Dear Pittsburgh

Dear Pittsburgh,

You are not the easiest city to love, and I think that is exactly why I love you.

Your hills make no sense. Streets climb at angles that should be illegal. GPS says "you have arrived" and you are somehow still three streets and one heart attack below your destination. Your weather cannot make up its mind. It can be sunny, raining, and snowing in the same afternoon, and you act like that is normal. It is not normal, Pittsburgh. But it is very you.

And yet. You have more bridges than almost anywhere on Earth, and every single one of them feels like a little celebration. Driving through a tunnel and coming out to that skyline never gets old. I have done it a thousand times and it still makes me smile like a tourist.

Your people are the best part. Pittsburghers are friendly in a way that feels real. We hold doors. We wave at strangers. We will absolutely talk your ear off about the weather, the game, and the construction, sometimes all in one sentence.

You are not fancy. You are not trying to be. You are a hardworking, slightly stubborn, big-hearted city that takes care of its own.

Thanks for being home.