Local News: Volume 1

I've decided to start a segment in my blog called "Local News". In this segment I will blog about things going on in the news or community that some how caught my eye or has some sort of personal significance to me.

This week I was reading Forbes Magazine and their article about the 10 best places to buy a house caught my eye. Guess which city was named number 1? ROCHESTER! Currently in Rochester you can get a 3000 sq foot house for around $300,000 -- roughly the price of my 1900 square foot row home on fifty feet of land in Manayunk. Rediculous!!!!!! I know what your thinking, you pay for location and to an extent thats true. But Rochester, NY has so much to offer that I used to take for granted. Amazing schools - both highschool and college. NYS highshool curriculum is top notch and the SUNY system ranks umong the top 100 public colleges in the country. Access to the Great Lakes provides summer time fun of boating, fishing, lake houses and the like. Access to Finger Lakes provides a wine country. Delicous restaurants line the streets of the city and fun festivals such as the Lilac Festival and the Corn Hill Arts Festival take place every summer.

I miss Rochester a lot and I often think of how my life would be different today if I had stayed. For one, everything there is generally cheaper, not just the real estate. I think my money would have been stretched further if I had lived there. Also, my family is there. I miss them a lot and sometimes harbor tons of guilt for missing precious time with them. I have a boat and a jetski that I rarely get to use, and that makes me very sad in the heat of the summer-- trapped in a city. My mom owns an ice cream store there which I could have taken over for her and had a business of my own. This is just the short list...

There have been a lot of life changing decisions in my life, but leaving Rochester was by far the most defining. Part of me feels blessed to have had the Philly experience and know that I've done so many things here that I would never have had the chance to do. Part of me thinks about packing up, moving back, and living the life I am missing out on by not being in close proximity to my family... and there is a constant push/pull between these two things. I know that a certain boy I've met here would never move there with me.. and that is always in the forefront of my mind as our relationship continues to get more serious. And, as things change and people move on here in Manayunk, I cant help but think about my options and choices and whether it will ever be in the cards for me to head back to Rochester, my real home, and the home of incredibly well-priced houses.