I’ve lived in Dayton all of my life. I’ve traveled to a lot of cool cities around the country and some in Europe, but have always put them under a “great place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there” category. Love the climate of Southern California, but not the congestion and cost of living – the people just don’t seem real to me and maybe that’s because many of their body parts aren’t! Florida – too humid, parts are too old – or too family oriented (young kids & Disney) and the water just isn’t the Caribbean. Anywhere in the South – bugs are way too big for me. Smokey Mountains? Pretty neat but wouldn’t want to deal with an ice storm. NYC – can’t deal with all the concrete, I need grass & flowers. Chicago – they do a great job with flowers everywhere, but three hours from one side of the city to another is not my idea of quality of life.

I love Dayton. It’s easy to get around – our version of a traffic jam is 4 cars slowing down to 65 mph (which is very annoying). I love Univ of Dayton basketball in the winter months. Wright State’s theater. If I wanted to go see the Reds (but why?) I could get there in an hour; two hours to the Pacers; 3 hours to the Browns or Cavs. Seems a little far when you think of commute times to a Daytonian, but after spending time in Atlanta, I realize that’s not unusual. In fact, within a two hour drive time of Dayton, we are the same population size as Atlanta – without all the traffic & daily hassles.

My kids are raised; I’m into my second business venture (revitalizing neighborhoods) and my hubby has started his second software venture. I like that Dayton is small enough you can run into people you know just about anywhere – but it’s also big enough that at times we can be anonymous.

The people are real, friendly, down to earth – but highly intelligent, creative & passionate. So I included the three links above – one is about Dayton in general. Two are about my particular pet project – the neighborhood four generations of my family grew up in…South Park. The real one, not the cartoon version – although we have quite a crew of characters as well! It’s a real neighborhood. Where people donate a kidney to someone living down the street, and the rest of the neighborhood pitches in and cooks three meals a day for five weeks for both families while the two patients recover.

They look outside their window in the winter and see a single mom struggling to get her toddler on the back of her bicycle to ride to the store IN THE SNOW. An email goes out and next thing you know the single mom has a car, insurance, a better bike and carrier, clothing & toys for her daughter, and money for a deposit to get a new apartment and out of a bad relationship.

It’s pretty cool stuff. And a great place to live. And if I get bored or the winter drags on – it’s easy to go elsewhere for a break. But mostly I like to just hang out with friends from South Park who spent a lot of time trying to figure out not just how to make their neighborhood better, but how to deal with social issues and help each other out.