A year ago I read a book called the Midnight Library, about a girl on the brink of suicide who finds a magical library that allows her to live many different lives in various places of the world, like becoming a surfer in Australia, a polar explorer in the Arctic sea, a rock star in South America, an Olympic athlete in London, etc. Not sure if that's everyone's idea of a good time, but for me that's the essence of life: experiencing new things and new experiences, so that one can live many different lives within the only one we're allotted. I often wonder in other universes or other "Midnight Libraries" where I'd be now and what I'd have done, whether it's staying in China and not even moving to America, becoming a scientist or doctor, a homeless guy living in the streets (although a brutal prospect, I could honestly see myself in a different live living that way, without the drugs), being a traveling musician and traveling the world performing in front of crowds (this is MJ's dream, to be like a Ray Chen or Lang Lang or Itzak Perlman) or being a father of eight (Eight Ain't Enough! This one's a little hard to believe in this day and age but there are still some big families out there).
One of the more likely scenarios from those admittedly outlandish and fairy-tale alternative realities is that I would have wound up living the Midwest. I've always maintained that the Midwest in general has nicer people than either coast of the U.S. (I've lived in both East Coast and West Coast), and anecdotal evidence and consensus polls confirm my hunch. Whenever I go to a Midwest town I feel like I understand the people who live there, have a sense of belonging with them that they are "confined" (trapped not exactly the right word) in the central part of the US but still appreciative of it and content with living a slower, more peaceful life in the suburbs without need of the glitzy and glamorous allures of the big cities. I once again got a taste of that this weekend in Cleveland, Ohio, not a winner of any national contests for "best and brightest city" and not a destination for any college kids trying to make it big or live the high life, but nonetheless a real city that has the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame (not my first time visiting, but first time appreciating the architectural splendor of the I.M. Pei-designed building as well as all the facts about American musicians over the years), a downtown by the lake that surprisingly reminded me of Chicago's Lake Shore. People here aren't caught up in being the latest fads on Youtube or social media and don't need to show off all their newest fashions or toys, it's a city on the Rust Belt (one of the areas that cost Hilary Clinton the 2016 election because it felt left behind by all the preachy liberals on both coasts) that embraces its own culture, where people I walk by actually say "Hi" in greeting and make me feel like a real person instead of just another customer or a non-celebrity getting in their way of meeting a celebrity or someone else who can help them get ahead in life. I'm content with the way my life turned out, but I could definitely have seen myself living a life of modesty and obscurity in a smaller city like Cleveland, just being a "nobody" in the right way. The lake-effect snow and brutal winters would have been unappealing (my legs are feeling really dry and itchy as I write this) but half the world lives in winter temperatures- there's something about bundling up and braving the outside weather together huddled together at a train station or digging one's car out of the snow before driving it, that builds character in cold-weather communities, I feel.
MJ and I's world tour of visiting art museums is allowing me a lot of great stimulus, where Cleveland had a FREE art museum ( so far that's 2 for 2 for free art museums in Ohio for us, Cincinatti and Cleveland) that had a very impressive center square with a cool design. Note to any city that wants to have MJ and I visit: have a well-designed art museum, we'll be there in no time.
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