Moving On

By Andrea Scarpino

Los Angeles

 

The longest I’ve ever lived in one city is six years—my college years in Cincinnati. My step-dad changed jobs frequently when I was growing up, bringing us to different states, and my mother moved us to from city to city because of school districts. So I think of myself a little bit as a wanderer, someone more interested in exploring new places than settling down in them, always in love with the adventure, the new restaurant or park, the new art museum. I get anxious when I’m in one place too long, when I begin to feel comfortable. I want the thrill of a new discovery.

Having lived in Los Angeles for close to four years now, I’m not sure I’m quite ready to move on. There are still neighborhoods I haven’t fully explored, still museums I haven’t set foot in, restaurants I keep meaning to visit. But Zac has a job offer elsewhere, so we’re going to be packing up this summer and shipping ourselves back across the country, back to the Midwest. I’ll have to shed my West Coast persona and see what develops in its stead.

What I’ll miss in Los Angeles: my friends, the number of book readings and writing events, my yoga teacher, sunshine, running along the beach path three blocks from my apartment, random run-ins with people in The Industry, star sightings, Happy Hour, Californian fusion cuisine, frozen yogurt shops practically on every corner, smoothies and freshly squeezed carrot juice, the weather, ocean breeze. I think I’ll even miss the incredible choreography of highways that moves through and around this city, the loveliness of lanes and lanes of cars moving almost seamlessly amongst one another. I think I’ll even miss earthquakes.

What I won’t miss: plastic surgery faces in the grocery store, the number of tanning salons and manicure places, the cost of renting an apartment, the cost of eating in restaurants, the preponderance of crazy health claims, obsession on thinness and youth, the rush, the hurriedness, how hard it can feel to live in LA, everyone in constant motion, everyone trying to make enough money to survive. How no one talks to you on the street.

Obviously, the good outweighs the frustrating, but as I think about our move, that restlessness grows in me, that rumbling for new scenery, new adventure. In a year, I might be pining hopelessly for Los Angeles, but right now, on the cusp of something that feels big, a job Zac has been working so hard to reach, another move across the country, I just feel hopeful. Full of possibility.

 

Andrea Scarpino is the west coast Bureau Chief for POTB. Soon she will be our upper Michigan Bureau Chief. You can visit her at: www.andreascarpino.com