I love Alaska.
I absolutely love it! I
love the mountains and the rivers, the trees and the moose. I love the people, my friends, and my
family. I love the cold winter
nights and bright summer days. I
love campfires and skiing, hiking and the northern lights. I even love the rainy summers and the
butt-cold days in the winter.
I moved to Boston 5 years ago. Let me tell you… Boston is NOT Alaska. So much of my life here in no way
resembles my life back home. I am
in the city. Loud noises, people
all around, flat landscape and concrete all around me. I visited my friend in Spartanburg last
week and took a picture in front of a wall (below). Centered on the wall were the words “Love where you live.”
The value of this statement struck a chord with me. In a sense, I am stuck where I am
living, even if it is temporary.
True, I have the options to pick up and move somewhere else, but I have
resigned to the fact that Boston will be ‘home’ for my undergraduate
years.
So since Boston is where I am living, and I have decided to
live here and stay here for a while, I should now love Boston. Of course, I do not have to love Boston. But I figured out pretty quickly that
if I did not at least adopt the attitude that I should like Boston, life became very much not fun.
We do not always pick or like the places where we are
living. I noticed that when I
compared Boston to Alaska, I often began to miss home and detest living in this
northeast city. Instead of
comparing, I needed to redirect my attention to discover what Boston (and the
surrounding areas) had to offer, independently of my love for Alaska.
I will always love Alaska. But I will also try to “Love where I live,” wherever that
may be.
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