Town Talk
One of the factors in our decision to move to Baltimore was the weather. Baltimore weather is really quite perfect if you enjoy changing seasons—which I do. After being loaded down with a tropical 6 months of South Carolina heat, the summers here are tempered loveliness; after enjoying 6 months of who-knows-what-weather-the-day-will-bring in Paris, the consistency of all the seasons here are a relief. Baltimore has excellent hard rains, blazing sunshine-y days, exquisitely fresh and colorful Autumns, and just enough snow to build a couple of snowmen and snuggle with a loved one over steaming mugs of hot cocoa. Life here really is good.
Style devoted an entire issue on the question “Baltimore: North or South?” a few years back, trying to touch on whether Baltimoreans thought they were southerners or northerners—with the final answer being somewhat split down the middle. But having grown up in Manhattan, where my father lived, and SC, where my mother lived, I’ve not been able to pinpoint either the south or the north into the Baltimore population. Baltimoreans are simply that—Baltimoreans. Trying to put my finger on what, exactly, being a Baltimorean means, eludes me as much as someone asking me who our daughter looks more like: her father or mother. She doesn’t look like either of us—she has a bit of this and that from both of us, but she, plain and simply, looks like herself.
I am reminded of a quote from Colette: “You do not notice changes in what is always before you.” Perhaps because I am new to this town, I’m able to enjoy these changes more than most people who born and raised here. During the next few weeks, Summer will segue into Fall, and our daughter will go from being an elementary school kid into a middle schooler. These changes fairly hum and vibrate in the air around me, and as corny as this sounds, I just can’t imagine a better place to be than right here—in Baltimore—right now.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/26/09 at 11:24 AM
