whistles, finals and a big move. Then my apartment almost burned down, my Relationship died, and I started a severe shortage of cash that will continue for a couple of months. It hasn’t been exactly warm here either. So May hasn’t been my month, and I feel guilty because I’m under familial pressure to move down to Georgia. Well, at least they know me well enough not to ask me to move back to Tennessee.

That’s why I’m so glad my friends Ron and Dinan blew into town Friday. I was just holding on to my resolve to live here when they showed up the other morning and reminded me that hey, I love this place! I may be flat on my ass broke, but at least I’m flat on my ass broke in Boston, and I’ve never been as happy anywhere else as I am here. I was broke in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and miserable. At least when I’m broke here, I’m broke somewhere where there are interesting things to do without money. And if it isn’t as warm as I’d like, there are bakeries everywhere to console me with decent coffee and fresh quality pastries, damn it.

Ron and Dinan like it so much they’re looking for jobs so they can move up here and give me some more company. Fine with me – I say we colonize Boston with disaffected Southerners – I view this town the same way I think the WWI expatriates viewed Paris. Ah, we love our old homeland, but we just can’t live there the way things are right now. Maybe one day it’ll get better and we can move back, but for right now, vive New England.

I showed them around my new neighborhood of Allston, and they were just floored. Within a few blocks of me are Korean, Russian, and Mexican grocers. My grocery store affectionately nicknamed “the Death Star” contains more variety than any other grocery store I’ve ever been in. You can get fresh Ostrich eggs there, and even though I don’t think I ever will buy any, just the fact that they’re there for the taking is somehow comforting and awe-inspiring. I walked around showing stuff to my friends, and asked them where they wanted to eat dinner.

“What’s close?” They asked.
“Everything.” I said.
Ron gave me this long look and a sigh. “You mean that anything you could possibly want is within walking distance?”
“Pretty much.”

I love this neighborhood. I decided last night that when my lease comes up in a year and a half, I’m not moving. If my room mate Aral needs to move, I’ll find another roommate. I want to live someplace for a while, and it might as well be here. I haven’t lived anywhere for more than 10 months since I was 17. I’ll be 25 in October. And while I’m not sure that I’m putting down roots yet, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna hang out here for a while. After all, if I have a kid later on, there are two bedrooms.

I still think I'll end up back in Atlanta eventually, but right now, this is where I need to be.