In which I'm really Sarah Louise, hypothetically thinking about things in a hypothetical way

(This was written on Saturday, just so you realize this is not a new idea.) (It's been percolating for a while now.)

Okay. So I'm driving home from the Edgewood library (which isn't as great as I remembered, but my memories are over ten years old and a library does have to expand--yes, I've been there since the expansion, but old memories die hard) and I thought, maybe the reason I haven't bought a house in da Burgh isn't so much that I want another person in my family before I do that as the phenom that I've observed in women's literature: He didn't want to marry YOU, he didn't want to have a baby with YOU. He marries the next girl, has a baby with HER. Maybe I haven't bought a house here yet because I don't really want to settle in Pittsburgh.

Now, if you've met me, your jaw may be on the floor right now, so I'll give you a minute to right it.

YES, I love Pittsburgh. But no, I am not FROM here, and I have no family within 4-5 hours. Um. I adore my church, my little support system of friends, but if I've learned one thing from my time in da Burgh, blood is thicker than water.

I had a conversation Thursday with a girl who lived in Philly for seventeen years. But she moved back, as they all do. Are you from here? She asked me. No. We talked about the magnetism of family. Which is part of the whole thing here. Everyone leaves Pittsburgh when they are young and then, like sea turtles, they return--to mate, have offspring, retire.

I want to be able to see my cousins, and my girlfriends from college. And guess what? They're all on the Eastern Sea Board or something like it. I want the ocean, dammit!! I heart Sandcastle, but it ain't got the beach!

So I'm thinking, Annapolis, or Maryland in general...partly because last week I sat next to a guy at a dinner who lives there. It was like a light bulb went off in my brain. Annapolis! Now, there is a place I could love. Now, I know my sister will surely chime in that it is a Navy town, and I know all that. But I don't want to live in DC. And you couldn't pay me enough to live in Northern Virginia unless it was in Falls Church, and then, you'd have to pay me A LOT, because, well, the price of real estate is well...

And no, I haven't looked at the prices in Annapolis. This is HYPOTHETICAL. Dream with me.

I would consider Silver Spring, as it is the home of my alma mater, Montgomery Blair H.S. (although the building has changed). I would more likely consider Tacoma Park.

The MFA at Carlow is low residency. Which means I could live anywhere (Timbuktu?) and still take the 10 days in da Burgh in January, 10 days in Ireland in June. Email has made so much possible, but email is not a substitute for my family.

Am I crazy? Maybe I've just been sick for a week and I haven't been able to walk in the park in over a month, and it's February, and I'm possibly hormonal.

And yes, I looked at job listings last week. Didn't see anything promising...yet.