Something's Missing

Some years ago we moved from south and west of Minneapolis to north and a little east of St Paul, MN. We found that no one in St Paul knew anyone in Minneapolis, nor were they interested. When the I35W bridge collapsed the sentiment on this side of the river was, "Oh, that's so sad for them". In reality it was no big deal over here, because people from St Paul rarely go to Minneapolis, so a downed bridge was not even an inconvienience.

I wonder if those of you who have moved to a new city  after you are a bit up in years (as we say) have experienced the same sense of strangeness as have we. We lived in Carver County for nearly 30 years. My husband was in a visible profession in the community, our large family was pretty well known since we performed as a singing group. We knew people throughout the county due to the fact that our children attended a Lutheran High School that attracted students from a large area. Almost anywhere we went we either knew someone or someone knew who we were..

Now we move rather anonomously through our lives. We can go to the crowded Cub Food store, or the Applebees (or the Post Office, for that matter), each of which are less than a half mile from our home, and see no one we know.

Since there is little that connects us to our "old" life I even have a new name. On the other side of the river I am Kathy, on this side Katherine. My husband is increasingly "house bound". Going out is an effort, so even if we had stayed put he would not see many of the people we knew in our old location. I am by nature a solitary soul, so the isolation is not a big problem for me, but I do find some difficulty in remembering who I am ("was?" ) It is as though we started over in more ways than one.

Who would have thought that by moving we would become victims of identity theft?