I'm Moving to Boston

The Oteil Burbridge concert Wednesday night was fabulous! I think we really accomplished what we'd set out to do as a church: reach out to the community and the "unchurched" and let them know that we're here, and we love them.

Thursday was Taylor's birthday celebration, at which there was a king cake. He'd talked of wanting to try this Mardi Gras delicacy when we were discussing our "what would we eat for dessert at our last meal?" and King Cake was mine. We decided to have one shipped up here for his birthday and it was a hit! It came from Paul's Pastry in Picayune (no Gambinos or Randazzos, but still quality cake nonetheless). I spent the rest of the day organizing the registration forms from the concert, and calling all of those interested in helping us with Paint the Town. We then went to Dallas BBQ and Venieros with some of the people from a mission team who very graciously treated us all to dinner. Charlotte and I rented Fever Pitch because a.)I never get tired of it, it's become one of my favorite movies, and b.) we were getting pumped about going to BOSTON!!! Kyle joined us at about 11:30 after having gone to see Spamalot (*jealous*) with his family. We forced ourselves to go to bed so we'd wake up bright and early to get to Port Authority well ahead of on time.

Upon arriving at the bus terminal, we figured out that the walking-on right before the bus left like we did for Philadelphia was a rare experience only possible on holidays. We got there an hour early, but I was still afraid that we might not get a spot on the bus! We did though, and it left a little early! It also only took four hours as opposed to four-and-a-half as expected. Immediately into Boston, I knew I was somewhere I belonged (driving by Fenway Park and seeing it for the first time felt like walking into Tiger Stadium for the first time at the first game each year).

I'd put Boston on my list of potential cities to move to last summer, and spent a significant portion of last summer obsessing over going to Boston. I almost even gave up my NY mission trip in December to go on the Rhode Island one so I could see Boston (but God directed me otherwise). In the middle of last summer, I felt almost like God had told me to be a RedSox fan. I know this sounds strange, but all of the sudden everywhere I turned was RedSox this and RedSox that. It was unexplainable, and I became an addicted fan. I started to think that maybe it was because God had a place for me in Boston, and after FINALLY having gone to visit, I think I may have nailed it.

I was made for that city. After having only spoken to about three people, I tured to Kyle and Charlotte and was like "OMG, I LOVE these people, they get excited about everything!" at which point they looked at each other and I was like "OMG, THESE ARE MY PEOPLE" and they were like "Ya know, we were just thinking that!"

I've always wanted to live on an old harbor, and in a place where there is an MLB team (and what better one than this?) I really think I have found my city. It's rich in history, and unlike New York (who I still love, don't get me wrong), they cherish their history and preserve it, not try to modernize it as much as possible without completely erasing any trace of authenticity. The historic parts of the city were preserved exactly how they have always been, whereas here (like most cities), they leave the token important buildings and build new, modern skycrapers and such in place of all of the other things they've torn down. Even the baseball park (ahhhhh) is a good example of this. Fenway opened on April 20, 1912, and very little has changed. All of the changes that are made to the park are additions, not subtractions, and many of them are made from recycled parts of the park from other renovations and such. Here in NY, they take their most historic team, with one of the most famous stadiums in history, build a completely un-needed 1.3 BILLION dollar facility across the street, and will tear down the old one with all the memories as soon as the other one is ready.

Sad Times

So after falling absolutely in love with a new city, and realizing I was pretty much made for it, I've basically decided that if God wills it, I will be living there when I graduate. I cannot wait!