This was another wonderful post. Sorry I didn’t see it the first time around but very happy to now. I admire and enjoy how you poke fun at yourself. One has to to get through. And it adds to your already likable, honest, and reassuring voice.
This was very entertaining to read! I'm a European academic, and (unfortunately) I know this world quite well, it's far from what we see in the films! Mainly marking, avoiding meetings, and trying to complete administrative chores. I would have preferred the film-version...
Thanks for your reading and sharing your comment! It seems that so much 'administrivia' has taken over the lives of academics, which is a huge shame. Too bad we can't trade film versions for the reality! 😄
I just subscribed recently, Sabrina, so I enjoyed this for the first time today. I think about the coming/going part all the time as it's the theme of our family, too, going back a several generations. My dad, too, was an academic and we left the Midwest when I was four and my dad landed a job at the UofA. My sister and I all grew up in Tucson and as young adults, we flew off to California, me landing in the Bay Area, her in L.A. As much as we still love Tucson, we've never moved back. Now I'm experiencing the other side of it. One daughter visited France right out of college and never returned. She has a great life there but we miss each other (especially now that she is married with two little boys). In all cases, taking off was never a matter of wanting to get away from home or family, just a desire to see the world, or seeking professional growth, but invariably you fall in love with a country and/or a person, make friends, get a career going, and what started as an adventure turns into your life and your home. Eventually, though, there's a price to be paid -- I missed my kids spending more time with my parents, and now I'm constantly flying to Tucson to check in on my father. All of which makes me so grateful my other daughter (and her children!) and stepson live nearby. We strive to give our kids roots and wings, and damn if they don't sometimes follow their parents' example and just fly away.
So true Lisa, so true! It is that lifelong tension between nesting and flying that has captured me from the beginning. And also, of course, what I find so intriguing in all our stories. Some of us love the adventure of new places and others less so. Sometimes I want nothing more than to plant my garden and watch it grow, and other times I can't wait to imagine myself someplace else. Today I wandered around Seattle thinking, I could really get used to living in this part of town! Honestly! ❤️
I appreciate that fully as I have felt the same way so many places I have visited. I think falling a little in love with new places is not a bad thing at all. It's not about eschewing roots, but about the capacity to appreciate the many wonders of this big wide world.
I was so happy to get out of CA after graduating from college. Being young and not having many worries (I had a vague career path) allowed me to go where the work was. Thus I spent nearly a decade working seasonally in 2 locations. It was a great life. Then reality of growing older and assuming more responsibility started to appear and I pursued a career with more job stability. Got another degree, got married and then the moving started. Fortunately we had a 20 year plan and it was just 3 moves before we were back in Montana. I saw each of those moves as an opportunity to do some purging. My wife made more connections than I did in those other locations; we are still good friends with many and see some often. She was in informal education and is still in contact with some of the kids from her programs. They are now adults and have their own families. Moves don't always turn out the way you expect but there's usually some good takeaways. I liked living in SLC but I'd never live there again. Miss the food in Seattle, don't miss the traffic (and weather). Thanks for the read.
It's nice to hear about some of your path Crowell. I love that you've been able to enjoy the best of where you've been. It's a good skill to appreciate what you've had whilst also seeing the value of what you have where you are now too. It seems like you have a pretty sweet life in Montana with the gorgeous outdoors all around. I'm going to Salt Lake City for the first time in a few weeks! (And am in Seattle now)
Dang…that unwelcome collision of our long-fostered illusions about What Will Be…vs. reality. Nevertheless, thanks for pulling back the curtain for those of us peeking in from non-academic realms, Sabrina, as I would have surely shared your same preconceptions -- definitely too bad about no suede patches on the tweed jackets though. But thanks for these insights of yours which of course carry over…given what seems to be our increasingly nomadic lifestyles these days. The ebb and flow of people in and out of our lives – for whatever reason – feels like one of the greatest challenges of adulthood…don’t you think? So thanks for shining your insightful light on this topic. (In this busy next chapter of yours, how might you juggle keeping up with your Plymouth pals?)
Dang…that unwelcome collision of our long-fostered illusions about What Will Be…vs. reality. Nevertheless, thanks for pulling back the curtain for those of us peeking in from non-academic realms, Sabrina, as I would have surely shared your same preconceptions -- definitely too bad about no suede patches on the tweed jackets though. But thanks for these insights of yours which of course carry over…given what seems to be our increasingly nomadic lifestyles these days. The ebb and flow of people in and out of our lives – for whatever reason – feels like one of the greatest challenges of adulthood…don’t you think? So thanks for shining your insightful light on this topic. (In this busy next chapter of yours, how might you juggle keeping up with your Plymouth pals?)
Thanks Sam! And that is a good question about keeping up with friends from different places. There are so many different ways now, and each one can be suited to the people involved. I've found with some friends you need to be in communication on a constant basis to keep the connection, with others you can keep a connection going with long gaps of silence in-between. What works for you?
This was another wonderful post. Sorry I didn’t see it the first time around but very happy to now. I admire and enjoy how you poke fun at yourself. One has to to get through. And it adds to your already likable, honest, and reassuring voice.
