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Living the Dream
Why Aren’t You Living There Already?
The writing prompt I pulled out of the box is simple on its face, but far less so when I unpack it:
“Where would you most like to live? (And why aren’t you living there already?)”
Yeah.
There’s a lot to that.
In some ways, I am right where I want to be. That’s not to say I dreamt of living in Baltimore, because if anyone had ever asked me if I wanted to live in Baltimore, I would have been really confused about that choice of locale. I had never even visited Charm City before I pulled up stakes and relocated here. So no, location is not the key. But I am living right where I want to be if the criteria is in a home that I bought, on my own, with no help from another living soul. One that I chose, that suits my taste, in a neighborhood that I like, where I didn’t have to consider what anyone else wanted. It’s a place that makes me both happy and proud because I finally did something all on my own. Something that for a very long time I wasn’t sure I could ever, ever do. So in that regard, I already am where I would most like to live.
If I go back, a little more than 25 years ago, I was floundering. Truly floundering. I had left college, my father had died, and I was completely unmoored. My father was a beacon in my life. He was the guy I could trust in…
