Friday, August 6, 2010

Quality of LIfe

A former co-worker of mine's mother passed away in Nashville last week, and she used the unfortunate circumstances to stop in Louisville with her husband for the night on the way back to Chicago. Neither had been to Louisville and neither - especially the husband - had very high hopes for the city. (I'm happy to report however, that they were pleasantly surprised with Louisville, and left with a new perspective on a place they once considered inconsequential.)

During the brief tour - Bourbons Bistro for a flight of bourbon, O'Shea's after a brief walk around the neighborhood, cheap food at The Back Door then a stop by the beer cave in the Mid-City Mall ValuMarket so they could get supplies and check out their great selection which I had hyped up - we talked mostly of what had changed in our respective lives since we last saw each other (just under a year ago).

Nothing out of the ordinary; They moved to a different neighborhood in Chicago, the Husband is about to start a better job, they got a dog, etc. I had a little more news - which seems like a lot more news as I tend to be incredibly long winded, I'm sure they were grateful to have a drink in front of them at all times - only because I had changed cities since we last talked, and some baggage comes with such a move.

There was one part of the conversation however, that inspired me to record it here, and that was while explaining how, because Louisville is an all around (taxes, rent, groceries, bars) cheaper place than Chicago, I tend to go out much, much more often than I did in Chicago, and have the time and money to do out-of-the-ordinary stuff. The Husband nonchalantly replied, "Yeah, quality of life. You have a better quality of life here than you did before."

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess I do."

 A Better Quality of Life. What a great thing to have. And an easy thing to have in smaller cities. It's why my girlfriend and I moved to Louisville. Friends in places of supposedly higher culture - Chicago, LA, New York, Seattle - liked to make fun when they found out I was moving here. But you know what, lots of people in those cities' quality of life sucks. High rent for shit hole apartments, high taxes, no savings. What's the point of living in "the middle of it all" if the weight of living there suffocates you?

I don't know that I've really ever thought about my quality of life before - at least not in those words - but knowing that mine is better than it was a year ago, or even two years ago in Seattle, erased any last lingering insecurities about moving to Louisville. I don't know how long we'll stay, but no matter what I'm 100% coming here was the right decision.

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