A is for Austin

My girl Megan read a book called Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and it gave her the brilliant idea to journal her life from A-Z. She's assured me that copying her will make me no lamer than I already am, so I'll give this idea a go.

I've lived in Austin for ten years now. In my mind, that makes me a native, by sheer force of will if not by birth. I moved to this city for college in the late summer of 1995 and spent six years in school. School wasn't all I was doing, of course. I spent four and a half of those years in one relationship, then another few years "finding myself." I've had five different roommates in that time and have lived at seven different addresses.

I may have been raised in a different city, but Austin is the city in which I grew up -- truly grew up -- and with every year that passes, it becomes more like home to me than just the place where I live.

This is significant to me these days, as I ponder my long-term plans. I love this city, but my long-term plans don't see me staying here forever. I've got much to do and much to see, and I can already feel myself falling under the city's spell, the one that I'll wake up from in ten more years and wonder where the time has gone.

I don't know for sure whether I'll leave Austin permanently. Maybe the lure of (generally) temperate winters and quirky culture and the siren's call of this city I love so much will draw me back into its clutches, or maybe I'll find some new place far from here to call home, but I'm certain I'll carry a bit of Austin with me wherever I find myself.