Been a busy few weeks here in sunny southern California. And its been filled with old friends, new friends, bike rides, and thoughts filled with memories. I grew up here in San Diego. L earned to drive here, to experience freedom and independence here with friends, and the outdoor activities that have come to follow me through my adult life. I've written before about home not being where I was but a bundle of feelings and memories of smiling faces that I carry with me no matter where I go, and thats still true. But I realized how tied that is to place this week. I am from California. From the beaches of So-cal, to the weirdness of the pits of LA, from illegible graffiti on the walls in the barios of LA, to the smells of bbq and grease in Korea-Town, and any other culture you can name. From the old long haired burnouts fighting to live in their motorhomes at the beach, to the sounds of helicopters and police cars I love me some California City life. But California is also Golden Rolling Hills, and crashing empty beaches, palm trees and deserts that bloom in winter. California is big groves of redwoods, and pot farms roped off with high fences and cameras in the middle of northern woods. California is piles of rocks higher than the trees, its chapparal that scratches at your knees and ankles, while predator birds glide overhead looking for their next meal. California is sand dunes, and cool clear lakes immeasurably deep.
There are monuments of nature here. And monuments of people, and monuments of history, a history that seems short when compared to the history I have seen in Europe, but one that is rich with stories, and experiences all the same. 10 Italians will tell the same history, but 10 Californians will have such varied accounts depending on where they are stratified. California is the furthest extremes on can think of (and sometimes a little further out there) and everything in the middle. It is all that it has ever been labeled and I love it here. California is who I am. This is where I'm from.
As I write this I look out the window: Spanish architecture, palm trees, scratchy native plants, bikes, buses, cars, murals, blue stucco, sunny skies, and a smile from a passerby.
take a close look, thats snow in the San Gabriel mountains as seen from the beach in Venice, an AMAZINGLY clear day for a bike ride around LA.
I think Loni is developing a thing for LifeGuards...
in Italy we say CIAO!
In Cali we say LATER!
later.
S.
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