Pittsburgh

Okay, I am going to confess. Maybe it was the time change on Saturday/Sunday which was compounded because Ethan was sick that same night with a fever that thankfully broke in the morning (praise God!) and then increased by waking up at 3 Monday morning to catch a flight that allowed me to arrive in Pittsburgh by ten this morning. But as the plane flew right over where I work, banking along the Allegheny so I could see Heinz Stadium, PNC Park and the David Lawrence Convention Center as well a the Point and all the many skyscrapers I still can’t name (because they’re all called by various names depending on if you’re a native or recent transplant) it was all so….familiar. And almost like coming home.

Now I will cut myself short right here and declare that Pittsburgh is not a place I consider home. Not in the full sense of the word. Not in the sense that I would ever move back here. But from the plane, I recognized neighborhoods, and buildings, and roads, and areas we wiled away many hours as a family. And I the idea that I actually know this place that well made me feel very strange. I would have never guessed that in it’s own way Pittsburgh got under my skin. And thinking about it, why not? I was married here. I did give birth to two kids here. I lived here. Long enough to secretly laugh at the clerk at the hotel who said the shuttle would take me any place in the city I wanted to see as if I was a visitor and not someone who has seen quite a bit of city more times than I can count.

But it also didn’t take me long to remember why I don’t miss Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is only airport I’ve been in where, while waiting for the train to take you from the main concourse to the terminal where security, baggage, drop-offs, pick-ups and all that stuff is, a recording repeats itself and over again about how wonderful Pittsburgh is and all the great things this city has contributed to society. Things like ketchup, Big Macs and banana splits. Or the first World Series (a real irony when you consider the owners of the Pirates today have little-to-no desire of making them a half-decent team) and winner to two sets of back-to-back Stanley Cups. Obviously, our pilot from Chicago has never heard of all these wonderful things for he wished us all a happy work day when we landed, joking that none of us looked like we were on vacation, an obvious jab that no one comes to Pittsburgh to vacation. Per normal, Pittsburgh thinks more highly of itself than most.

I certainly don’t miss the gas prices that are anywhere from thirty to forty cents higher than Indiana. Or the traffic in the Liberty Tunnel. Or the very odd accent, displayed in all its glory today when a man came into the office asking if he could see our security tapes in hopes of finding the guy who hit his truck nine nights ago when it was parked it front of our office while he went to a boxing match and caused $3,000 in damage. At least I think that’s what he said. I confess there were a few words I didn’t understand.

In so many ways, it’s like I never left. After all, I do spend every afternoon thinking about Pittsburgh, talking to people in Pittsburgh, doing work for Pittsburgh as if I live here and don’t sit in front of a laptop in Indiana. And now I’m back….until tomorrow…when I’ll be happy to leave again.