About 4 years ago I drove through Peru, Indiana -- where I had lived from 1964 - 1970 (4th through 9th grades) -- and decided that I was quite happy that I didn't live there any more.
About 2 1/2 years ago my wife and I moved into an RV with the idea that we'd do what a lot of people dream of doing (usually after retirement), but most never accomplish: Travel and spend time together. (During our first 8 years of marriage, we had been practically joined at the hip...and I wouldn't trade that time together for anything.)
After a year and a half of travel, we discovered that we weren't the close, happy couple that we had been decades before, and she discovered that she didn't really want to live without roots. She went back to a stationary life, and I stayed in the RV.
A few months ago I pulled the house to Peru to visit someone I had known for 3 years, in 7th through 9th grades. We hadn't had any contact whatsoever in the 40 years from 1970 -- when my family moved to Seymour, Indiana -- until this year. I planned on staying in Peru for a week or two, then heading to Indianapolis for the Eagle Creek Folk Festival, where my brother would be performing. After that, I intended to be back in North Carolina (and Virginia) for MusicFest 'n Sugar Grove, FloydFest, FiddleFest, and the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance.
While in Peru, I (re)discovered that I didn't like the area any better than I thought I would. Among other things, Indiana summers are more oppressive than those in North Carolina, and Indiana winters are brutal.
But, getting to know the junior high classmate has been awesome, I've re-connected with several old friends, and made some very good new friends as well.
I've enjoyed music at the Honeywell Center in Wabash, Peru's Circus City Festival, Denver Days in Denver, Indiana (the web site is stuck on 1996, but the festival still happens every year), the Northern Indiana Bluegrass Association's festival in Kendallville, Indiana, the Roann Covered Bridge Festival, and open house at Doud's Orchard in Denver, Indiana.
I'm in one of the last places on earth that I would have chosen to live, but I'm more comfortable with life in general than I have ever been before.
So...in the next week or so I'll be moving out of the RV and into an apartment in Peru. I'm actually kinda nervous about whether or not I'm ready for my first Indiana winter in 16 years.
Come spring, maybe I'll head back to North Carolina. (At least for a visit. My daughters and grandkids are there.) I'd like to attend some of the North Carolina and Virginia music festivals that I missed this year...but, as much as I miss the festivals, they aren't as important as they were a few months ago. I might actually put roots in Peru, Indiana. (OMG!)
Life sure can be exciting!
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