North Main

I’m going to move back

And I--

I already found this place

Off North Main

I’m taking it from out here

Because I can’t really afford

To fly back

Just to get my shit in order, you know?

Just gotta take a few leaps

But, uh, it helps that, you know

Obviously, I lived there

I lived there

I grew up there

So--that helps

With making some of these decisions

How do I feel about moving back?

Well, I--

You know, I used to live with my friend

On Federal Hill

And that was fun

Back when that was happening

But, uh, obviously, you know

I’m older now

So I don’t expect it’s going to be like that

Or that Rhode Island

Providence

Is going to be like that

I don’t have any expectations, really

I just know that this is a--

It’s a weird feeling

Going home

Because that experience

Is both, like,

This thing that people talk about fondly

And this thing that’s seen

As a sort of failure, you know?

It’s both

People are saying--

It’s so great you’re coming back

We’re going to love having you back

How awesome

But then you see them

Posting on people’s walls

Who are leaving being like--

Good for you

Get the hell out of here

So which is it?

I have to come back

It just--it just makes the most sense

No matter where you grew up

That’s the most logical place

To move to

When you need a reset, you know?

It’s just the first thing you think of

Like, even if you hate it, it’s--

This is what I know

I tried to picture that part

Of North Main

And think about, like,

Walking around

In that area

Which is nuts

Because I never walk around

The area I’m in now

And I don’t know

Why I’d suddenly do that

Just because I’m moving back

To Providence

But it’s just something
I wanted to do

So I go on Google Earth

Because it’s been so long

It’s not like I know all this

From memory

I go on Google Earth

And I see the area

And I move the mouse

And I picture walking it

Walking that area

And I walk all the way

Down North Main

Towards downtown

And I notice some stuff

That’s either new

Or just, you know,

I never noticed it

While I was there

That’s the crazy part is--

Like, I’m probably going to think
That all this stuff I’m going to see is new

When really

I just wasn’t paying attention

When I was growing up there

When I first moved here

That would happen

I would say to someone--

Did you know about this restaurant?

Or--

Did you know about this bar?

And people who lived there

Their whole lives would be like--

No, we’ve never been there

Isn’t that crazy?
We’ve never been there

And I would think

It was kind of crazy but--

Then I think of this boyfriend I had

Who grew up in New York

And told me

He’d never gone to the Statue of Liberty

Isn’t that wild?

Lived in New York until he was twenty-five

And never went

To the Statue of Liberty

Isn’t that the craziest thing

You’ve ever heard?