"ISN'T IT BORING?"

Four ladies in the vicinity of “a certain age” recently met up after more than a few decades at Mac’s Time Out Lounge in downtown Alton. Too late for lunch, too early for cocktail hour; and Mac’s is not known for its afternoon teas. It’s a sports bar where folks gather to watch (and bet on) the Kentucky Derby and down brews like Boulevard, Blue Moon and Schlafly’s Hefewizen in a sheltered beer garden. You’re likely to see someone you know if you’re from Alton. It isn’t Cheers, but it’s cozy.

The four ladies were from Alton once upon a time, but all had moved away ages ago. One had recently returned. That would be me, who suggested Mac’s, a local institution now but not around when we were growing up. One childhood friend, transplanted to Colorado Springs, was in town for 36 hours visiting family. The second has retired in St. Charles, a St. Louis suburb across the river. The fourth lives near Springfield, the Illinois state capital, in Jacksonville (pop. 19,445).

They accosted me with the same question friends in New York, Miami and Paris ask: Isn’t it boring here? Not at all. This blog was derailed last summer not because there was nothing to write about, but because there was too much to do. Who had time for reflection?

Even friends and family here were surprised at how crowded my calendar has become in a town of 27,781, not counting the 17,982 souls who live in the Alton “suburb” of Godfrey. But rather than returning home, I arrived as a tourist, looking through new eyes. It has been amazing. I tend to gush when I try to explain. 

But what happens when I no longer feel like a tourist?