I'm usually obsessed with dates and anniversaries of all kinds, but Facebook reminded me of one this week that wasn't on my radar. I left Defiance to move to Columbus 18 years ago, as an entering freshman at Ohio State.
I turned 36 this summer, so that means fully half of my life has been away from my hometown. To be fair, I would say that I didn't really move to Columbus until two years later, in 2001, when I rented my first apartment. (There's something about signing on the dotted line of a lease that makes your residence waaaaaay more permanent than a dorm room could ever be.) But still, 1999 marks the beginning of my getting to know Columbus as more than the abstract "Ohio's capital."
I had been to Columbus many times growing up, particularly as a 4-Her visiting the Ohio State Fair. But I certainly didn't know the suburbs, the parks or what the city is really like when the Buckeyes play at home in the fall. Now I have long been able to find my way around Franklin County better than I ever could Defiance County, and I'm confidently able to navigate the interstate system to boot!
Of course, six of those 18 years away from Defiance were spent living in New York, but even then we never fully left Ohio. In addition to owning (and renting out) or first home on Columbus's west side, we visited often and kept up with the changes within the city. (Oh, the surprise when we came back and saw the renovated Kroger that sits between campus and downtown!)
We're in Columbus now for the foreseeable future, maybe forever. Who knows? But even 18 years later, Defiance is still home.
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