#mysaintpaul

A former ECFE classmate of mine works for Visit St. Paul, who produced #mystpaul, a spoof on Adele's "Hello". The video plays up the rivalry between Minneapolis and St. Paul and showcases all there is to see and do in St. Paul (they are a tourism bureau after all) and watching it makes me giddy about my city. 

I love St. Paul, although I'm not from here.  I'm not even from Minnesota, although many people assume I am since I blend in rather well with a name like Kirsten and the long o's I find rolling out of my mouth.  I'm actually from New Jersey though and came to Minnesota over a decade ago to attend graduate school.  I settled in Uptown in Minneapolis because that's where one of the only two people I knew in the state at the time lived and because many university students lived in the neighborhood.

In those two years I fell in love with Minnesota and Minneapolis.  I could bus to school, walk to the grocery store and run every morning around one of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes.  I played soccer in a city league and met friends at bars and restaurants in my neighborhood.  I learned to cross-country ski in a city park with a view of downtown Minneapolis. By the time graduation arrived, I already had lots of friends, a full-time job and no interest in leaving Minnesota or even Minneapolis.

I tried to buy a house in my adopted city.  At the time I was frustrated that I couldn't afford even a condo on my government-wage income, but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. That's because shortly after my house search stalled out, I met Chris, and a year and a half later, he finished school in Duluth and planned to move down to the Twin Cities for his new job. My apartment, or anywhere in Minneapolis for that matter, was too far of a commute for him.  Our compromise was to find a new place that was in between both our jobs and that meant moving to St. Paul.

I considered St. Paul Minneapolis' sleepy twin. It didn't have the vibrancy I thought Minneapolis had and so little drew me to the capital city that I rarely ventured across the river. I was as loyal to Minneapolis as my friends who had been born and raised there. I moved because I loved Chris, but I felt like I was leaving a part of my heart behind in Minneapolis.

Fast forward nine years and my Minneapolis friends still tease me about living in St. Paul, but I'm proud to say that my loyalty now lies on the other side of the river. St. Paul is where my I'm raising my children. It's where my parenting community with ECFE, my kids' schools, and playground chats with other moms resides. It's where my brother-in-law and sister-in-law live two blocks away. It's where my neighbors let my kids play with their daughter's extensive Lego collection while they're away on vacation. It's where I work.  It's my St. Paul.