"What is the city but the people?"
~Wm. Shakespeare
Wow, I can't believe this is my 200th blog post already...
Anyway, I know Friday's post is up a little early, but I'm going out of town for the weekend, to my beloved adopted hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.
I spent 4 years living there in my 20s, during and after graduate school, and I have to say that they were some of the most formative years of my life. I fell in love with the city: with the kindness of the people, the burgeoning downtown, the museums, the beautiful suburbs, the inexpensive cost of living, the sports teams...just about everything except the weather. I also had a wonderfully tight-knit group of friends, and we spent just about every day and night having dinner together or going out for drinks together or struggling through classwork together.
There is such luxury in being young and single, in having the energy to stay up until 3 am talking with your classmates about philosophy, or dancing at the newest club, or watching your home team win a double-header and still having the stamina to get up early the next morning and go to work or school and do it all over again. I remember feeling such contentment then, feeling my way into adulthood with great pals by my side.
So I go back to Cleveland as often as I can, aiming for once a year, though it's usually only for a few days or a weekend. Most of my friends from back then have moved elsewhere, anyway. Ah, well. When I contract that best-seller and get a million-dollar advance, I'll buy myself a cushy little townhouse so I can go back whenever I want to, and host annual reunions!
Here's the question of the day: if you could choose to live anywhere in the world, either a place you've lived before, or someplace you've always dreamed of, where would it be? And why? Is there a place or time you look back to that shaped the person you are today?
(Note: Lots of news to share on my 2 up-coming novels, as I've recently gotten first edits on Lost in Paradise and a first-draft cover design for One Night in Boston. So stay tuned, next week. And have a great weekend ~ I'll be back on Monday!!)
(Second note: what was up with that totally depressing season finale of Grey's Anatomy last night?? Nothing like a TV show that makes me want to slit my wrists. Sheesh...)
5 comments:
If I could afford it, I would live on Cape Cod, in one of the mid-cape villages, a bit off the main tourist drag.
My maternal grandparents had a house there and I have so many fond memories of lazy summer days in their quiet New England town. We could walk wherever we needed to go, and the beach was just a short drive away. Life was slow and relaxed, and even today, the Cape makes me feel safe, like being wrapped up in a handmade quilt in front of a fire on a cold day.
To live that feeling every day would be heaven on earth!
I would live in Ireland hands down and for once in my life be the one with an accent. It's all the green hills that attracts me. Or I've just been seduced by Nora Roberts's novels.
bunnygirl, love your quilt comparison! And yes, CC is a gorgeous, relaxing place...
I'd go back to California in a heartbeat -- IF I could also time travel and return about 35 years ago.
Otherwise... Hawaii. Or maybe Arizona.
Can you tell I'm freezing right now? Isn't it MAY??? Why is it only 50 degrees outside?
Hope you have a great trip.
if I didn't have kids (or just had something civilised like ONE) I would live in a an apartment in the centre of Paris or Rome or , even, Prague - and learn the language, write books, drink coffee, and eat yummy food.
But with my four kids I wouldn't mind living for a while in Canada or the US.
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