Go West, Young Man

Later this summer, an old friend of mine is moving to Portland, Oregon. He and I were best friends in high school and most of college, but drifted apart my senior/his junior year. Even still, we have remained acquaintances for the last few years as we both went to the same grad school and are even currently working for the same employer. We like to say that he and I have parallel lives; even when we don't plan to, we end up doing the same things. Which is why I'm both excited and dismayed that he's doing as Horace Greeley commanded--going west.

I'm excited for three reasons. One, he's starting a new chapter in his life and I wish him all the best. Two, if we do, in fact, have parallel lives, then I'll probably be moving out to the Pacific coast at some point in the next year or so. Three, he's doing what both of us had wanted to do for a while (separately, but ultimately similarly) and leaving the east coast behind. I'm dismayed for one very big reason: I'm jealous that he gets to do what I want to do and that I know I won't be able to do for a little while longer.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I can be overtaken by the green-eyed monster once in a while. I've been planning to move to Seattle for several years now, although Portland had recently begun to grab my attention shortly before my friend mentioned he was moving there. (It's actually kind of freaky the way that our minds work. We're convinced that we're supposed to one day avert some catastrophe so it's important that the universe keep us within a zip code or two of each other.) I'm not yet financially stable enough to move across the state, let alone across the country. So, yes, I'm a little jealous that he's getting to "live the dream" so to speak, while I'm still stuck in limbo Rochester.

He'll be living here:

Portland, Oregon (Wikimedia Commons)

And I'll be living here:

Rochester, New York (Wikimedia Commons)

It's sort of like one of those "Find the Differences" pictures that you used to get in Highlights magazine. Or, better yet, an ink blot test. In the first picture, I see beauty and clean air. In the second, I see cold weather and depression.

Don't get me wrong. There are a lot of reasons to love Rochester. But October through April just happen NOT to be seven of them. It's also that I've been here for far too long. Not just Rochester. New York in general. While I was born in Pennsylvania, I've spent most of my life in this state and about the only things it has going for it right now are a Democratic governor and the fact that it legalized gay marriage last year. I'm looking for a change and am going to have to wait at least one more year to find it.

So, yes, I'm happy for my friend. And, yes, I'm eventually getting the hell out of here. But that doesn't mean that I can't be a little bit sulky about it in the meantime.

-J