Friday, July 18, 2008

Small Town Girl

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before... but I've lived within the same 30-mile span of California my entire life. From the age of 2 until I was about 9 years old, was spent inhabiting a grand total of 3 houses, and 1 apartment. All of which were located a scant mile or so apart.

Today, I live within a stone's throw of the park I used to play at all the time... and now my own child plays at the same. The obstetrician who helped birth my children into the world (well, one of them anyway, LOL!) also delivered my younger brother. Up until the last few months, the pediatrician we used was my own growing up.

It's both eerie, yet strangely comforting. I drove by my old elementary school, and past my Kindergarten classroom today. I drove by two of my old houses, one located down the cul-de-sac where I learned to ride a bike. I can recall the day we moved into that house. I was perhaps 7 years old then. Now that house looks a lot different, overgrown by ivy, and the years have not been kind. Now I've got my own kids sleeping in the backseat of the minivan while I take a trip down memory lane.

I've always kind of envied people who have lived all over the world. But in reality, I'm a homebody - happy with the memories, both good and bittersweet, that have been cultivated right here on this Peninsula. There really is no place like home.
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4 comments:

Jamie said...

And I've always envied the people who grew up in one spot and have deep roots.

Anonymous said...

There is no place like home...unless home is in Fresno! I will make a new home for myself someday...where it's not a million degrees in summer!

Anonymous said...

Before I went to college, I had lived in exactly two houses. The second of which we moved into when I was about 3 1/2 and that my parents STILL live in.

When we moved back from Los Angeles, we found a home that's about 5 minutes from the only other house I had lived in.

A few months ago, I drove by it... wow was it small and much different than my very young memory recalls.

Anonymous said...

I moved too much and never felt like any place was "home." I envy you terribly!