Twenty-two

A couple of days ago someone new to the school district asked me how long I'd been employed by the district. I told her twenty-two years, and her jaw dropped. She was young, a first year teacher, and I'm sure in her mind that the idea of anyone working anywhere for more than two decades was almost unfathomable to her.

But it got me thinking: I was 22 years old when I left Frankfort and came to Northern Kentucky to work for this school district, and I'm beginning my 22nd year of employment here. I have spent half of my life working for this school district and living in Northern Kentucky. And I'm not sure when, but at some point when people asked me where home was, I quit saying Frankfort and started saying Fort Mitchell (or "Northern Kentucky" or "Cincinnati," depending--frankly--upon how far away the person asking lived). I've lived in Fort Mitchell for more than eleven years now, and I'm much more emotionally attached to the Greyhound Tavern and the Beechwood Tigers and Vent Haven Museum than I am to Saylor's Restaurant (Does that even EXIST anymore?) or the Western Hills Wolverines or the historical museums spread all around downtown Frankfort. Fort Mitchell is my home.

A couple of Fridays ago I returned to Frankfort for a school reunion, which was held in conjunction with a concert on the Old Capitol lawn, and as I walked the grounds of the lawn and walked among the shops of downtown Frankfort, I thought the same thoughts that occur to me whenever I visit a strange town: What would it be like to live here? Could I be happy in this town? Because it didn't feel like the Frankfort I knew from 22 years ago. Back then, the downtown area was dead. Just dead! And the nicest restaurant in town was probably the new McDonald's out near the interstate on the west side of town. Now the downtown area looked vibrant, with a handful of charming looking restaurants and coffee shops. There's even (after what seems like a decades long battle!) a Cracker Barrel in town!

It's a nice place to visit, and it looks like it could be a wonderful town to live in. But it's not the Frankfort that I knew growing up, and it's not home anymore.

It hasn't been for twenty-two years...