Both of my parents have a sister. In both of their cases, my aunts wound up staying fairly close to my grandparents and my extended family. But my parents moved away-at times, far away. I'm wondering if this pattern has extended into my generation. Kathy took off for Ohio and remains there. There's talk of her buying a house out there. Me? I'm 2 hours from my parents. I'm 45 minutes from my grandmother, 1 1/2 hours from my aunt, uncle, and cousins. Am I the one who stays behind?
I look to the future and doubt that I want to stay in D.C. That's not true. I would love to stay in this area, because I really like it. But when I look at my future, career-wise, I don't think I can stay here. I want to go into book publishing, but I don't want to work for a non-profit organization or association. I want to work for an academic or fiction publisher. And you know what? Not too many of those around here.
So, move to New York or Boston? I wouldn't mind, except for the fact that I'd be so far from my family. My parents already have one child who's 9 hours away. I want to stay reasonably close to my folks (this 2 hours is a good deal), but also want to have the career I want. Argh. I hate life. It's so complicated with decisions and choices. Blar. At least it's not something I have to deal with in the immediate future. I'm gonna stick around at AOTA for a while. Build up my experience and my resume.
Current song in my head:
"Head Over Feet" by Alanis Morisette