Last week I took a trip to San Francisco. It was a really wonderful time, seeing an old friend and meeting new people. I had been to the city before, but never really experienced it the way I did this time around. Of course I did some of the traditional tourist-y things like ride the cable car and eat chowder at Fisherman’s Wharf, but I also got a peek at the real city, the place people live their day-to-day lives. And I fell madly in love with it.
It’s a funny thing, the idea of a hometown. For some people it’s very clear, the place where you were born and grew up and still live is and always will be your hometown. For some people it’s very clear because they’ve never lived any one place long enough to have a hometown. Then there are people like me. People who don’t know where to call home but there’s no good reason why. I lived in Southern California for a good chunk of my childhood. Then I moved to Colorado, and lived there for most of my formative years (High School, College). For a while after we moved, I was “from California”. After about a decade, I was “from Colorado”. Then, I “moved” back to SoCal, and proceeded to live in other places for months at a time. When people would ask me where I was from, I would get confused. Sometimes I would say “LA”. Sometimes I would say “Boulder” or “Denver” or “Colorado”. Sometimes I would say “well, I live in California right now, but really I’m from Colorado”.
Seriously?
Clearly, I have felt the need for a hometown for several years now. At some point I decided not to worry about it. I’m young, I want to see the world, I can just live in different places until I find out where home is going to be. This is what I figured. Well, things don’t always happen according to plan. Last week, way ahead of schedule, I realized that San Francisco is the place for me. I can't really explain what happened, except to say that the city literally hooked me, like Santiago and the marlin, and it is not letting go come hell or high water.
Home towns are weird things-- especially how they can change, depending on how far away you are, and who is asking. Most of the time, I'm "from Seattle," if someone is just asking briefly. If I'm abroad, though, what freedom! I'm "from the US." In Seattle, I'm "from Bellevue." And if someone actually is curious, not just polite, then I'm not from anywhere! YET! My hometown is developing...
ReplyDeleteSan Francisco is an excellent choice for a hometown. Anywhere that is known for its bread bowls is just fine by me. Except I'll be visiting all of the time. So... plan on that.