Gainesville - Because Where You Live Says a Lot About Who You Are

I'm moving in May and I've been really torn as to where I want to be. I had two choices: Englewood and Gainesville. Old Englewood, the original city, is beautiful. It has big oak trees, is great for biking and is close to the beach. I do love the beach, and it's been a long time since I've been close enough to really visit a lot, since I don't have a car to get there. I have a good friend in Englewood, and we both love thrift shopping and gardening and the water. Rents are cheap there, too, and bus service isn't bad. Of course, the weather is much warmer, too.

But Englewood is not the South. It has no
diversity and is full of yankees who just do not understand me. Gainesville is the South I grew up in. A political dot of blue in a sea of red, Gainesville is a University town. Though it is much smaller than my home town of Columbia, SC, it is so much the same. The University brings the diversity, while the agricultural and small-town communities surrounding it make it distinctly southern. Farmers markets, free summer concerts in town square, an amazing local theater and restaurants that serve sweet tea make it about as Southern as you can get. Plus, Gainesville is all about sustainability. It is one of the greenest cities in FL, which would make sense, since UF is the agricultural university. You would not believe how many free community gardens they have, and quite a few organizations to support them, like Grow Gainesville and Transition.

I have made it no secret that I miss the South. There is something about the way Southerners treat people that just can't be duplicated. I can't explain it, but I can say that the extreme right wing does not represent most southerners. They are just the loudest. The rest of us are tolerant and giving and loving and accepting. That's what I found in Gainesville, for the short time that I was there. I have never really found that sense of community down here in SW Florida, not that I haven't met some nice people - I truly have - but it just isn't the South.

So I've decided definitely that I'm going back to Gainesville. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I didn't really have a chance to get to know it like I wanted to, but time and distance gives you perspective, and there is so much I want to do that I didn't get to. Now I will have a steady income to keep the wolf from the door and a bicycle to get around without having to spend hours on a bus. I still have my eye on that little 2 br cottage, but I may get the 400sf studio cottage instead, just to see what tiny living is really like. It would be interesting to see how much I could cram into it, or how much more I would have to give away. At any rate, I could just about pay the rent and utilities out of my SS check, so I wouldn't have to work so hard and could really enjoy the city the way I wanted to before.

I'm excited about moving back to Gainesville, and just know it is going to turn out to be a dream come true once I get there. It feels like going home.