Dr. S is applying for an academic job at Posh Private U in my hometown. Wouldn't that be lovely?

The other day I called my friend A., who went to Posh Private U, to chat. "If you lived here I would steal your baby," she said.

"If I lived there I would let you," I said. I've known her for fifteen years. Her daughter calls me Auntie J.

It's hard for me, to live so far away from family, to be somewhere so temporary, to not have a house and a dog and a life. We chose it, but it's still hard.

If we lived in my hometown, we would see my parents and my sister and my old friends. We would drop in for dinner, and go to the park together. We would visit my preschool friend's mother in Scenic Small Town in the mountains. We would go down to the island for picnics. We would take the Pumpkin to the petting zoo and let him hide in the bamboo stand. We would finally be able to build the life we want to have together.

One day.