Everything's Coming Up Peaches ... or at Least Coming Up

It’s official. I’ve told Georgia State University that I accept their offer for enrollment and assistantship this fall. I’ve decided not to wait and hear back from Virginia Tech or Saint Louis University before making this decision. Their programs simply aren’t appealing enough to sway me at this point. Moving to Atlanta is now a reality. Emotionally this has yet to hit me. I’ve only had one moment of shock, when my wife read me a letter she wrote to her boss declaring her intent to resign as a kindergarten teacher at the end of the school year. As she read it I felt my heart plummet into my bowels. We’re moving to Atlanta?!? I think I’m gonna puke…

For many of you this may seem an insignificant or, at the most, an exciting endeavor. And it certainly is the latter, but for a boy who lived in the same house for eighteen years of his life, whose family and friends have always remained safely nearby (aside from my dad, who only recently moved halfway across the country), this is absolutely monumental. And the closer to August it gets, the more the panic will set in.

To combat this unsettling realization, I’ve tried to keep focus on the many exciting facets of moving to Atlanta. For the past year and a half, I haven’t really taken any philosophy classes because I’ve already finished my philosophy degree. But I’ve missed it and I’m eager to jump back into it. I’ve already figured out what classes I hope to take this fall, and they all sound great. And I’ve definitely had enough of classical languages. Not that I want to abandon them altogether, but I’m sick of majoring in them. Also, I’m excited about the potential road trip my wife and I can take in the summer of 2007. Never having lived on the East Coast, I figure we can take two weeks to drive all the way up into New England, visiting several new places along the way. Then there’s the fact that Atlanta itself, from what I’ve been hearing, is quite lovely. I’m hoping it’s a place I’ll fall in love with, and I truly think that I will over time. Too bad I’ll be a poor graduate student and won’t be able to spend every night on the town, getting to know the best restaurants, attractions, and so on.

Still, if anyone out there has any information on Atlanta, feel free to share your wisdom (either in the comments or by deciphering my email address listed in the sidebar). Must-see attractions, cute little towns you wouldn’t know of unless you’re a local, scenic back roads, etc. Really, the same goes for anyone living in the east. Melanie and I will definitely want to do some exploring on the weekends, and, if you’re a bit further from Atlanta, you can still give us ideas and tips for our 2007 summer vacation. It will probably take us through Raleigh (where a mutual friend lives), up to somewhere in the Baltimore area, to Boston, to Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, back through western New York (we’ve already been to NYC), down through Ohio’s big cities, through Kentucky and Tennessee, and finally home. But, seeing as how we’ve got about 13 or 14 months to plan this thing, nothing’s guaranteed. Let the recommendations roll on…