Milwaukee, WI

I've been thinking a lot about Milwaukee, WI and Laverne and Shirley and medium sized cities and the midwest and regions I've never visited and snow and moderately priced houses and leaving behind the life that I have and doing something new. I'm not sure why Milwaukee except that I have no idea what's there. I hear really good things about the twin cities and Minnesota. It's strange because you know what you know and you know what's on TV and the rest is just fog. Like Philadelphia. My 15-year-old cousin, when asked where she might like to live upon graduating from high school and moving on, would like to move to Philadelphia. To be fair, she had just come from visiting that fair city. She sang the Fresh Prince song. I joined her...I said to the cabby, 'Yo, Holmes, smell ya later.' I had just asked about New York. No, she said, she wasn't interested in living in New York. She likes Florida, Atlanta, and Philadelphia. Maybe I would like Philadelphia, I thought. How could I know? Nashville has been in Jane Magazine a lot recently. I lived there in high school and thought it was kind of a drag but every place is a drag when you're under 18. And people love Memphis. What about Little Rock, Arkansas? There's a lot of talk about Austin, Asheville, Boulder, Berkeley, Charleston, Raleigh, Portland (did you know that Portland specializes in gourmet doughnuts?). What about Phoenix? People like Birmingham. Birmingham. I think I would hate it but people like it. The housing is moderately priced. The traffic is easy. I could live near my job and have a garden and a walk-in closet. Maybe somewhere on the coast but without a beach or maybe the coast of Delaware. I liked the coast of Delaware when I was there. Maybe I should move to Rehobeth, Delaware. Maybe I would like Florida (shutter). I really don't think I would. But St. Augustine is really nice. I could move into a retirement center and drive a golf cart. I watch househunters a lot and the houses aren't like the houses where I live. It's not a shock, right? I mean different regions have different houses but it's funny. My choices are ranch and bungalow. What's 'traditional'? I don't know but it's three stories, four bedrooms, and one bathroom that's off the dining room. This particular traditional home also had a stunning view of Mt. Ranier. I can't even see stupid Stone Mountain from my house. On the other hand, I can eat Vietnamese food any day of the week and not just Indian but Southern, Northern, Eastern, Western Indian, or Udipi cuisine, which is an island off the coast of India. Or Kudrathi, which I think is actually Western India. I can have Ethiopian or Sudanese or Egyptian. I work with people from Puerto Rico and Germany and Korea and China and get practice at pronouncing names in all those languages. If I need yarn for knitting that's made of bamboo, I can find it. If I want to try any beer in the world on tap, I can. I can even get single malt scotch by the glass in one restaurant I know. I can see ET on the big screen or Harry Potter at the drive-in. My friends are here and I know how to get around and when my husband finished law school, he could come to me and still get a really good job. The following quote is on my coffee cup: "I used to think that going to the jungle made my life an adventure. However, after years of unusual work in exotic places, I realize that it is not how far off I go or how deep into the forest I walk that gives my life meaning. I see that living life fully is what makes life--anyone's life, no matter where they do or do not go--an adventure." It's Maria Fadiman who is, apparently, a Geographer, ethnobotanist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer. I'd like to be able to say the same thing...