ajmatt blog

I missed the actual anniversary, as I was in another hemisphere, but about two weeks ago I quietly passed my five year mark of east coast living. In that time I’ve been doing a little reminiscing about August and September of 2002…

I moved to College Park, Maryland, an area I had visited once at age 14, to attend a school I’d never visited, and which wouldn’t let me sign up for classes until I showed up in person. One or two people politely asked if I’d thought my plan all the way through, but for some reason I wasn’t worried.

I arrived at BWI at 2:00 in the morning after a long delay in Dallas, and sat on my suitcase to wait for my ride. It was 85 degrees and muggy, hotter than it gets in Seattle in the daytime, and I wondered, “Where have I moved?”

I found an apartment in a not-so-nice neighborhood, happily living alone for the first time. Within the first week there I answered my door to a detective asking, “Ma’am, did you hear gunshots last night?” Turns out someone had been murdered in the building next door. My first thought was to hope they didn’t suspect me, but I didn’t sleep as well after that.

Several weeks later, while the sniper was wreaking havoc on the greater DC area, my mother visited my apartment and announced she could “break in with a can opener.” We took a trip to Home Depot and my father installed a makeshift security system.

In the apartment complex, the washer and dryer were located in a scary unfinished basement. I did my laundry while looking over my shoulder, but the dryer was the only criminal around. It stole $5 in quarters from me, which (poor as I was) wouldn’t have been a big deal, except I didn’t have any furniture to hang my wet clothes on.

I started library school and listened to my older and wiser classmates talk about how they moved here five years ago and always meant to move back home. “Silly people,” I thought. “Just move back!”

Five years later I’m still here, too, but life is much better. I count my fortunes on a daily basis—furniture, a car with air conditioning, a safe neighborhood, and a nice roommate.