Published August 30, 2010

This is a follow-up to my breakup letter to Brookline.

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You're not so bad, Brookline. (Night Owl City/Flickr)

Dear Brookline:

Can we still be friends? Look, I realize it wasn’t classy to break up with you via blog post. But I wouldn’t have gone to the effort if I didn’t care.

I’m two weeks older and wiser since I wrote you, and I’ve done a lot of thinking.

A lot of your people are making fun of me for moving to a neighborhood they consider equally snooty, with equally bad parking and equally ridiculous rules. Even my new demonym — Cantabrigian — is pretentious, they say. But I find life to be quite easy on the other side of the river. With a residential parking permit, parking is no problem at all.

Others called me out for complaining about you instead of being more involved — calling my representatives, attending town council meetings and the like.

But I’m in my 20s, Brookline. I don’t have family here or a mortgage or any lasting ties to where I live. I never wanted anything too serious.

And that’s where we went wrong. We met at the wrong time.

You’re a beautiful town, Brookline. You have great schools, safe neighborhoods and quiet streets after 10 p.m. And many people who own a home there probably have a driveway or a garage and don’t care about your overnight parking rules.

As you so elegantly said in your reply, I’m just too young for you. And maybe in a few years, when I’m ready to settle down, we can try again.

Yours truly,
Andrew.