Settled.

Today marks my 5-year anniversary of moving to Harrisburg. This milestone feels both hard to believe and also just right. I am no longer a 22-year-old coming to the city full of idealism. While the core of my idealism is still what sustains me, it has been tempered with a healthy dose of reality about the challenges inherent in committing to this place.

Yet what brought me here in 2009 as a freshly-minted Messiah College graduate are the same things that keep me here today. I distinctly recall an e-mail exchange with my prospective landlord at the time, who asked me why I wanted to live on Allison Hill. Fair question: it’s not usually a place people choose to move. I responded that it was because of “the problems and the hope”.

Through my time at the Agape Center at Messiah College, I saw the very real challenges of poverty, blight and crime facing the neighborhood, yet also the persistent efforts of a strong network of community organizations, leaders and ordinary people working hard to make it a better place. I never wanted to be removed from these struggles, and I wanted to join with those working for change.

Over the past five years that has taken different forms – from spontaneously joining my first neighborhood clean-up to getting involved with Weed & Seed to serving as Secretary of the Residents’ Association. Cultivating an intentional Christian community called “Our Place on Derry” with like-minded friends seeking to live out the call of being Jesus’ hands and feet in service to those on the margins. Attending neighborhood meetings and political debates – and helping to organize some through Harrisburg Hope. And now having found my niche at the YWCA Greater Harrisburg, where I get to develop programs and partnerships focused on “eliminating racism” in the Harrisburg area.

I recently remarked to a friend that I felt settled, stable, rooted. She asked, “What’s that like?” Feeling settled for me is… Owning my house, and anticipating still living at 1527 when my 15-year mortgage is paid off. Knowing all of the people on my block, and being greeted as “neighbor” at the corner store. Recognizing the “regulars” at community meetings, and being recognized as having something to offer there. Doing work that I love for an organization I whole-heartedly support – and wanting to get one of those “years of service” awards at the Staff In-Service Day!

And although there have been plenty of transitions over the past five years, the most important things have remained the same. Spending nearly every Thursday evening with friends whose 7-year-old was 6 months old when we first met. Having almost-weekly “roommate time” with a previous roommate who has shared much of my time at 1527. Taking regular “fro-yo” runs with neighbor-friends and celebrating holidays together.

As I have had time to grow into this place, it has grown into me. I may have fallen quickly and completely in love with Harrisburg, but time has seasoned it into a deeper commitment. The more I walk these streets, grow my relationships and defend my city from the naysayers, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I belong here. For some it is a hard place to live, but somehow despite the challenges, living here has come easily to me. Walking around the neighborhood does not incite anxiety, but rather brings me joy. And so I remain, with anticipation for what will come from being settled.