Thanks Andrea. I really felt like I had to lot of work to do to reset my naive view of the world after that first year....
This was very entertaining to read! I'm a European academic, and (unfortunately) I know this world quite well, it's far from what we see in the films! Mainly marking, avoiding meetings, and trying to complete administrative chores. I would have preferred the film-version...
Thanks for your reading and sharing your comment! It seems that so much 'administrivia' has taken over the lives of academics, which is a huge shame. Too bad we can't trade film versions for the reality! 😄
I just subscribed recently, Sabrina, so I enjoyed this for the first time today. I think about the coming/going part all the time as it's the theme of our family, too, going back a several generations. My dad, too, was an academic and we left the Midwest when I was four and my dad landed a job at the UofA. My sister and I all grew up in Tucson and as young adults, we flew off to California, me landing in the Bay Area, her in L.A. As much as we still love Tucson, we've never moved back. Now I'm experiencing the other side of it. One daughter visited France right out of college and never returned. She has a great life there but we miss each other (especially now that she is married with two little boys). In all cases, taking off was never a matter of wanting to get away from home or family, just a desire to see the world, or seeking professional growth, but invariably you fall in love with a country and/or a person, make friends, get a career going, and what started as an adventure turns into your life and your home. Eventually, though, there's a price to be paid -- I missed my kids spending more time with my parents, and now I'm constantly flying to Tucson to check in on my father. All of which makes me so grateful my other daughter (and her children!) and stepson live nearby. We strive to give our kids roots and wings, and damn if they don't sometimes follow their parents' example and just fly away.
So true Lisa, so true! It is that lifelong tension between nesting and flying that has captured me from the beginning. And also, of course, what I find so intriguing in all our stories. Some of us love the adventure of new places and others less so. Sometimes I want nothing more than to plant my garden and watch it grow, and other times I can't wait to imagine myself someplace else. Today I wandered around Seattle thinking, I could really get used to living in this part of town! Honestly! ❤️
I appreciate that fully as I have felt the same way so many places I have visited. I think falling a little in love with new places is not a bad thing at all. It's not about eschewing roots, but about the capacity to appreciate the many wonders of this big wide world.
I was so happy to get out of CA after graduating from college. Being young and not having many worries (I had a vague career path) allowed me to go where the work was. Thus I spent nearly a decade working seasonally in 2 locations. It was a great life. Then reality of growing older and assuming more responsibility started to appear and I pursued a career with more job stability. Got another degree, got married and then the moving started. Fortunately we had a 20 year plan and it was just 3 moves before we were back in Montana. I saw each of those moves as an opportunity to do some purging. My wife made more connections than I did in those other locations; we are still good friends with many and see some often. She was in informal education and is still in contact with some of the kids from her programs. They are now adults and have their own families. Moves don't always turn out the way you expect but there's usually some good takeaways. I liked living in SLC but I'd never live there again. Miss the food in Seattle, don't miss the traffic (and weather). Thanks for the read.
It's nice to hear about some of your path Crowell. I love that you've been able to enjoy the best of where you've been. It's a good skill to appreciate what you've had whilst also seeing the value of what you have where you are now too. It seems like you have a pretty sweet life in Montana with the gorgeous outdoors all around. I'm going to Salt Lake City for the first time in a few weeks! (And am in Seattle now)
‘...and no, they didn’t wear tweed jackets and elbow patches’ - whaaaaat?! 😮
Seriously, a great post - I really enjoyed it. It’s always a surprise to me how my own preconceptions turn out to have been completely off. 😊
Thanks Rebecca! Apparently I believe everything I see in the movies. 🤦🏽♀️ 😛
🤣
Dang…that unwelcome collision of our long-fostered illusions about What Will Be…vs. reality. Nevertheless, thanks for pulling back the curtain for those of us peeking in from non-academic realms, Sabrina, as I would have surely shared your same preconceptions -- definitely too bad about no suede patches on the tweed jackets though. But thanks for these insights of yours which of course carry over…given what seems to be our increasingly nomadic lifestyles these days. The ebb and flow of people in and out of our lives – for whatever reason – feels like one of the greatest challenges of adulthood…don’t you think? So thanks for shining your insightful light on this topic. (In this busy next chapter of yours, how might you juggle keeping up with your Plymouth pals?)
Dang…that unwelcome collision of our long-fostered illusions about What Will Be…vs. reality. Nevertheless, thanks for pulling back the curtain for those of us peeking in from non-academic realms, Sabrina, as I would have surely shared your same preconceptions -- definitely too bad about no suede patches on the tweed jackets though. But thanks for these insights of yours which of course carry over…given what seems to be our increasingly nomadic lifestyles these days. The ebb and flow of people in and out of our lives – for whatever reason – feels like one of the greatest challenges of adulthood…don’t you think? So thanks for shining your insightful light on this topic. (In this busy next chapter of yours, how might you juggle keeping up with your Plymouth pals?)
Thanks Sam! And that is a good question about keeping up with friends from different places. There are so many different ways now, and each one can be suited to the people involved. I've found with some friends you need to be in communication on a constant basis to keep the connection, with others you can keep a connection going with long gaps of silence in-between. What works for you?