Well, the students are gone. The town is so quiet. It reminds me of why I moved here in the first place. Athens is a great town. True, it is a college town and it caters to the college aged students throughout most of the year. However, it is also a great town to be an adult in. These are things that I tend to forget throughout the year when I am so worn out from helping students and faculty, or when I learn that my insurance and parking are going up yet again with no raise to offset it. And it’s sad that the town has to be so completely dead for me remember what it is I love about the place.
Spring break always puts me in the mood for summer. It makes me long for the days when locals will dare to venture out with their kids so that they can enjoy the sunshine. It makes me remember that in just a couple of short months, I will be able to drive to work without traffic. Or, that I can take a little bit of an extended lunch and walk downtown rather than drive. It makes me want to walk around town with a camera so that I can really record the architecture and history of the place. Soon, soon summer will be here and the solitude that has come over the town will seem permanent. It’s almost like I still get to have a summer vacation even though I am working.
I first came to Athens in 1999. I was living in Atlanta and hating every single second of it. I came up to visit a college friend and decided that I would move here. I learned the hard way that you should always have a plan when making a decision like that. Because, once I got here, things started going wrong. My car died, I couldn’t find work, and I was mooching off of my friends. It was only the fact that I was in Athens, breathing it in everyday that I was able to stay sane and I slowly made a life here. It started with the job at the University, then I was able to get my own place. It would be another 2 years or so before I could afford a car, but all that walking kept me in great shape.
I could go on or into more detail about my move to this great city. But, I won’t because I suspect that everyone (unless they were born here) has some story of how they got to Athens. It’s something you can sense about the people who walk past you on the street. You know if they live here or if they are simply going to school here. And, once you know that, you can sense the story behind their Athens citizenship.
I’m not sure that this is the type of post that I had in mind for my professional site, but I couldn’t enjoy the beauty of this day and city without some form of written praise. Anyway, stay tuned as I hope to bring you more “writerly” type posts in the not too distant future.
