today's description: wicked good
so,yes, i am, indeed, writing from what you now already know is one of my very favorite cities. it holds prominent memories from when i was in my teens through my early 20's. sometimes, i genuinely wonder what my life would have been like had i taken up on my acceptance offer to come to harvard for grad school during the late 1990's. but there's no time for what-if's, because it's time to just enjoy.
but i don't need to tell you that boston is special to me tonight, b/c i think i did that the other day! :-) all at once, so many things here are timeless & unchanging, like the architecture (in many areas here), or like how you take the green line T to the Park Street station and then switch to the red line and take the train past MIT/Kendall Square to the Harvard Square T-station. (and even though it's been years, you remember like the back of your hand to take the train bound towards Alewife, and not to Quincy/Braintree). at the Harvard stop, you come up the escalator and see that same ageless news stand. there's the Coop bookstore, and the Au Bon Pain bakery where you can sit and people-watch as you enjoy a chocolate croissant. there's my sister's old college dorm, Dunster House, on the Charles River, with its red dome and clock tower, and the Harvard rowers in their 2, 4, or 8- person shells, sculling down the river under Memorial Bridge. and then there's the real local Boston Irish accent that reminds me of my 1st college roommate, Julie, and makes me smile. that accent is unchanging. (for example: some real long-time locals, several generations removed from their Irish immigrant roots, still pronounce "dorchester" "doahchestah").
and yet, so much has changed. were those lofts and condos there last time?? what about the Lush store? and where did the tower record/music store go?? and is that "Big Dig" highway reconstruction done, for reals?
this is just a quick visit here en route to maine, so it just really feels like there's not enough time--i guess it never is, when you're in any place where really it's worth lingering and taking it all in. hopefully the next time around, i'll be able to see my friends who still live in (or have moved to) boston.
i may have outgrown partying at the Kells like i did in my early 20's, but i'm not too old for boston. no way. i'll be back again--hopefully when the red sox are playing a home game, 'cuz wouldn't that be neat? yes.
