Philadelphia

I traveled more to Philly in my previous life (more so than Boston), and I remember walking down one of the city streets, from my hotel to get coffee on a quick break from work, and absolutely relishing the fact that I was here, in one of the great historic cities of our country, working, walking downtown with a sense of familiarity and the satisfaction that came from it. At the age of 21, I imagined living in Philadelphia. I liked the idea.

Downtown Philly is manageable, it is walkable. There are interesting historic landmarks everywhere, from an unexpected tiny graveyard preserved behind aging stone and wrought iron fencing begging to be explored, to historic buildings brandishing the fire insurance badge created by Ben Franklin, to the museums (the Ben Franklin one was quite interesting!), to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. It is inspiring to think of the history, the choices, the events that took place here.

I never ran the steps at the library, and I didn’t get out much, but I have had cheesesteaks from both Pat’s and Geno’s, although being 10 years apart, I really couldn’t tell you which was better. Pat’s was a more “colorful” experience for sure. I bought scrapple and shoofly pie from the Amish at the Reading Terminal and wished I could explore Amish country.

I realize there are a load of bad areas of Philly – run down, ghetto, scary places. But there are just as many nice places as well, most of which seem to be in North Philly, more where we would be anyway. Philly also has public transportation, commuter trains, etc., which are probably ok to to use in the decent parts of town, and especially for commuting needs.
Googles of Philly related to quality of life tout the accessibility, manageability of the city and more than anything, the arts culture there. It is about a one hour train ride to NYC and another running community. The biking might prove to be a bit less convenient, with North Philly consisting of township after township connected by narrow, high speed roadways, but I’m sure the cycling community has something they do – being that there are several cycling clubs in the area.

Another city of 4 seasons, still in the New England area, it has a similar intrigue to Boston. I would be able to work remotely, or on occasion, actually commute to one of our call centers in Allentown, another hour commute away. Still the city is large enough that should I wish to do something different with my career, there would be many options.

The Boy’s job would be in West Point, a big pharma position that most drug developers would drool over. This is a position working with the best in the industry, with lots of support, and lots of corporate structure. There are many people with exceptional expertise to help for the mere price of asking. The drawbacks of the position? Big pharma and all the structure (as much as it is a benefit, it can be restrictive and limiting) and a potentially grueling workload extending late into evenings and monopolizing weekends as well. Haven’t we had enough of that in the last 6+ years of grad school? This position would pay the best, and living north of the city, we could find housing on par with the prices here in Seattle. The corporate campus is impressive, sprawling over many acres, there are vans and bikes to be borrowed to go from building to building, sports fields on site and a nice gym. I guess if you’re working late and weekends, accessibility is key. They also have a pension that employees can qualify for after only 5 years.

A tough choice – the tradeoffs of big pharma, with the paycheck, with the potential of long hours – how can you tell on the outside if the balance of work and life, pros and cons, is really there?

Provided we have time together, we still would enjoy the area, exploring, nearby cities and New England attractions. The cold and dark of winters is still a nagging drawback, but only because of some of the other options.

Boston

What entices me about Boston? I close my eyes, take a deep breath and slide into a daydream…

East coast – so different from where I’ve lived my “aware” life. Although I was born in the DC area, I left before I could form memories, and my trips back were numerous in my early 20’s, but were mere visits. The difference of East Coast vs. West Coast intrigues me. The architecture, the formality, the brusque speed of life, the recorded and celebrated history there (so different from the native history here, limited by lack of western documentation practices) make it compelling.

I would work from home, I imagine. And that home might be more colonial looking, east coast feeling – why not, if we move there? I imagine colder winters, wool coats in contrast to my rain coat of this season in Seattle, scarves, snow. Taking the “T” to Beantown.

The streets of Boston were designed by a masochist, I read on website after website. What is it like to live in Boston? I query in Google. It sounds like the Seattle of the east coast – similar climate, but a bit colder in the winter, and maybe a bit more humid in the summer, but the temperatures are not that different, at least from what I’ve found so far. I’m a bit incredulous – not quite a believer.

Boston is a running town – the marathon, proximity to Allentown and Runner’s World. Boston is educated. Boston boasts literary tours and colonial history, universities respected worldwide.

Truth be told, we would not live in Boston, but outside it, near Waltham, which is about 10 miles away. It seems to be about a 30 minute ride by public transportation.

Weekends could be spent exploring New England. A short trip to Manhattan, or up the coast to see fall trees or spring blooms. The evocatively rugged Maine coast, the proximity to all of New England – it seems the most European angle on America, and yet, decidedly American. It’s the other side of this west coast, left coast, coin. Can one understand life in America without having both sides of the coin? I ask this, consciously leaving out the substance in between that does not compel me at all, for any amount of money, and yet forms the vital center of that coin. Coastal is where my heart is, even if it’s a few miles inland, just so long as it’s not thousands.

Last time I was in Boston was in 1999 – eleven years ago. How much things must have changed, and what I was able to see was not even a scratch of the surface then. I remember being lost driving around, and asking another motorist for directions and being told “I can’t even begin to tell you how to get from here to there!” (We were within sight of our destination.) I snuck away from work and had coffee in Harvard park, watching the students, my age, play chess in the square. I walked the literary tour, and with my mouth agape, gazed up at the lantern hanging over Nathaniel Hawthorne’s house. This was the oldest architecture I had ever seen, at that point.

That trip was fun – but what that trip was NOT was a way to figure out if I would like living there. And yet, that’s what it has become. Would I like Boston? I dunno – but it seemed cool, and we could find out for a few years…

I am scared; I am curious what that life East of Left would be. Who would I become? How would it change me, and will the tradeoffs be worth it?

Of course there are tradeoffs. It is cold. It seems less friendly for biking. It is far from the lake. It is far from our friends. We would still not be in the heart of the city – on the outskirts, with the benefits and drawbacks of that. It is more expensive. I would work remotely – isolated. I don’t know if I can handle that, or for how long. What would become of me, curled in my colonial cave? Venturing out with my camera, safely secluded behind my lens…I know my tendency toward isolation and it would take concerted effort to overcome.

Suppose I didn’t like working remotely – Boston is big, Boston is busy. There would be a lot of opportunity to move on, career-wise. What would I find?

Together, the Boy and I – our life built around us and our dog, East Coast style, running in the city of running, finding new triathlons, new summer vacations while yearning to let the dog run with her friends along our beach at Priest Lake…the Boy finally dig into the world he has dreamed of for years of hell in grad school, finally able to do the work that so compelled him to go back to school and endure these years…he will do this no matter where we go, but in Boston-Town, he will find a small company and have growth potential across the drug development lifecycle. He’ll be able to apply his knowledge not only from school, but from working in small pharma before going back to school, and be able to uniquely prepare for our long term goals. The job won’t pay the best, but will appreciate him and be rewarding in the type and spectrum of work.

This will be a tough choice…