Congratulations, Lt. Col. Joe! That's fantastic news!
San Francisco is my home. Or, it's Home. I was shocked, when the dot-com boom forced me to move to the East Bay, that Berkeley could also be a small-h home. And every time I've visited LA in the past decade or so, I've gotten a strong "Yeah, maybe not my first choice but I could definitely live here and be content" vibe. Considering the serious hate-on I have for the East Bay suburb I (resentfully) spent my childhood in, it appears that I'm not in general a California girl, but specifically a California city girl.
The only other places I've ever been that gave me a big HOME HERE feeling were Boston and Rome.
And, of course, wherever Hec and Matilda and Emmett are is home, but I suspect that we're all so bound to this city and this area that if we suddenly found ourselves in, say, Iowa, we'd feel very much like a family in exile.
This is our last week of school. I can't wait for it to be over. No more getting up at 6am to drive to school! No more scrambling for lunch money! No more fighting with kids about homework! Also, I can make them work for me now. It isn't quite the same having teens underfoot. When I had to keep them occupied and entertained it was much more complex.
Considering how easily I slipped into the rhythm of New York, I'm surprised I didn't feel more of a HOME HERE vibe. I know I could be quite happy there (given enough money), though.
I think for me home ends up being wherever my friends are. I moved quite a bit for about 10 years during undergrad and grad school and places always started to feel like home once I got settled in with some friends.
Yes, I'm sure the SFistas are a big reason why I feel at home here in this new city, despite not feeling at home in my own home.
I remember in college, moving to a new dorm room every year, it pretty much felt like "home" once my bed had been set up, that being the central element of the room. These days I think my apartment feels like home once my big red couch and love seat are set up and the TV and laptop are going. :) If I have the internet, TV, and somewhere to sit to watch/read, we're good.
I've lived here my whole life and yet on occasion get "You're not from around here, are you?"
I wonder if there's some Baltimore woman with desert as her desktop like I have the sugar factory.
You know, as wonderful as my friends there are, the LA area NEVER felt like home, even after five years and my beloved kitty. Maybe because i never had my own apartment there? It's hard to tell. San Diego always felt foreign also, and i lived there for 4 years. Maybe southern california in general....growing up on the east coast it always seemed so exotic and far away...then i moved there :) Portland felt like home within days, even though i have (so far) very few friends here :( But Richmond, where i was born and raised lived for the vast majority of 21 years has a unique place in my heart, and somewhere in the bottom of my stomach. It doesn't feel like home, but it has a unique place of dread. Some feelings you can never get over, and that is something like "home." Right now, i look forward to going home after work and forcing some corporal cuddling on my two sick kitties.
the LA area NEVER felt like home
I don't think it ever will for me.
