Mayberry

I live in a middle-sized town in MA.  

 Up until two years ago, I lived in VA, first in a city right outside of DC and later, a few miles west in a big town.   I moved for my husband.  His job was sucking the life-force out of him (my words, not his).  He had spent his late twenties and early thirties working his way up the ladder for a particular company, and when he got to the top, he realized the view sucked.  He probably wasn't going to get any more significant responsibilities, promotions or raises and his workload was increasing. 

Plus, Dwight Schrute's evil, fatter twin worked there.

I was so tired of hearing, "We REALLY need you to be on this conference call/catch this flight/write this press release.  RIGHT NOW", that I was willing to do anything, including moving to a place that I knew no one and starting over again. 

There were other factors involved, too.  Our daughter was almost three, and he could not see raising her in the town we were in.   Due to our proximity to DC, the population has steadily risen, and the crime rate has risen as well.

In a town that had cost us an arm and a leg to buy a house, a teenager was beaten to death on a Saturday night hanging out at the town square, and a 60 year old woman was killed while being carjacked at the local mall.  

Nice, huh?

So we moved, and here we are, in a place where you can actually walk! alone! at night! and not get assaulted!!  

But there are still times, like now, when there is nothing on the calendar, and it's raining, and I am staring down the barrel of a LONG, COLD winter, and my sister-in-law asked me to babysit again... that I miss it.  

 Just a little bit.