Current City

Had lunch with another new (to me) faculty member today. When I told him where I was from he said, "Oh man, Maine must be a culture shock then?"

I've been asked this a lot. And, while it was shocking for the lady at the bank drive-through to know my son had been to the emergency room without me even knowing her name, the answer is not really. I've been thinking about how Facebook words it: Current City. Because I like thesaurus.com, I looked up "current" (see definition at the end). Present. Now.

I think more and more, like fashions, hobbies, friends, sleeping habits, food tastes and musical preferences, it's good for cities to be different at different times in your life. Would I have liked getting a divorce and trying to date in my late 20s in Pittsfield? Maybe not. But does it suit me now? Yes. Sometimes you need a place to be slower because life is fast no matter where you are. And maybe it takes living in traffic to appreciate long, snaking freeways when you can rarely see more than three cars at a time but you're bookended with thickets of deep green. And the flatline weather with a range of twenty degrees makes sticky sun, chameleon leaves and bare trees feel like something is happening. Time is moving and you can actually mark it.

Life doesn't feel slower here. My days are still filled with meetings and work and Henry and the girls and co-workers and eating and shortened conversations with Jared right before we both fall asleep. But now every day has breakfast, lunch and dinner and I don't have to do the dishes. I can go to the doctor or get my teeth cleaned and not worry about the bills. I can call my father-in-law with less than half an hour notice and drop-off Henry while I run an errand. I can go to Trivia Night on Thursdays at Mainely Brews with my coworkers (our team is named "Yes We Are!" and we won last week!!) and earn points for knowing Bruce Willis's three daughters names: Rumer, Tallulah and Scout.

Is it different? Yes. Do I miss San Diego things? Yes. But this is my current city. My size right now. It fits.

Main Entry:	current [kur-uhnt, kuhr-] Show IPA/ˈkɜrənt, ˈkʌr-/ Show Spelled
Part of Speech:	adjective
Definition:	contemporary; common
Synonyms:	accepted, accustomed, afoot, circulating, common knowledge, customary, cutting-edge, doing, existent, extant, fad, fashionable, general, going around, hot*, in, in circulation, in progress, in the mainstream, in the news, in use, in vogue, instant, leading-edge, mod, modern, now*, on front burner, ongoing, popular, present, present-day, prevailing, prevalent, rampant, regnant, rife, ruling, state-of-the-art, swinging, topical, trendy, up-to-date, widespread
Antonyms:	antiquated, old, old-fashioned, past, uncommon, uncontemporary