revising the list.

When I lived in New Jersey, I kept a running list of what was keeping me there, as well as what was driving me away. The list of fair attributes was usually short, but convincing: Erik, rowing, cheap gas, tax-free clothing, and tomato pie. The other list was longer, and updated frequently: idiotic drivers, expensive real estate, my former boss, the cost of auto insurance, jughandle left-turns, shore traffic, and the lack of parking at the train station. Sometimes I like to revisit that list just to make absolutely certain that nothing would ever take me back there. Today I added a new item to the list of reasons to stay away: Anthrax detected in preliminary mailbox test. I've probably dropped mail in that box myself, having once lived "on a street adjoining the Princeton University campus". I know that this kind of risk exists everywhere, but I can't help but breathe a sigh of relief and notice the big smile on my new NY State driver's license.