It is July 25, 2020. I have now been in Austin, TX for 20 years. I still question my decisions.
It’s weird to remember back when I was this young, hopeful dude. Had a dotcom job waiting on me as I packed up 1/3 of my belongings in my ’94 Mitsubishi Mirage, waved to my mom as she slept before her shift, and drove all night through Texas to arrive bleary-eyed and dazed in morning rush hour traffic to find my friend’s house and collapse.
Ten years later, I declared myself an honorary townie.
I am still a townie. This is the longest I’ve ever lived in any one city. I had hopes, and fulfilled some of them, but mostly I was looking for a land of happenings and happenstance, and even in the midst of this shitty year, I still find new and surprising things. So I still think it’s worth living here, even if we’re all a little bleary-eyed and paranoid.
Perhaps one of these days I’ll hit the next stage of my life and move out to another locale. But where? Where is that hopeful boy gonna go next? Who’s to say.
So long live Austin. Fuck Austin. After two decades, my love for Austin is still unrequited.