I was inspired by a post I saw over at Buffalo Rising to finally write the post I’ve been writing in my head for months about what it is that drew me to (and has kept me in) Buffalo.
Back in 2000, I was living in my small Western PA hometown, which was a perfectly fine place to grow up…but as a mid-twentysomething, I was finding it disappointing. Almost everyone I knew had moved away. I had almost no social life, a job that was okay but certainly not worth sticking around for, and dating? Ha.
My dear friend Jen(nifer) was here and kept repeating the “move to Buffalo” mantra until I listened. 😉
Despite a couple of disappointing career experiences at the beginning, I started to like it here. I started to feel at home here. One of the things I like best about Buffalo is that it’s a city that *feels* like a small town. People are friendly. During the Blizzard of 2001 (the one around Christmastime), when I got stuck at the end of my street because I had to go work at the evil financial institution (money transfers do not stop for snow!), a couple of neighbors helped dig me out. And while I’m not the biggest fan of snow (at least snow that lasts for six months), I can think of worse weather phenomena to deal with. 😉
While I know that there are people who think I’m crazy for sticking with this city now that I have a teaching degree (you’re trying to get a teaching job in Buffalo? *gasp*), I can think of plenty of compelling reasons to stay. Here are a few of them:
Toronto: only 102 miles away
Home (my family): only 124 miles away
Jackdaw (and loads of other great music)
The food
Good friends
not to mention a certain someone special…
As Jen said when we were talking one day, I’m 90% happy. 😉 I just need that job to push me over the edge…and yes, while I know I could easily get a teaching job elsewhere, elsewhere is not where I want to be.
I want to be here. And I’m willing to fight for it.
🙂