Member-only story
The Disadvantage of Living in One Place All Your Life
24. Have you lived in both rural and urban areas? Which do you like better?
I was born and grew up on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It’s a 15-minute drive from my biological father’s old house to my grandparents’ old house (where I live now).
While some would wear that as a badge of pride, “Pittsburgh born and bred”, I don’t.
I don’t hate Pittsburgh. There are places that feel like home and places that don’t. Living here was never a choice that I was able to make. It feels like a place that was always forced on me by circumstance.
It doesn’t feel like my chosen hometown… that’s the much smaller town of Erie PA.
The only time that I didn’t live in Pittsburgh was during two school years: my freshman and sophomore years of college.
I transferred schools a few times due to my mother being in a car accident at the end of my freshman year. The accident herniated her spinal column and she needed extensive surgeries for spinal repair. I ended up going to college in Pittsburgh after all.
However, these years of living in different parts of the state made me want more. It made me want a permanent change.
