I still remember the conversation I had with my father in May 2005 when he told me they were going to move to Cleveland. My dad said he got a job at the Cleveland Clinic and I said okay, cool and didn’t think anything of it. Then he said that they would be coming to Cleveland that weekend to look at houses and I didn’t quite understand why. When he said he got a job at the Clinic I thought that meant he would be doing consulting on the weekends and not that they would actually MOVE to Cleveland. My parents were a little worried that I would be upset because I had grown up in Michigan and I loved our house there. Well, I wasn’t upset at all. In fact I was super excited about it, we found a wonderful house, I was close to my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins and close to Oberlin, my college. Many people were surprised to hear how much I liked Cleveland, but once I told them I was from Detroit they could understand a little better.
It was great to have my parents so close my senior year of college so I could easily go home for the holidays and when I was homesick. Then, after I was graduated from college I ended up living in Cleveland for about 9 months. I had planned to go directly to the Peace Corps in July of 2006 after graduating in May, but Peace Corps had other plans for me. At first I was incredibly upset because I had my mind set on leaving straight away, but in the end it worked it was the best thing for me. My dad rented the movie The Graduate for me because I spent the first month or so just hanging out (less the affair with an older married man). Then I got a great job at HealthSpace Cleveland as a health educator, which did a wonderful job of preparing me for the Peace Corps and gave me enough money to support my yoga and dancing habits. I also got to spend tons of time with family, meet wonderful people in Cleveland and be home for my sisters wedding. I love Cleveland!
When my parents came to visit me in Honduras in December I was looking through my dad’s photos on my computer and saw some of a city I didn’t recognize. My dad tried to play it off and tell me they were from his recent trip to China (I didn’t buy it). So later my parents decided that they had to tell me that the pictures weren’t really from China, they were from Pittsburgh! My dad had been offered a job at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and they were still in negotiations about the details. Hmm…At first I wasn’t quite as excited about this move as I was about Cleveland but after a while it grew on me. It is only two hours away from Cleveland and apparently isn’t that bad (at least we keep moving up from Detroit).
I wondered what it would be like to go back to a new house in a new city where I wouldn’t know anybody. Then I realized that it might be a good opportunity for me. Sometimes moving back home after the Peace Corps can be a difficult transition (okay, it is always a difficult transition). Like when I came home from Korea in 1999 I found that many of my friends had changed (or had not changed at all) while I had definitely changed a ton and it was hard to fit back into my old life. Moving back to Pittsburgh will be moving back into a totally different life with no preconceived expectations and I won’t feel sad if none of my friends remember me because I won’t have any, I’ll just make all new ones.
There is also the fact that when I finish Peace Corps I will be an adult (maybe) and don’t necessarily have to go home to live with my parents (although after making no money for 2 years it sounds like a good prospect to me). I could live in Cleveland and bum off of my grandpa and loving aunts and uncles (just joking) or perhaps I will be recruited right out of the Peace Corps and start a wonderful job in a city yet to be determined (optimistic). Who knows what the future brings for me after Peace Corps (but if it involves Brazil I won’t mind).
So, my parents packed up their two cars (aren’t they light travelers) and moved to Pittsburgh on the 23rd of March, 2008. They finally managed to downsize to a two-bedroom loft (I can’t believe my parents are living in a loft and I am not there!) and are renting furniture because all of the old furniture won’t fit in the new apartment (that’s not really true, they left the furniture in the old house until it sells and they can buy a new house in Pittsburgh). Which means that my mom still has a fully furnished house to stay in when she goes back to Cleveland to visit family every few weeks.
So this unfortunately means that my parents won’t be able to host my Oberlin alumni friends for dinner when I am not there, we won’t have spaghetti dinner every Sunday night, I can’t go salsa dancing every weekend at the View or Sunset Lounge, I will miss classes at Cleveland Yoga with Marni and at Viva Dance with Rebecca, I can’t eat at Tommy’s in Coventry or swim at the Shoreby Club (and act like I am a socialite with my mom) or watch the sun set over Lake Erie or perform with Aquerela du Mundo or see my extended family whenever I want or be close to Oberlin College. So in the end I guess that just means I’ll have to visit Cleveland a whole bunch (and see if they finally finished construction on the Euclid corridor)!
