50 States: Connecticut (32)

June 8th, 2008 · No Comments

50 States: Connecticut

Continuing in semi-chronological order, we’ve arrived back on the East Coast. After the road trip, and a summer in Anchorage, I returned east for my first post-college job, in Greenwich, Connecticut. As much as I was eager to leave Connecticut when I lived there, and as much as I would disparage it when driving down 95 from Boston to New York, I owe the state a lot. As my senior year was reaching its mid-point and I still had no idea what I was doing after graduation, I heard about a recruiting company setting up interviews with private schools on the East Coast. I met with some folks, and ended up getting offered a co-teacher position at a private school in Greenwich. It was a good fit for the somewhat aimless person I was at the time: a rewarding job working with kids, a core group of fellow recently-graduated folks making their first forays into teaching, a surreal world of hyper-wealthy people that always made for good stories, free on-campus housing, and best of all, close proximity to New York City.

I bought a used ’89 Honda Accord from a parent at the school (a car that, now eleven years after I bought it and three years after I nearly traded it in for scrap, Aimee’s cousin Lauren is still driving, bless its Car-Talked soul), and, under the influence of some highly-informed fans in my second-grade class, got very into baseball, visiting Yankee Stadium, only 45 minutes away, as often as I could. I got to hang out with George, Brian, Anne, and other friends who had moved to the city, and headed in on weekends with a pleasant regularity. I enjoyed teaching, had a lot of free time to work on other projects, and met some good people, including Alex, who, when I decided to move to Boston, introduced me to her friend Aimee. So, I do owe Connecticut a lot, and though I sometimes find it hard to believe I lived there for three years, I wouldn’t be the person I am today without it, so there you go.

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