Clearing the Boston Air

I only had one beer at Fenway. No, seriously.

Obviously, this will not be the last time that I write about Boston. But I feel like you, loyal blog reader, deserve a thorough breakdown of what's been going on the past few months. I've been vague. You probably haven't cared all that much. You probably won't care all that much in the future. In fact, my Mom might be the only person who reads this post. My parents are nothing if not loyal.

Here is what I would like you to know about our impending move to Boston: This was not my idea, but it sort of was. There I go, being vague again.

Two years ago, TW chastised me when I raised the possibility that we might end up in Boston. That was too much to consider at the time. She didn't even know if she liked Boston. We were moving to Portland for her to go to PA school and because we love New England. I was already doing the math two years ago: There aren't that many jobs in Maine and there are a lot of medical jobs in Boston.

But I dropped it like it was hot because there was no point in fighting about where we might end up. And, frankly, I'm very tired of moving around. I have lived in six states: Maine, Utah, Minnesota, Vermont, New Hampshire and Florida. After we move to Boston, I will need to live in Rhode Island and Connecticut to complete the New England Cycle.

The thing is, Portland is just 100 miles north of Boston. TW had a rotation in Cambridge, just across the river from Boston and home to Harvard (and MIT). She fell in love with it. No car, walking to everything, riding the subway to the airport. All of it.

That was June. Then, in January, two years after a chilly reception to the idea of moving to Boston, it was time for TW to look for work. And our marriage had been stalled by TW being on the road for four of her fist five rotations. One thing we have always enjoyed doing as a couple is looking at real estate.

I set up a schedule of open houses for us to check out in Boston on a Sunday afternoon. We drove down and checked out condos in South Boston, West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain and Roslindale. After a few hours of careening around twisting Boston streets (ringed with unbelievably pretty urban parks), we were hungry.

When TW is hungry and on the road, that usually means nachos. I don't know much about Boston, but I know there are sports bars around Fenway Park. We plugged in Fenway as a destination and went to lunch at Boston Beer Works. Of course.

After lunch, driving through Kenmore Square, TW asked: "Can we live *here*?"

"Like, right here? Fenway?"

"Yeah, I mean, if you're going to live in Boston, live IN Boston," she said.

Then, TW did something incredible: She looked up Red Sox season ticket packages on her iPhone.

I mean, if you live in Boston, why not?

That's what got the wheels rolling. That and the fact that we are now the proud owners of six figures' worth of student loan debt. And I'm basically unemployed. TW needed a job. Boston had jobs.

This is where I got vague in previous blogs. I apologize (not that you cared). Here's what happened. TW applied for jobs all along the East Coast, as far south as New York City. She had a very interesting job offer in Brattleboro, Vermont.

I love Brattleboro. It's a hippy-dippy town, it's a beautiful area, it's rural but it's 45 miles from a Trader Joe's. I talked to the newspaper in Brattleboro about working there and they had work for me on their four-person news reporter staff. Great.

But it wasn't Boston. TW still had irons in the fire in Boston. She spent almost two months interviewing at one of the top cancer centers in America. We spent the night twice in Boston as she had daylong interviews.

We also drove down from Portland twice for interviews at Cambridge Health Alliance. That's where Amy ended up getting a job offer and that's why we're moving. The job is in primary care. CHA has clinics in the areas immediately north and west of downtown Boston. For Minnesotans reading this, Amy's new place of employment is about 3 miles from the skyscrapers of the Financial District of downtown Boston. It's also maybe 2 miles from MIT and 3 miles from Harvard.

Interesting sidenote: Though this will be my seventh state of residence, it will be the ninth state my dog, Daisy, has spent the night in. I'm vaguely sure that's the same number of states my brother has spent the night in.

She will be taking care of everybody from Brazilian immigrants who speak no English to Ivy League students, engineers and community members of Somerville. She is very eager to get her career started.

But first comes graduation. That's next Friday and Saturday, if you're counting. Hoooooooo boy. It has been a long road to get to this point, and if I think about it, I get a little emotional. The last two years have worked out both better than we could have hoped for and worse than we ever imagined. At the end of the road, 100 miles down the road, is Boston. It's almost too much to comprehend. That's how excited we are.

And so we need a new blog name. I've considered "Daily Mass" and "Mass Effect." Your ideas are welcome. Because, after all, this will not be the last time I write about Boston.