What? Moving Again?

I've lived in my present apartment building for 41 years. And I don't intend to move again anytime soon! There are a couple of very good reasons for this. I have a pleasant, affordable, one-bedroom apartment that is conveniently located near downtown Minneapolis. There are several good bus connections and my place is within a ten-minute walk from the IDS Center.

But there's an even more compelling reason for my wanting to stay where I am. One time, while I was trying to get to sleep one night, I counted the number of times I relocated, from the time I was born, to the time I moved into my present-day apartment. It came to 34 times! Six of these moves took place while I was living in Germany as a child before I emigrated to the U.S. at the age of nine. Several took place while I was living abroad in Paris, Zurich, and Marburg (Germany). And eight occurred while I was living in the Twin Cities.

The main problem in moving so much in my life is that I had to attend so many different schools from the time I entered first grade in Germany in 1951 to the time I received my M.L.S. degree in library science at Case Western Reserve University in 1974. In that time span, I attended three different grade schools in Germany, as well as four different U.S. elementary schools, one junior high, one high school and one college, not to mention two different grad schools, as well as schools in Paris and Marburg.

It was tough always being the new kid in town.  It made it hard for me to make friends or to feel like I fit in. It didn't make things any easier that I was bullied and taunted in junior high because of my German heritage.  This had a lot to do with the fact that World War Two wasn't that far in the past, and that there were still a lot of hard feelings among many of the students.

I suppose there were some positive things about moving so often that I didn't appreciate at the time. It broadened my horizons, making me aware of different cultures and different ways of looking at the world. I remember that while living in Marburg, Germany (incidentally my home town), I saw America and Americans in a new light. One big thing I noticed was how much more politically aware my fellow German students were than those I met in the American universities I attended. Many were more left-leaning than I had ever encountered before. In the dorm I was staying at, I witnessed many heated discussions about the shortcomings of the Nixon administration and the misguided policies that led to the Viet Nam War.

In Zurich, I got a taste of what it was like to be among a minority of foreign guest workers which the Swiss imported in order to boost their economy. And in Paris, I got a whiff of some anti-German sentiments.

So, even though I see the benefits of moving as an adult, I wish I had stayed in one place longer as a child. Thus I've always envied people who attended the same school for years on end. I am grateful, however, that now I have been able to reside in one place for as many years as I have.