Only in Decatur

My entire weekend was filled with “Only in Decatur” moments.  A blue Macaw at Culver’s.  Stop the Violence Block Party.  Team DTF 150+ dB. 

When I first moved to Decatur, I heard so many bad things about this town.  The more I see in Decatur, the more those bad things were both confirmed and at the same time proven untrue.  There are some real social issues in Decatur, but at the same time, there are so many wonderful people here.  There are issues, but there are a lot of people trying their best to address those issues.

Some of my new friends might not be so concerned with the social issues here in Decatur, but they have sure made it easier for me to bear living here.  Before I met them, most of the people I knew were under the age of 18 or over the age of 50.  I laugh a lot more now that I actually have friends. 

I don’t know what I’m going to do if Alexa accepts her new job offer.  She would move to Chicago and leave me!!  It is selfish of me to want her to stay, but I can’t help feeling that way.  I’VE LEARNED that friends are fluid.  Every stage of life comes with new friends.  New friends from high school to community college. New friends the next year of community college when all of my first year friends graduated. New friends at ISU. New friends when I changed majors. New friends with every new boyfriend. New friends now for my year as a VISTA.  Soon enough I’ll have to make grad school friends. Then I’ll need to make “real life” friends.  Sometimes I hate making new friends, just knowing that I will have to start all over again when this stage of life is over.  But it’s those friends you make along the way that really make that stage worth being there. 

"Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans" --John Lennon, "Beautiful Boy"