10 Going on 40

I spent the past weekend in Boston, seeing old friends and re-familiarizing myself with my beloved city. It was great to see everyone, but I have to admit that the drama that I'd been skirting for the past month (being several states away makes the skirting easy) all managed to catch up to me in one weekend. Between that and recent changes, I got to thinking.

I lived in the same house for 17 years. The only "move" I every did was from the pretty, well-lit middle room to the slightly more dank and shaded second room. I painted the walls bubble gum pink (still have no clue why) and got some new bedding. Viola! Instant move.

So, naturally, it's been a little disorienting since I finished high school. Since graduating, I've moved 7 times:

1. Into my first closet of a room in Melvin Hall fall 2009
2. Into my second room living with Ali in Speare winter 2009
3. Into 12 boxes, one backpack and a two boxes I shipped home summer 2010
4. Into home, post-Europe
5. Into Dav A fall 2010
6. Out of Dav A (and into boxes. Again)
7. Into my New York closet version 2.0 Jan 2011 (I count these as two moves because there was a full month between the two)

Every time I move--and especially when I move to a new city--I feel like I gain some unique insight. I like little things from every place I've lived and I want to be able to smush them all together and have it all: New York's energy and awesome subway system, Boston's Athenaeum and Nu's campus and all my friends, and California's weather (duh) and beach and Mexican food and my family and my pets :)

It's as though every time I move, I become a little more introverted and my personality gets a little mini makeover.

Nothing made me more aware of this fact than this weekend. Someone recently told me that sometimes I act like I'm 40 and sometimes I act like I'm 10. I find the statement comical yet pretty darn accurate. But since living in New York, I've been favoring the 40 side.

I live in a tiny little room and have few friends in the city. I'm not complaining, but I spend a lot of time with myself, thinking and being calm and just being comfortable with myself. I also work full-time and hadn't anticipated that it would be so darn tiring (The idea of working AND having kids just makes me want to take a nap on my desk). I'm emotionally drained and don't feel the need to party hardy because everything's so darn expensive. So I watch a lot of movies. I read. I write. I plan.

Some may interpret that as being cold, but I think of it as a new found maturity.