2002-10-09 - 7:54 p.m.
I miss my life in Maryland. It is -- of all things to make one nostalgic -- the recent string of sniper shootings that remind me of it. They are occurring largely in the exact part of Maryland, Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, that I lived in. College Park is on the PG side, but so close to the boarder that I went grocery shopping in Montgomery. I remember my life in Maryland fondly, and if this was three months ago or if I was still there, then I would be among this community of millions to fear random death in a parking lot, with the friends I made there, who have this fate.
Please don't get me wrong and think I want this to happen, or that I want to be there, or that I envy the excitement or anything like that. And not to trivialize it or my concern for the people there, but it's more like how once you've lived someplace you always care about the weather there.
In fact, the weather analogy may be apt, because after all I didn't develop any real connections to Maryland except affection, memories, and a few not-so-close friends in my six weeks there. Yet the terror that's affecting them comes nothing more than from shared participation in daily tasks such as going to convenience stores and shopping centers -- the little things that brought me so much pleasure there, because they reminded me that I'm in a new place, not stuck in Sarasota for the third entire summer in a row.
I do miss Maryland, although I know it had as much to do with the mere presence of clubs within walking/metro distance as well as the fascinating archaeology program and constant things to do. In fact, it recently occurred to me that even if I don't get accepted into the graduate program there, and don't get accepted to a program I would like to attend anywhere else, then it would be totally possible to just pick up and move there myself.