P.S. If anybody wants to buy a beautiful and modest house just a stones throw away from Lake Erie in a friendly gated community call my parents.
It was great to have my parents so close my senior year of college so I could easily go home for the holidays and when I was homesick. Then, after I was graduated from college I ended up living in Cleveland for about 9 months. I had planned to go directly to the Peace Corps in July of 2006 after graduating in May, but Peace Corps had other plans for me. At first I was incredibly upset because I had my mind set on leaving straight away, but in the end it worked it was the best thing for me. My dad rented the movie The Graduate for me because I spent the first month or so just hanging out (less the affair with an older married man). Then I got a great job at HealthSpace Cleveland as a health educator, which did a wonderful job of preparing me for the Peace Corps and gave me enough money to support my yoga and dancing habits. I also got to spend tons of time with family, meet wonderful people in Cleveland and be home for my sisters wedding. I love Cleveland!
When my parents came to visit me in Honduras in December I was looking through my dad’s photos on my computer and saw some of a city I didn’t recognize. My dad tried to play it off and tell me they were from his recent trip to China (I didn’t buy it). So later my parents decided that they had to tell me that the pictures weren’t really from China, they were from Pittsburgh! My dad had been offered a job at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and they were still in negotiations about the details. Hmm…At first I wasn’t quite as excited about this move as I was about Cleveland but after a while it grew on me. It is only two hours away from Cleveland and apparently isn’t that bad (at least we keep moving up from Detroit).
I wondered what it would be like to go back to a new house in a new city where I wouldn’t know anybody. Then I realized that it might be a good opportunity for me. Sometimes moving back home after the Peace Corps can be a difficult transition (okay, it is always a difficult transition). Like when I came home from Korea in 1999 I found that many of my friends had changed (or had not changed at all) while I had definitely changed a ton and it was hard to fit back into my old life. Moving back to Pittsburgh will be moving back into a totally different life with no preconceived expectations and I won’t feel sad if none of my friends remember me because I won’t have any, I’ll just make all new ones.
There is also the fact that when I finish Peace Corps I will be an adult (maybe) and don’t necessarily have to go home to live with my parents (although after making no money for 2 years it sounds like a good prospect to me). I could live in Cleveland and bum off of my grandpa and loving aunts and uncles (just joking) or perhaps I will be recruited right out of the Peace Corps and start a wonderful job in a city yet to be determined (optimistic). Who knows what the future brings for me after Peace Corps (but if it involves Brazil I won’t mind).
So, my parents packed up their two cars (aren’t they light travelers) and moved to Pittsburgh on the 23rd of March, 2008. They finally managed to downsize to a two-bedroom loft (I can’t believe my parents are living in a loft and I am not there!) and are renting furniture because all of the old furniture won’t fit in the new apartment (that’s not really true, they left the furniture in the old house until it sells and they can buy a new house in Pittsburgh). Which means that my mom still has a fully furnished house to stay in when she goes back to Cleveland to visit family every few weeks.
So this unfortunately means that my parents won’t be able to host my Oberlin alumni friends for dinner when I am not there, we won’t have spaghetti dinner every Sunday night, I can’t go salsa dancing every weekend at the View or Sunset Lounge, I will miss classes at Cleveland Yoga with Marni and at Viva Dance with Rebecca, I can’t eat at Tommy’s in Coventry or swim at the Shoreby Club (and act like I am a socialite with my mom) or watch the sun set over Lake Erie or perform with Aquerela du Mundo or see my extended family whenever I want or be close to Oberlin College. So in the end I guess that just means I’ll have to visit Cleveland a whole bunch (and see if they finally finished construction on the Euclid corridor)!
P.S. If anybody wants to buy a beautiful and modest house just a stones throw away from Lake Erie in a friendly gated community call my parents.
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