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There seem to be two themes to these daily writing prompts. One is vague questions that don’t make sense and read as though they were written by ChatGPT. The other is simple questions that I probably should have thought about over the years but never really have… that read as though they were written by ChatGPT.

What do I enjoy most about writing? I have no idea. I just do. Maybe it’s that it allows me to pretend I am a functioning human being who is capable of communicating with other human beings despite 52 years worth of introversion and being mostly unable to speak directly to those other humans.

Put more simply, it’s a work around for near crippling shyness. I can communicate with people I know well and care about. I can communicate with other people when I need to for work or to get through daily activities. When it comes to just being social or nice or whatever? Nope. I don’t wanna. I just clam up and shut down and that’s all she wrote.

Here? I can act like someone who has social skills and can function and that’s kinda fun. If other folks read it and respond to it? That’s a happy bonus. If not? That’s okay too. I still know it works. It still gets the job done mentally and emotionally and all that fun stuff.

So, yeah… communication is cool, right?

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I live in a small city which is really closer to a suburb. We’re about 30 minutes north of Boston, 30-40 minutes east to the Atlantic ocean, less than half a mile from the Massachusetts/New Hampshire state line, about an hour south of the White Mountains and the New Hampshire lakes region. We have multiple major urban areas, sprawling suburbs, and rural communities complete with farmland, all within an hour or two’s drive.

Really… what’s not to love? This is the perfect place.

We have picturesque Spring times, gorgeous Summers (usually, the last few have been more or less ruined by constant rain, but when the sun comes out it’s gorgeous at least), and easily the most beautiful Autumns on the continent. Winters suck, but if you are the kind of crazy person who loves winter then I guess it’s pretty wonderful.

We have historic franchises in all four major professional sports. Personally I am a Bruins (NHL) and Red Sox (MLB) fanatic. We also have minor league sports within a reasonable distance, and there are major universities all over the place. Literally. In Boston there is a huge university in pretty much every neighborhood. It’s insane when they all have their students move in at the same time. The end of August through Labor Day weekend can be a bit of a travel nightmare in Boston. Still, that means there are major college sports teams everywhere. NCAA hockey in New England is more or less the best in the country (though the Minnesota/South Dakota region would probably argue with that statement). So if you love sports at a high level, this is the place to be.

There is as much history here as you can get in the US. I imagine folks in Europe, Asia, and Africa laugh hysterically at folks in the New World when they talk about history, but for what you can get here in the Americas, Boston and the surrounding area is the place to be. We have connections dating back to the 1600’s here, where most of the US only clearly dates back to the 1800’s (yes I know I am focusing on white folks, but that’s mostly because pre-white folks invading the land there wasn’t much in the way of permanence as far as civilizations go). My sister once taught elementary school in southern California. They teach state history there as well as US history. She told her co-workers that in Massachusetts we don’t teach state history. When they asked her why she told them that US history is Massachusetts history. There is no US without us.

There are other things to love about our neck of the woods here in greater Boston, affectionately known as The Hub of the Universe. My family is here. My step kids have moved a few hours away but they are still close enough to get to them when we need to see them. On a few occasions I’ve thought about thinking about moving away from here. Southern California would be my first choice if I left. Manhattan, apart from the effing Yankees and Rangers (and Mets and Islanders too), would be another choice. Annapolis, MD won us over on our one visit there. That would probably be my third choice. There are a bunch of places in Europe I could see myself moving to as well, and let’s not discount Australia (even though having christmas in summer time is somehow offensive). When you come down to it though… I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. I love it here.

Except for the friggin’ winters.