Well it sort of feels that way.
Tomorrow we're waking the kids and hitting the road at 6am, bound for our *old home* on Boston's South Shore. Got to beat the 4th of July traffic on I-95, as best as we can anyway.
While we only lived there for about 3 years, my wife and I agree that it was the happiest 3 years of our lives. We're looking forward to seeing our friends, getting out on the water, on the golf course, and relaxing a bit.
Y'all have a good holiday yourselves.
And be sure to avoid *free events* like fireworks and places prone to socially networked flash mobs.
Care to place any bets on how many scary *teen mob* reports fill up Drudge over the weekend?
10?
Now that I think of it, the South Shore's Nantasket beach (pictured above and 1.5 miles from where we lived) might be a borderline place to avoid this weekend - although it's kind of cutoff from hood (e.g Dorchester) a bit.
2 comments:
Hey guy! Hope you had a great Fourth, long drive notwithstanding.
I clicked over to your original post about living at the South Shore because I had not read it before. I was really surprised to hear you make an incredibly prejudiced remark that is certainly surprising coming from you. You say that, "Not only are people who bounce around a lot inherently more experienced and more mature, they also are friendlier since they don't have the built-in, decades-old circle of family and friends to lean on."
Actually, I have found people who have "bounced around alot" - especially those who have lived overseas - to be inherently more arrogant about their supposed "cosmopolitan" sensibilities, and certainly NOT friendlier.
I have a dear friend that I love but seriously, you would think she had a monopoly on open-mindedness simply because she loved living overseas while her husband was in the military. And that's assuming being "open-minded" is a superior quality which I contend is very often just an excuse for having no real convictions.
In any case, not everyone has the ability to "bounce around" through their lives. It doesn't make them less mature. In fact, sometimes it is because they have made mature decisions - for example, to care for an aging loved one - that they stay put.
And my mom's family, which is very close (my mom lives within two blocks of two of her sisters and my mother and dad also lived in only three different houses their whole lives) are the friendliest people you'd ever want to meet. As a matter of fact, I contend that if you ever happened to be in Melbourne, FL they would be more than happy to babysit your kids on a moment's notice so you and your wife could go out to dinner...simply on my recommendation of what a great guy you are.
Moreover, here in the Deep South, the people tend to move around very little yet are some of the friendliest people in the world. I strike up conversations with complete strangers everywhere I go it seems...which for an introvert like me is saying something!
I just think that there are many other variables which determine whether people are "mature" or "friendlier" - and likely any small town like you found on the South Shore, with it's emphasis on family involvement (as you mentioned) is going to be a friendly place to be. Sounds like the people who lived there had no reason to be unfriendly!
Anne,
Alright I'll qualify it by saying that my contention applies to the Northeast only.
Rural bumpkins are indeed friendly.
But after a mere 6 months in New England you'd be in full agreement with me...
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