Five and half years ago I moved 3,039 miles, about as far as you can go while still staying within the continental US, when I moved from Seattle to Boston. Despite moving all by myself for the first time ever (and leaving my twin sister for the first “permanent” time in our lives), it ended up being one of the best decisions I have made in my life.
Boston has a way of sneaking into your heart, inch by inch without your even realizing it, at least it did for me. The first year I was there, when people would ask how I felt about Boston, I would say that I really liked all there was to do in Boston, but Seattle was home. Then after the second year, one of the first friends I made in Boston, who had a GREAT love for the city, moved to Utah, and thinking about how sad she was to leave the city finally made me realize just how much Boston had crept into my heart as well.
I eventually stopped feeling like Seattle was home and I was just on a long-term adventure in Boston, and recognized that my heart had grown roots in New England. I never thought I would spend the rest of my life in Boston, especially when my other family members, who had been living on the East Coast, all started migrating west, but the thought of leaving the city started to bring me some sadness. Don’t get me wrong, Seattle still feels like home to me, but now my heart is split in two, where Boston has just as big a piece of my heart as Seattle. I wish there was a way for me to live in both cities (maybe one day I will learn how to apparate and this dream will become a reality).
However, just over a year ago I started to feel like it was time for me to move back to Seattle, which I did last June, and although I know that moving back to Seattle was the right decision for me, I constantly miss Boston and the experiences I went through there. The city of Boston has a reputation for a great many things, like winning sports teams, an accent where your R disappears (wicked smaht) then reappears where it doesn’t belong (idear), one of the greatest Marathons on the planet, American history, aggressive drivers (I got honked at my first hour there, practically as I was leaving the airport, because the guy stopped behind me thought I should have gone in a SMALL gap in traffic that I passed on), highly regarded universities and some of the best Italian food in the world, outside of Italy.
However, there is a lot more to the city than those stereotypes and labels. So to pay tribute to the city that I have grown to love so much, and also a little bit to walk down memory lane, I am starting a blog series on some of my experiences while living in Boston (and Massachusetts as a whole). I hope that as you follow along, you will understand just a little bit of the love that I feel for one of America’s oldest and greatest cities.
A Piece of Boston Blog Series:
A Piece of Boston: Boston Common and Public Garden
A Piece of Boston: Lilac Sunday at Arnold Arboretum
A Piece of Boston: Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard
Graphic Copyright: <a href=”https://www.123rf.com/profile_irayoflight”>irayoflight / 123RF Stock Photo</a>
Rachel Boyce 
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