The Move to the Past in Philadelphia

The Move to Philadelphia

It wasn't as if we could have anticipated any of it. I certainly didn't think that a simple move across the country would have caused any kind of cataclysm in my life. So when the inchoate idea took hold in Holsten's mind to move to City of Brotherly Love, he began to talk me into too.

"It'll be great!" he said. We'll pack only what we need and purge the rest. We'll head to Philadelphia and start a new life, one away from all the turmoil that seemed to dog both of us these last few years.

In just a few months, Holsten had me as excited as hound in a hen house. The planning began then.

So we hired a Philadelphia moving company on moving day and then followed behind them till we arrived at our glorious new Philly apartment in the heart of the French Quarter. Holsten unloaded our car upon arrival and I took a walk around the block to get a lay of the land.

The Move to the Past

I had never seen such magnificent trees lining the sidewalks before. The air had a suspiciously fragrant scent to it, a smell I would never have associated with a city. Could Philadelphia be so different than the West Coast?

As I rounded the corner a few side streets away from our new place, I also noticed how oddly everyone was dressed. Was that a bowler hat? Knickers? Bustiers and corsets? Was I going crazy or were these people dressed like they were just stepping off the set of a period piece movie?

I meekly went up to one the women walking with her two little children and asked her why everyone was dressed up like so. Her looked helped answer my earlier question about my crazy potential. And then she sauntered off without a word.

I began to realize that maybe I had stepped onto some kind of 1800's set! The roads were dirt all of a sudden. Horses were everywhere! Th air smelled of flowers and smoke and lifestock. What happened? Where was I?

I desperately needed to go find Holsten but abruptly discovered I was totally and utterly lost. I wasn't even sure if I was in Philadelphia still. How could I have know such a move would have resulted in this?