Boston Home

About six months ago I was trying to decide whether to stay in Boston or move back to Pennsylvania as I pursued patient care experience on the path to Physician Assistant school.  Boston won out, so I assumed I would be staying here for the next several years. The plan ran like this: working, then applying for schools in the Boston area, hopefully getting accepted, completing school, working here for a bit after school in the city known for excellence in medicine. It made sense I thought.

But. In working at a hospital, I've met lots of nurses who had a BS degree in something else, then completed an accelerated RN program. Some continue on to be nurse practitioners, specializing in a variety of branches of medicine.  This is emerging as an attractive alternative to PA school. A little faster, a little more flexible in timing. My twin and I would be more identical again.

And. I could do that anywhere. Boston has a few programs. U of R in Rochester has a program. Penn State Harrisburg has a program. There are tons, all over the country.

Is there anything, really to hold me here? Boston has taught me a love for city; I know that I want to live my life piled close to people. I want to be free from driving a car, to walk or bike or use the subway. There are cities where that's feasible all over the world.

Home though, is not the location but the people. I have a home in PA with my family. I have a home in Rochester with alumni friends. I thought I had a home in Boston, but that turns out to be a tricky thing because the city is made of transients. Several close friends are leaving over the next year as they close a chapter of life--college, grad school, singleness--and move away for the next chapter. When they leave, will I still have a home here? I'm tempted to look for a way out too, to avoid the heartache of rebuilding a home I thought was strong, to go back to a home already made.

Nothing's decided, except that I need to pray and listen.