Farewell to St. Louis

For the most part, Dan and I were more than ready to leave St. Louis behind. Nearly all of our friends had left and moved to other places, and though the city has some wonderful qualities, I always felt sad witnessing its inability to recover from the great flee to the suburbs decades ago. St. Louis seems to suffer from a constant feeling of inadequacy, combined with an unhealthy dose of inertia. Nonetheless, there are many things I love about St. Louis, namely the affordable cost of living and the abundance of free things to do, including free museums, free musicals in the summer, lots of cultural events, and one of the most fabulous urban parks in the country.

Dan and I never really had a chance to give St. Louis an official goodbye. We hit up a few of our favorite spots in the days before leaving, but everything else was a blur of cleaning and packing, among other things. The movers came and went, taking nearly all of our stuff with them and leaving us with little more than an air mattress and some cleaning supplies. The day before we began our drive to Philly, we gave our cats a trial run of their sedative for the car trip. Poor Elsie, who weighs less than seven pounds, got a little too much. She was literally falling over, and I couldn't help but freak out, as no one had prepared me for such a strong effect from the meds. After a panicked phone call to the vet's office, we ended up taking the cats to the vet to have them checked out, as I was unable to focus on anything else. Luckily, all was well, and Elsie ended up getting quite a nice high from her medication, purring constantly, loving everyone, and being so out of it that she did not even attempt to move her butt out of the air after her temperature was taken at the vet's office. Though it became quite amusing in the end, it definitely added to the stress of preparing to leave town.

On our scheduled departure day, we ended up leaving much later than we planned (has anyone ever actually left on time while moving?). We had quite an experience trying to fit everything into our car; we didn't know how long we would be without our stuff in Philadelphia, and since Dan had to start work almost right away, we had to keep everything we would need with us. We struggled to stuff the car (and its roof bag) with clothes, shoes, personal items, cleaning supplies, kitchen items, an air mattress, blankets and pillows, Dan's computer, two cats, their litter box, their bed, their food, and all their other crap into the car. In the end, we threw/gave some things away that we had intended to take with us, though we were able to hang on to almost everything. After finishing up cleaning, getting into a spat with our landlord about switching over the gas bill, and leaving several hours later than planned, I don't think I even took a glance into the rear view mirror as we drove away.

I would, therefore, like to say an official goodbye to St. Louis. Here are my parting words to the city, its people, and its places.

• Mi Ranchito, I will miss you forever. After searching for months for good Mexican food in St. Louis, you were like a beacon of light in culinary darkness. I will always be grateful that you were only a half black from my house and that you had the best cheese dip and chips in the world. I miss them already.

• Dance St. Louis, I only wish you had begun your Spring to Dance Festival earlier. An amazing mix of professional dance companies, with three nights of performances, for only $10 a night? Truly awesome. Sadly, I only had the chance to go during its first year. . . sigh.

• My beloved Gardens, what can I say? My morning rambles among your beauty brought me so much peace. Thanks for the comfort and stillness you brought me each and every visit.

• My dear St. Louisans, you simply do not understand food. Though St. Louis is home to many wonderful restaurants, Dan and I learned not to rely on your "City's Best of" recommendations, as you clearly have a distorted sense of what tastes good. I never, ever learned to enjoy St. Louis-style pizza; as my friend Jaime best described it, it is like Cheez Whiz on a Ritz cracker. Provel is an abomination and cannot be described as cheese. The fact that some of your Italian restaurants use Provel rather than mozzarella is nothing short of blasphemous.
  

• Schlafly Bottleworks, I regret that I did not visit you more. Your slightly out-of-the way location kept you far from mind sometimes, but I still dream of your Field Greens Salad and Sticky Toffee Pudding. Your mac and cheese rocks, and your commitment to local food sources rocks even more. You are lovely.

• Speaking of Schlafly, here's a shout out to the local beers. To the Schlafly and O'Fallon Breweries, you make a damn fine brew. I always looked forward to the pumpkin beer each fall and the Wheach (peach-wheat) beer in summer. Anheuser-Busch, Schmanheuser-Busch. The small brewery's where it's at.
  

• St. Louis, you have got to get over your inferiority complex, and you have got to stop pretending like you are the next Chicago. You are not. Let it go, figure out who you really are, and for heaven's sake do something about it.
  

• Forest Park, you are a lovely place. I wish I had explored you more. Thanks for the hot air balloon race every year, which never failed to make me feel like an excited little kid.

• My dear Muny, thanks for the memories, and for seven weeks of free entertainment every summer. Though your seats became sticky in the summer heat, you gave us an opportunity to see many fabulous shows we would never have seen otherwise. As a lover of the arts who can rarely afford tickets to anything, you were such a treat, and always first-rate.
  

• Erin Bode, we are so happy to have found you. You are one of a handful of artists that Dan and I both enjoy. Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving us music we can stand to listen to together. We have spent countless evenings with your CDs and a bottle of wine.
  

• And finally, to all St. Louisans I would like to say. . . I do not give a shit about the Cardinals. Or, in fact, about baseball. There. I said it.

And so we go, away from the old and on to the new. Farewell, St. Louis.