Netflix and other things I'll miss

So, okay, when Trixy asked me to rank her options for Residency, South Bend was always at the bottom of the list. This was frustrating for her I think, because it was her #1. All her other options had mountains right outside the door - or at least visible outside the door. She was selecting a program, I was selecting a location.

But South Bend is seductive. While not nearly as flat as, say, Nebraska, hiking trails are more sauntering paths. But the natives are friendly, diverse, and more like California than pretty much anywhere else in Indiana (save Bloomington). Winter can be cold, but we were almost 20 degrees warmer than our Rochester MN friends. We seemed to have five days of sub zero temps during the winter and about five days of 90+ temps in the summer.

South Bend has a real autumn season and this one has been the best since we moved here in 2006. Did I mention Autumn is my favorite season - probably has something to do with the New England imprint.

Yesterday we had breakfast at the "Original Pancake House" known around here as "Bibblers". Not a mile from our house we have made this a frequent Sunday morning experience. I was struck yesterday, by the feeling that we were known many of the staff. The other place that is a favorite is Elia's, very yummy Lebanese food - taking me back years to Badia Issa's cooking.

There are of course other places around town that we have come to know and enjoy: Macri's; Le Peeps; Papa Joe's; just to name a few. We found a great church family, and weekday evening bible study group.

Netflix was a stabilizing experience. Our queue continued without interruption in moving from CA to IN. We gained the streaming experience. I wanted to put our account on hold for five years, but alas, there was not option for that. So canceling our membership was almost like telling a good friend, "So long and thanks for all the fish." To make the break up harder is that there was no option to say that I loved the service, but was moving out of the country. Well I guess I can console myself it that it isn't personal, its just business.

So, now I'm leaving much behind in South Bend. But I am gaining a big mountain.