Year 2 ~ TW vs. Boston

Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a historic old settlement, just across the Charles River from Boston. It's basically right across from Fenway. It's the home to Supreme Court Justin Stephen Breyer and a little school called Harvard. Another technical college, MIT, is along the shore of the Charles in Cambridge.

If you're into this kind of thing.

And, for the next five weeks or so, it's the home to one TW. After a sometimes-rocky, sometimes-nice two-plus weeks off, TW is back in school. Kind of. She's at Cambridge Hospital. Here's a map for you that probably won't work.

She's about a mile from Harvard Square and the subway line that will help bring her back to Maine on weekends. She's about a half mile from Whole Foods. Eclectic shops and restaurants are everywhere.

This doesn't sound like prime TW territory. It's new. It's foreign. It's something she's never experienced.

Admittedly, her first day in Cambridge (yesterday) did not get off to a superb start. I drove her to Cambridge, brought her things in, drove her around a bit and bought some groceries. We parted. And, about a minute after I drove away, I got a text saying she missed me. A minute later, I got a text saying she missed her shoes.

Literally. She forgot the bag with her shoes in it on our front porch. In Maine.

This is the view from TW's front porch. The ER she works
in is quite literally across the street.

That's not as bad as it sounds. It's a scant hour and 45 minutes away. She could have gone and bought new tennis shoes (since a roundtrip run costs $40 in gas and tolls, minimum). But she didn't want to have to stress over finding shoes, and I really don't mind driving, so we opted to see each other again. Weird. We're married and we like each other.

As I kept pulling away from Cambridge, the texts kept rolling in. She walked to Inman Square. Then, Harvard Square. She loves it. There's fun stuff here. People are out and about. Harvard.

Now I'm married to a Kennedy. Actually, TW does a pretty decent Southie accent, but that's not nearly the same as a Kennedy. She had her first shift in the ER tonight. Nobody died. In fact, three patients visited the ER. Total. She sounded downright disappointed by the slow pace.

The two best parts: Her commute is about 100 yards. She rented a room in an apartment house across the street from the ER. Boston is not that far away. And it's awesome.

So begins Year 2. A year from now, it will seem pedestrian. Right now, it's still pretty cool. Boston. Where one person knows my name.