Why I need to move from Penn's Woods ...
Reason 1: Scenery like this can't readily be found there but New England has a surplus. It's even pretty in the Winter because of all the happy evergreens and because people there knows how to plow and drive properly.
Reason 2: I've been here too bloody long. Thirty years is long enough to live anywhere. I'm more or less over the loathe of being transplanted that was instilled by a dozen-odd relocations before I even hit puberty.
Reason 3: Family. I have some friends in the Commonwealth that are as close as family or even closer, but my blood is in Maine and New Hampshire. No, that doesn't make sense, but what in this warped existence we call "life" does?
Reason 4: Mom needs me. Well, maybe not me, but someone. She's always been there for me and for everyone else. Seldom is she happier than when she's a caregiver, but just as I've grown weary of dwelling in the Keystone, she's grown weary of all the giving. Her life hasn't always been easy as she's been making life easy for others, though I often think the attrition is self-inflicted to a degree and has come as much from having fun as from anything else.
Reason 5: My daughter is now buried. True, the ground closed over her years ago but I am just now somewhat comfortable with not being near the grave. She'll always be my biggest love, but we'll have eternity in Heaven where we can dance and sing and play every day.
Reason 6: It's time for a change. I've failed at trying to have a teaching career let alone actually having one, I couldn't make a marriage work, and I lost my way more often than I can count. New England isn't my cradle, but it's my home. It's the place I find comfortable. Any illusions of doing anything wonderful or meaningful on a grand scale have been supplanted by illusions of deeds no less worthy but far more attainable. The true feat will be to actually accomplish them.
