RevGalBlogPals' Friday Five: Love the One You're With

In an attempt to keep up with this blog, I'm going to do the RGBP thing... From their website: 

This Friday Five will post while I'm at the beach which for me is more than a vacation destination, it is a trip home. I have found it quite easy to wax nostalgic about the places I used to live (well, except for one) and have begun to wonder what it is I like about the place I'm living now? For instance I sure do love the beach, but this picture was taken about 30 minutes away from my house - not too shabby!

And so I ask you to please name five things you like about where you are living now... and as your bonus - 1 thing you don't like.

This is an interesting friday five for me...I have 31 days left in my current home, and then I'm moving to become a novice in southern California!  So, with a bit of sadness at the coming move, I answer:  

Five things I like about where I live now:

1. It is easy to get places.  I'm in St Louis, Missouri--not exactly a huge airport, but I can get to the east coast in a couple of hours, or I can get to the west coast in a few more than a couple of hours.  I think I notice this right now because moving to California means being a great deal farther away from my friends in the East.  Perhaps that is a good thing, but right now that mental picture is a bit challenging. 
2. St Louis is full of free things to do.  There's the Saint Louis Art Museum (FREE!), the Saint Louis Zoo (FREE!  And a great zoo!), plus all of Forest Park.  
3. And there are other good places to visit too, at a slightly greater distance....Pere Marquette State Park across the river (the river=the Mississippi, of course!) in Illinois, the little town of St Charles across the Missouri River (with its park dedicated to Lewis and Clark, celebrating their exploration of points west).... I could go on and on.  There are simply great fun things to do in St Louis. 
4. The history of the Society of the Sacred Heart rests here as well.  St Rose Philippine Duchesne first brought a group of nuns to St Charles in 1818 and started a boarding school and a free school for girls.  As a historical theologian, I absolutely love that connection to the history of my religious order.  Philippine's Shrine is in St Charles, and her presence is an inspiration and support in my own journey. 
5. I think I like St Louis most because it has become my home over the last 10 years.  I was not born here, did not grow up here, but I have been welcomed by this community and have come to be at home here.  

All the more reason why it's hard to be leaving soon.  But there is one negative thing I can say about this place:  it's too far from both the ocean and the mountains.  I guess that's one thing California can give me that Missouri cannot!



Thank you, RevGalBlogPals and Kathryn for bringing these thoughts to me!