More Life Changes!

“Journey” Day 189: Things are still coming together, but right now it looks like I'll be living in the Twin Cities part-time this fall, teaching at a community college. I have previously lived in Minneapolis; this time I'll probably be in St. Paul. I'm looking forward to the new work challenge and also the opportunity to explore a bit. It has been two decades, although I've visited the area quite a bit the last few years. I'm sure a lot has changed.

The job I'm pursuing is a sabbatical replacement gig at St. Paul College. Most of the introductory courses I'll be teaching attract a lot of high school students in the PSEO (Post-Secondary Enrollment Option) program where the State of Minnesota covers their expenses. It's a great deal -- my kids have taken advantage of this and it's actually why we moved back to Minnesota a dozen years ago rather than trying someplace new, like Wisconsin. Because a large contingent in each of these intro courses will be high school students (even greater, apparently, than the dozen or more I regularly get in each class I teach at BSU), the college wants to keep them mostly in-person rather than online, to give these students a more complete college experience. That means I'll need to be on campus Monday to Thursday, at least. I'll probably get an apartment and drive home to Bemidji on weekends.

If this all works out, it will begin in August with me getting an apartment and then beginning to teach before the end of the month. That means, about 180-ish days from now. In other words, I've got another big change to count down to and prepare for. My "retrenchment journey" will be ending in about 90 days. But then, another three months later, another big change. 2023-4 is a period of great change for me. Although I had sort-of thought I knew what the next decade or so was going to look like, it's all a mystery once again!

One thing that will be interesting and different is that I'll be responsible for my own social life. Not only will I be alone in the Twin Cities four or five days a week, but I'll no longer be part of a "couple". My marriage is also winding up, although my ex and I are still good friends. So it will be up to me to find people that share my interests, to spend time with. I'll return to Bemidji on the weekends, because I still have a family here. But if I want to talk and socialize with people outside the classroom this fall, it will be up to me to find them.

Of course, St. Paul and Minneapolis and their surrounding suburbs have a population of over three million people. So the chances are much greater that I'll find people who share my interests there, than that I'll discover folks I hadn't run across yet among the fifteen thousand people living in Bemidji. Although I may be wrong about that, too. It's not like I went out of my way to find that many people who shared my interests, when I had a wife and family to connect with. I've been involved in some things away from home, such as the Historical Society. And I've socialized with family friends. But the situation will be a bit different, when it's all on me.

I've already begun checking out things like book clubs on Meetup, just to see what people are doing in the Twin Cities. And, although I'm a bit embarrassed to say it, I've even logged into Facebook. A lot of my old friends from when I lived and worked in the Cities are on it, so maybe I'll reconnect with some of them when I'm back down there. In any case, it will be another new adventure in a year of new adventures!