[Kalimac]

Hmm, this is a nasty conundrum, Child [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]. The only thing I can definitely see myself doing is standing between the doors, saying "But..but...but" as I try to tip the balance one way or the other. Middle Earth is a wonderful world and I would love to see it, but moving there permanently would be in a physical and mental sense a lot like taking a surprise one-way trip to the Middle Ages. Now I also love the Middle Ages, but for someone who's grown up in the 20th and 21st century, going there, or to ME, would be a huge and miserable strain. For all we'd like a simpler, non-corporatized world, you have to admit there are some features of this homogenizedworld that it would be VERY difficult to live without after a while; running water for example, refrigerators for another, flush toilets for a third (and if you've ever spent much time without any of these things, believe me, you miss them). Medicine would be another thing; there can't be too many of us who would be thrilled to go off without access to antibiotics or aspirin. And the language! No matter how much you've studied ME and loved it, going there would be like moving to a foreign country whose culture you love, times about a hundred. You might be able to fit in there, but it would take a huge toll on you physically, not being used to the conditions and having to speak their language all the time. You would be making enormous efforts to do stuff that the natives take for granted.

On the other hand...Hobbiton! Bree! Rivendell and Lothlorien! Heck, even Mordor in a weird way. Very, very hard to pass up the chance to see them. I'd have to agree with the previous posters who said that if they did go left, they'd want it to be as Elves. Though being a mortal woman, I'd have to settle for being brought up at Rivendell or something like that. If I could be guaranteed that...to quote Samuel Goldwyn, "I'll give you a definite maybe."