One of the things that I hate about growing up in a medium sized town, outside of a medium sized city is that I know someone everywhere I go.
Baltimore doesn’t have 6 degrees of separation. Oh no. That owuld be too many. Baltimore has 4 degrees of separation. Tops.
Take for example, my ex-girlfriend. She’s friends with the people who live below me. She worked with a guy I used to work with. I worked with one of her brother’s friends in my official postion at my job.*
The city is small enough that you see the same people all the time, and everyone knows everyone else. But the city is also unfortunately large enough that you continue to think that you’re meeting new people. In fact, you’re actually just meeting people to whom you haven’t had the pleasure of learning your connection.
Take for example, this evening. I was at a bar I rarely go to anymore when I was approached by a guy I went to high school with. I wasn’t particularly fond or unfond of this person, but the senseless conversation we had could have been avoided. I’ll not repeat that conversation here, because we’ve all had it before.
I hesitate to move to a larger town because I feel there’s too much to know. I like that I know all of Baltimore’s main streets, most of the side streets, and there are still tons of back alley’s to explore. On the other hand, New York has more side streets than one person could learn in a lifetime. How can you embrace your city that way? On a third hand, Buffalo, New York, is actually quite a tiny city. ACWF and I explored most of it in abotu 30 minutes. I could never live there. There’s not enough room to grow.
So here’s my dilema- Baltimore’s not big enough for me to meet enough people I don’t know, but it’s just the right size when it comes to physical space. What the hell am I supposed to do about that?
*And these are only the 1 degree separations.
**Spellchecker isn’t working, and I’m too lazy to proofread. Deal with it.
