5/23/2004 08:59:22 PM|||Britt|||One of the key aspects of my life has been mobility. I grew up in Middle Tennessee (area code 615) and moved to Southern California (area code 619) when I was 21. I moved back and forth between the two (+4, -4) for three and a half years.

In early 1990, I moved to Southern Illinois (area code 618) in order to attend college. I knew no one there. It was actually a fluke that I ended up at Southern Illinois University. I had applied and was ready to go to the University of Iowa, but saw a brochure for the beautiful campus at SIU and applied at the last minute.

Perhaps you are seeing the pattern. I discovered it because I kept dialing wrong numbers. My next move (Chicago, area code 312) broke the pattern, for a little while. I moved back to Southern Illinois within a year.

Within another year, I moved back to Chicago but quickly relocated to Minneapolis (area code 612). The pattern was restored. Minneapolis was cold. I didn't last a year. Back to Southern Illinois.

The third time in Southern Illinois, I met Kimmie and we decided to move to Portland, Oregon (area code 503). We have been here for almost nine years. Previously, I had never lived in one city for longer than three years.

Even as a forty-year-old new parent, I’m not ready to settle down. Portland is a great place, but the area code just doesn’t feel right. My other options include Southeastern Pennsylvania (610); Ottawa, Canada (613); Columbus, Ohio (614); Western Michigan (616); and Boston, Massachusetts (617). Canada might be nice right now.

Could a person be destined to live within a specific area code? Well, of course not. But I do enjoy moving around the country, or at least entertaining the idea.|||108537284254093702|||Migration patterns