Boston

Although I have never lived there long, Boston has been an important city in my life. I am always being drawn back and this year is no exception.

I was born in Boston Lying-In Hospital, established in 1832 as one of America’s first maternity hospitals.
I lived as a baby in Cambridge before my parents moved to Middlebury, VT.
One summer I lived on Craigie Street in Cambridge and another summer I lived in Marblehead. Both times my dad was teaching summer sessions at Harvard or Columbia. I remember going weekly to buy vegetables, meat and flowers at Fanueil Hall Marketplace, before it was all gussied up. It was gritty back then.
As the largest US city within a day's drive, a day trip to Boston was an occasional treat when I was a teenager. My mom and I would get our hair cut and have lunch on Newbury Street.
I have walked with my boys on the Freedom Trail, ridden the Ducks, the swans and cheered for the Sox at Fenway Park.
My long time agent and mentor lives on West Newton Street, my best old friend lives in Brookline and now my husband is living for the 2008-09 school year in Cambridge. He was awarded a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship and is taking a year off from the struggling San Francisco Chronicle to refresh and recharge.
Although I chose to stay in SF for various reasons, I visited him recently and experienced a taste of life in Boston and Cambridge in February.
Sabin and I rode the T, mostly the Green and Red lines, visited the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Science and the Peabody Museum. We ate at Emma's Pizza, and at the homes of friends. We watched The Wrestler, the Oscars and Slumdog Millionaire. We had fun!