Psychologically New Haven has become my home. Proof? Last weekend while cleaning out my wallet - without hesitation - I cut up and tossed out my Portland Public Library card.
The Portland Public Library connected me to the city's energy in way I enjoyed. My library card was a talisman of sorts - proof that I belonged there - the streets belonged as much as to me as anyone else. (Although Deb and I felt a greater right to Portland since we "loved it more".)
When I first moved to Portland, the library was in the Baxter Building near Longfellow Square. Soon a new library was built across from Monument Square. The day the new library opened, I turned in my old library card from the Baxter Building for a new card and a new library.
Once, I thought the card was lost and had to get a replacement. Some months later the original was found! I had it reactivated and tossed out the replacement.
I acquired my New Haven Free Public Library card within days of my arrival here with the same results. It connected me to New Haven's positive energy. It send out psychological roots.
I guess for these past six months I've been, psychologically, a resident of both cities; Portland and New Haven. The transition of the soul taking longer than that of the body.
No doubt, Portland will always be a place I call home. When I traveled there in November and December, I talked to people in Connecticut about "going home". And, although I haven't lived in Vermont for many decades, I still use that term "home" when referring to Canaan.
It seems that my relationships with place are like my relationships with people. Once established, they don't end, they just change as I move through the stages of my life.
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Gasp! You cut up your library card!? I remember your old Portland Public Library card. I always wondered why it was tan while mine was gray... Now I know! Actually, I still have mine, a testament to the fact that I haven't cut the cord yet from Portland. Granted, my Portland Public Library card is in a desk drawer, while my Philadelphia Free Library card is actually in my wallet-- but still. I didn't want to throw it out on the chance that I'd "need" it whenever I went back "home." Now that you're in New Haven, it's less often that I will make that trip. So why hang onto the card? Perhaps I should get a New Haven library card now, because, after all-- home is where my momma is!
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