Day 14: Where You Live

I make my home in Minneapolis, Minnesota — the city proper, not the suburbs. Minnesota has always been “home” for me. While I was born here, I spent my first 6 years in West Berlin, Germany, in the American Sector, and we moved back here after that. Since then, I’ve bounced around the globe, moving away and coming back each time, an experience that has taken me to North and South Carolina, Georgia on two separate occasions, Pennsylvania, and the Republic of South Korea.

While each of those places has its own merits (and demerits), Minnesota included, only Minnesota is home, and Minneapolis is my favorite city. It’s smaller than some of the places I’ve lived (West Berlin, Philly, Seoul, Atlanta) and larger than others (Fayetteville, Augusta, Orangeburg, Mankato), so it strikes a nice balance. People here are generally friendly (though somewhat aloof at times), the city is small enough to navigate through quickly but large enough to have all the conveniences of larger metropolitan areas, and it’s clean. I love that I can drive for about an hour in any direction and be clear of the suburbs and into farm country. I love that I see wildlife on a daily basis (including once seeing three deer walk down the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis at about 5:00 in the morning), and that nature still feels close by. I love that we have our own accent (dontcha know!) and grammar. I know to a lot of people, Minnesota is just “flyover country”, something you see out the window on the way from the East Coast to West, but to me this is home.

So I live on the outer edge of Northeast Minneapolis in a large duplex with my wife, Kate, and our four cats. The house was built in 1905 (the date is scratched into the concrete floor of the basement), and retains much of the interior woodwork. Our landlord is a general contractor and completely remodeled the place, restoring the wood, and bringing the electric and plumbing up to modern standards. It’s really an amazing place and Kate did a fantastic job in finding it. Unless the house of our dreams comes on the market in Minneapolis at an affordable price, chances are that we’ll be in our current place for another three years or so.

Nearby, we have the blossoming arts/eats district on 13th Avenue. The neighborhood is pretty solid, and we have all the conveniences of the city, while being able to get to suburban shopping in 15 minutes or less. I’m really happy where we are.