Worcester-versary
Today marks exactly one year since LL and I arrived in Worcester, having made the journey here from Tallahassee. Just over a year ago, I wrote my last entry as a resident of Florida, and just under a year ago wrote the first one from Massachusetts.
Looking back on our first year in Worcester, I can't say that I've had any regrets about coming here. There are things I miss about Florida; there are things I miss about California, too. Still, I think it was a good move for us. Having grown up in the Northeast, the culture here is more comfortable for me than anywhere else in the country in which I've lived, even more so than the SF Bay Area. With all the challenges and frustrations of grad school, I've been fortunate enough to land in a lab with a bunch of good people who are more than willing to share their knowledge with me. LL has easily adjusted to life here as well; she has even remarked about our first winter here that it wasn't too bad. She's teaching at a college and will be working on an advisory committee to the city council soon, too. Both of our circumstances have worked out well in most ways.
We're marking the close of our first year in Worcester in somewhat inappropriate ways, which is only appropriate for the two of us. LL is still in Lebanon where her recuperation, I'm glad to report, is progressing unusually well. She's already up and about. We spoke via Skype yesterday afternoon; she'd been out clothes shopping only two days after her surgery. I'm putting together plans for a return trip to Florida, as I've already written.
I'll be spending this morning doing field work right in the city. I'll be joining labling Andy Wilson for an outing at Broadmeadow Brook to collect fungi and beetles, which I'll be taking back to the lab for identification and vouchering.
Tonight, there will be fireworks. Isn't that a nice way for Massachusetts to mark the anniversary? People think New Englanders are a bit cold and unfriendly, but my experience has been nothing like that. How many others can look forward to pyrotechnic displays in celebration of their first anniversary in a new home?
Thanks, Worcester, for a good first year. LL and I are looking forward to the beginning of an even better second one.
