If you read my blog regularly, I'm sure it's clear to you that I am not satisfied with how I'm currently living my life. I put a lot of blame on my location but I know that the location is not at fault since I'm the one who moved here ten years ago.
Wasn't it my choice to migrate from Staten Island to Highland Park when my life on the island came to a close? Of course, and it was an easy choice considering life there was far from ideal.
But I never expected to stay in New Jersey. I don't know what I expected but it sure wasn't a decade in the Garden State. I suppose I assumed I would meet someone quickly and together, we would set out to find a place to call home, perhaps abroad or down south.
When Matty and I started dating, I knew that a relationship with him would most likely mean staying in NJ for a considerable amount of time, perhaps forever. I knew that and I accepted it - but in a superficial way.
I suppose I was convinced that my powers of persuasion were so strong that if I really wanted to leave, we would. Matt works for a global company that although small, does have offices in lovely locations that I would be happy to move to in an instance. Moving abroad is something we both would like to do and perhaps if it weren't for the collapse of the economy, we could.
But for now, we are here.
Which is why I'm shifting my focus. Starting Monday, my dear friend Celine and I are going to explore the frustrations of life in New Jersey - frustrations felt, we're sure, not just by the two of us, but by thousands of people living in this state and in others - in order to figure out ways that the two of us can both live the lives we truly want to live.
It's quite ironic, actually - I'm a girl who would do anything to leave this state and Celine is a girl who would do anything to stay.
Yet, because of my situation, I can't leave and because of her situation, she can't stay.
We're both complex, thoughtful thinkers but simple, easy people. Neither of us is asking for the moon, we both just want a life that we control and that doesn't control us - one that celebrates family above all else. Unfortunately, life in New Jersey makes those simple ideals very hard to achieve.
If you're interested in our journeys - which we're going to explore visually and textually in a format that will be very different from this one - then please join us.
We invite you to follow along as we attempt to make the choices best for us and our families.
Please join us on Monday, January 18th, at
LifeAsWeBlogIt.blogspot.com.
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