My hometown

Entry Prompt: Discuss your hometown, and how it helped to shape the way you live now.

Hometown? Which one? Actually, when I was a kid I sort of felt displaced. I moved around A LOT! When my mom was really settling into single life again after my parents divorce, we moved around all over the San Francisco Bay Area. Most of our time was spent in a little town called Clayton, or actually outside of that town in the hills--we were bussed to school in Brentwood, 20 miles away. After mom died, we moved to the Southern California High Desert for a year, then up north again to the Northern Sacramento Valley. After all that moving, even though we stayed in Live Oak for so long, I never really felt like it was my home--my heart wasn't there, that's for sure! I felt more comfortable living in Missouri for school than I did in the little town where I went to high school. Perhaps that's why I only have a few friends left from my high school years, but many, many friends from my Cottey days. I think when I really truly felt at home was when I moved to Paris. It's like Gertrude Stein said, "America is my country, but Paris is my hometown." I can relate to that! Especially after going back this past week. It was great to spend time with friends that I hadn't seen in a year, two and a half years, or even nearly five years! And the city remains the same--I know where to find the best of everything the city has to offer. I really feel like I can just relax and be myself there. I spent my first day back in Paris last week (a week ago today actually) just walking through the city--around the Marais, along the banks of the river, on the islands, over to the Eiffel Tower, and back to my little room on the rue St. Antoine. I let the stress of my move leave my body and I just allowed myself to breathe again. That was what Paris was for me all the time that I lived there--I truly had a love affair with the city. Unfortunately, what it means for me now is that I have a hard time being satisfied with being here in the States again. I very often feel stifled here--it's not like there isn't culture in Sacramento, and San Francisco is less than two hours away, but I miss the cafe culture of Paris, where people don't rush--they instead take time to drink in life and bask in its glory. I strive to do that every day, even when I feel down--Paris definitely showed me what it is to be happy. I have great hopes that my new home will help out with that. I love this little place, and I look forward to making it my space, just like Paris was for me for that brief shining moment . . .