This week’s Top 5 Tuesday theme (meme hosted by Dana @ Supernanny Where Are You?) was chosen by ME – Tell us all about your top 5 favorite (or least favorite) things about where you currently live – either geographically or your actual place of residence. Seeing as I picked it, I must have some pretty stellar answers, right? RIGHT??

Um… Yeah. I probably should have thought about that sooner huh? For starters, do I want to talk about where I live, like giving geographic information? Do I feel like taking pictures of my apartment and do I tell you what I like or what I don’t like? I think I’m leaning towards like because I don’t feel like talking about the negative today. And I was thinking I could just say “New England” and leave it at that? And I gotta say, I love New England. When my husband and I talk about moving we generally agree that leaving New England would be a non-desirable thing. No further than Pennsylvania at least, please. So let’s talk about why, besides our family – we love New England so much. In Top 5 Style of course.

1. The Geek in my feels the need to tell you how much HISTORY is in New England. I mean, I know every state has their history and important moments, but in New England it’s kind of like you’re tripping over the history with every step. Like, oh over there, there’s Plymouth Rock, you know, where the Mayflower landed (okay, well not right there… and no, not that specific rock. But it was a rock JUST like this rock but bigger and it was in this general region…) That’s another thing I love about New England…
2. Even when things go wrong, rocks simply erode or get misplaced, they Make It Work. They love their heritage, and even opposing views and flat out lies will not stop us from telling our story, any story. This might seem like a negative but for some reason, I love it. I think part of love is taking the negative with the positive and loving it all in spite of itself, you know. And if you don’t like what the guys at Plymouth Plantation are telling you about the first Thanksgiving, you can always  go over to Martha’s Vineyard and visit the Wampanoag tribe – they’ll have a much different story for you for sure. I love the culture is what I’m saying. I love that in such a small region there is so much DIFFERENT in every corner, and so much touristy stuff to revel in. Who needs to travel half way around the nation to vacation when there is so much to do and see right in New England?
3. I love the way that city and country mingle here – I love being able to drive ten minutes this way and hit a big city like Boston, Worcester, Providence, etc. but if you drive ten minutes that way it’s reservoirs and forests and mountains. Contrast.
4. I love that seasons are REAL here. When I lived in Kentucky the seasons were so mild, and the weather so constantly changing that Spring was Summer was Fall was Winter sometimes. And California? Does it MATTER what month it is? But in New England our winters are FIERCE and your summers are HOT and our autumns are CHANGING and our springs are RENEWING. It’s beautiful, it’s real, it’s envigorating to behold.
5. And okay, we’ve got our own family history here. We are FROM here to the core. My family may have been on the Mayflower and we’ve certainly been here as long as America has been here, we are New England settlers. My husband is actually IN the Wampanoag tribe, so you know he’s been here even longer. His father’s family is from the New York area, not far either. So everywhere we go, we’re family. Every town we visit, we know people. To move from here would be like immigrating ourselves. Not only do we lose our friends, we lose our family, our heritage, our culture. It’s what we know, and what our families have known for as long as we can remember. I know your home is where your heart is, and that people move away from home all the time, and if we have to, we surely will. I’ve moved my whole life and as much as I call New England home – I’ve lived outside of New England longer than I’ve lived within it. But this has always been home base for me, even when I lived far away. Been there, done that, you could say. My heart? It’s here.

What are your top 5 favorite or least favorite things about where you live?