Moving half-way across the country hasn’t been an easy thing for me. Since it wasn’t something that happened at my own instigation, and since the place we landed wasn’t even on my radar screen, it’s meant I’ve had to do a lot of re-thinking. It helps that Madison is an interesting place with cool people and a relatively hip vibe. But it’s still a lot to process.

It’s no secret, of course, that I dislike the part of town where we’ve been residing the past two months. A modern, but cheerless expanse of brand-new buildings on the edge of farmland, a good 10 miles from downtown. Not a place I would have imagined myself living.

And boy oh boy am I sick of being in the car.

At the same time, I think it’s probably a good thing that we spent our first few months on the outskirts of town. Moving from downtown San Francisco to downtown Madison directly, I might have ended up pooh-poohing the city’s relatively small urban core. Leaving behind San Francisco’s multi-faceted transportation network and swapping that for the “Metro” bus line, might also have seemed like a big step down.

But now that I’ve been in purgatory for a while, “Capitol Square” seems like an oasis to me. I love being downtown on Saturdays for the farmers’ market (three blocks away from our new condo). On Sundays, we can walk those same three blocks and we are at our big, lively church. During the week, there are several coffee shops I can hang out at, and my gym is less than a 10 minute walk from home. As a result, I’ve been more and more eager to see our remodel finished so we can make the final move.

It’s all about perspective, right?

By the same token, as we finished sweeping up at the new place tonight in anticipation of next week’s move-in, I could really appreciate the difference. A month ago, what we bought was a newly-built, but oddly decorated and poorly maintained home that belonged to someone else. Tonight, we sat in a freshly painted place that reflects our tastes and our lifestyle. Simple, clean, elegant. It feels a lot like “home” (and our furniture hasn’t even arrived).

So like I said, I have had a lot of challenges adjusting to this new town, but I’m beginning to see more clearly its advantages.

Of course, I’m not sure I’ll feel like that the first day it snows, but give me a little time…