I've been living in Minnesota for almost nine years now, and even after spending a few months trying to think of somewhere else we'd rather live, we plan to continue to call Minnesota home. And every time I go back to California, I get more convinced that everyone who lives here is a bit touched.
And yet, there is something singularly wonderful and comforting about my birthplace. It's none of the concrete, obvious things like the ocean which I can visit in lots of places, or the sunshine which there's really just a bit too much of, and it's certainly not the smog, the traffic, the sprawl, or the nearly psychotically car-centric urban design.
Lying in the most comfortable bed ever in the guest room at Rodney & Jon's place in San Diego one morning before I was completely awake, I realized it was the particular color of the morning sunlight and the particular smell of the air. I told Alan this and he says he feels the same way about the sunlight and air in Chicago. And you know there's probably nothing that Chicago's and SoCal's sunlight and air have in common. So I guess it's just something about it being the place you first saw how sunlight fills the room in the morning and smelled Spring drifting in a window. Like the smell of your Mom's soap. You know?
Anyway, we've made our way gradually north and inland, first to Glendora to enjoy a very nice afternoon with my Dad, and last night with Alan's aunt & uncle Enid & Marv. Having suuuch a nice time. You know, a person could just make a whole lovely life out of visiting wonderful people in interesting places. If only it came with a salary and 401K. Well it has other perks.
Today we visit Alan's old friend Stan, then tomorrow we head for Parump, Nevada to see my aunt and uncle Betty & Rod. From there, to the Grand Canyon. I've, embarrassingly, never seen it. Alan tells me it's really - no, really - grand. And everyone along the way has told me about the fabulous colors the sun makes as it rises over the canyon. I bet it's miraculous, but right now I'm still clinging a bit to the Southern Californian sunlight in my mind's eye.
3 comments:
The very first time I woke up in the San Diego sunlight, the morning sun took hold of me, dug deep into my veins, and made me fall deeply in love like I'd never been in love with "a place" before. I had never been to San Diego before. I have never felt the same way about the sun in any other place.
I spent a full year trying to make it so I could move there. And it was that magical morning sun that I pictured in my mind's eye every time I thought about moving.
My childhood Wisconsin sun is special, but not anything like that San Diego sun.
The shape of the mountains in the twilight was the next most magical sight in the world, to me.
Oh wow, I just got all wistful for my trip to San Diego... ohhhh sun. I'm so weary of this winter gloom.
The first time I came home to Minneapolis from NYC during the spring I hung my head out the window of the car and kept saying, "It's so green! It smells so beautiful!"
Funny. I have that smell thing with both Chicago and Southern California. I always thought it was just my supersniffingsensitivity.
Glad you're still calling Minneapolis home.
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