Egress Baltimore

For those of you who don't already know, Eric is on the move once again.

Now I know what you're thinking. "Eric," you're saying with an admonishing finger wag, "what are you doing, you wayward soul? You've become a gypsy of sorts."

But I'm moving for a reason. And this is like no other reason. I'm moving because of love.

"Certainly," you must be saying, "you haven't taken full advantage of everything that Baltimore has to offer." And to that I reply, "I've seen Johns Hopkins' campus, I've watched the Orioles lose two games, I've been stuck in traffic, I've stuffed myself at Vaccaros, I've eaten soft shell crab, and I've been to the eastern shore. The only exciting thing in Baltimore I haven't done is crack, and I think that's just a little too passe for me."

I am moving to Nashville, TN, not because of my love of bluegrass music or BBQ (though I am fond of BBQ), but because of my wonderful girlfriend, Donya. As I previously mentioned she will be attending Vanderbilt Law School this fall (lawbreakers beware!) and I wouldn't want to be without her. Since she objected to my chaining her up in my basement (claiming it was a bad career move), I opted instead to move with her to Nashville and attempt to enter Vanderbilt's creative writing program for the 2006-07 academic year.

Donya is worth the move. She's challenging. She's intelligent. She's beautiful. She's goofy. She's currently taking a nap...no, wait...she's going to watch a movie...she's deliberating on which movie to watch...no...she changed her mind and is going back to napping. And she's all mine. What lottery did I win?

July 24th will be our last day here. And we won't miss the ants in Donya's house, the hoodlums outside mine, the insane gas prices, the horrible drivers, or the people parked in the middle of the street with their hazards on. We won't miss the metropolitan squalor, the urban decay, or our jobs. And most importantly, we won't miss each other, because we'll be together.