Trip Home

So I've been away for the past week. I took a little trip back to Maine to visit my family and friends. I flew in and out of Manchester, New Hampshire aka Marko's newly adopted homeland, and considering the travel from my parents home to Manchester I don't think I'll opt for the cheap flight again, next time I'll just fly in to Portland, I'll spend a bit more on the air travel but I'll save on fuel getting to and from my parents house.

So, over the past week I've been faced with some new questions to answer, namely whether I want to move back to Maine or not. My friends can argue both sides yet they want me to move home, but they also understand why I moved away and they understand why I moved to the city to begin with. One of my two best friends picked me up at the airport in Manchester when I arrived and from there we proceeded directly to my favorite restaurant for sake & sushi for lunch. After stuffing ourselves we then embarked on the trip to my parent’s house, stopping along the way at the base of one of my former employers so that I could say hello to my other best friend and some other close friends and coworkers. After spending another 45 minutes in the car we arrived at the home of my parents, who just happened to be babysitting my nephew aka The Cutest Baby Ever (TCBE).

It was at this point that I decided that I might want to move back home. You see, my friends and family are everything to me. Without them I cannot live to my complete potential. In the time that I have been gone I have missed out on one quarter of TCBE's life. This child was born 10 weeks premature and prior to my move I saw him at least twice a week and watched him grow from a tiny 3.5lb preemie to the little hellion he is now at the age of two. - 1 point for moving to Maine.

In the following days I visited friends and family and went to see a good friend and former coworker while she was on duty at the base. It was there that she let me see the photo slideshow she's been working on for EMS week and as the photos went by one by one I began to think to myself- these people are my family. This is where I wet my feet as a new EMT-Basic and a new EMT-Paramedic. These are the people who helped to shape me into the EMS provider that I am today. - 1 point for moving to Maine.

I went to visit my old boss and talked to him about the open positions and he more or less sold me on the idea of the open "senior medic" job which would allow me to set my own schedule and go back to school - 1 point for moving back to Maine.

Upon arriving back home I realized that in my absence my parents and grandfather have aged and I have missed out on valuable time with them. Now, of course I don't expect my parents to kick over any time soon as they're only in their late 50s, but still I'd like to spend as much time with them as I can - 1 point for moving back to Maine.

Of course I voiced this desire of mine to my friends and family and my dear friends Ryan & Kalem forced me to think about something. One of the reasons that I moved to the city was to put myself in a more diverse community. As one can imagine the dating pool in rural Maine can be a bit shallow for an amazingly fabulous gay man such as myself. - 1 point for staying in Pittsburgh.

The other thing that I need to take into consideration is the fact that I currently have a job where I have absolutely no stress whatsoever. I go to work, I do my job and I go home. I don’t have other people to worry about; I don’t have any supervisory bull to deal with. I just go to work and do my job. – 1 point for staying in Pittsburgh

Here it is now Saturday evening. I've been back in Pittsburgh for a couple of days and I feel now as though I'm home. Prior to this trip I would get to my apartment and feel like I was just visiting and staying in a hotel. When I was making the drive from the airport to my apartment I thought to myself "this is where I live, I'm not just visiting any more." So now I'm really torn as to what I should do. Both options have their benefits, though moving back to Maine still seems like the right thing to do I can't help but feel as though maybe I should stick it out here in Pittsburgh at least until my lease is up. I have accomplished what I set out to do by moving here and that is to simply prove to myself that I could do it again.