I have wandered around the country since 2007. I’ve lived in more places than I can name in under five minutes. Most of the places I moved, I was chasing love, though occasionally it was just friendship and shelter that prompted the moves.
In 2007, I floored everyone that knew me and up and moved to Canada. Most of the people I knew didn’t even know I knew anyone that lived in Canada. Then after six months or so, I came back in 2008 and bounced around Texas a bit. Belleville and Magnolia mostly. And then after two years of that, in 2010 I moved to Arkansas with a friend. And then to St. Louis, Missouri. And then to Atlanta, Georgia. And then I moved back to Texas again and wandered there for another while. Houston, Hutto, Austin. And then I moved up to Tulsa, Oklahoma. And then Oklahoma City. And then back to Austin for a couple weeks. And then up to Albany. Back to Texas for a month and change, and then Nevada, where I’ve lived the longest period of time since I was a kid and grew up in the same house for roughly 18 years.
I have absolutely no regrets in my wandering. I’ve tried very hard to live my life with a why not mentality. If I didn’t have a legitimate why not, there’s no reason to place limits on myself that put me into the box of what people expected from me.
It was not uncommon for me to call my parents at random and say things like, “Oh, by the way, dad. I moved to Missouri last night.”
I’ve lived in Vegas, if not in the same domicile, (going on the seventh place and moving again in May) for three years.
The only thing in the dislike column for me, with Vegas, is the summer heat. But it’s reasonably inexpensive to live here, the jobs are plentiful, the bus system is amazing, and I can summon waffles at two AM if it pleases me. (And it does, let me tell you.) I like it here. The city doesn’t sleep, which is a plus to me, because I’ve had insomnia troubles my entire adult life.
I think I’ve finally settled down, though the person I moved here for up and moved to Florida. If nothing else, I have furniture and stuff now and it’d be a huge pain in the ass to move out of state. My stuff can no longer fit into two suitcases and a laptop bag. After living that way for nine years, it’s so WEIRD to have furniture. I’ve never owned furniture that was mine, really. I mean. I’ve bought a few beds over time, but I left them wherever I’d been living when I moved on because it’d be too much of a pain to bring them with me.
Once my dental work gets paid off, one of my major goals moving forward is to get a proper bedroom set and a decent mattress. When I first got my bed here, I got yet another 200$ mattress that isn’t super great because I didn’t want to invest in a whole lot if it was eventually just going to get left behind. Think it’s time to get a real bed and actual furniture. Even the furniture I’ve acquired so far is mostly just the cheap particle board kind you can order from amazon or walmart.
I’ve made a lot of friends in my travels, and I’m eternally grateful for that.