Daytona Beach, Florida - the Worlds Most Famous Beach |
Where is home, is a complicated question for me. I was born in Michigan, I have lived in five states. I own homes in two states. I live in the mid-Atlantic, but parts of my being are rooted firmly in the south east. I lived in Florida for almost 20 years. I grew to love the mossy parts, the swampy parts and the Atlantic coast. I instantly feel at home. I am comfortable stopping in local Florida places, despite the fact that I drive a car with northern plates, and have lost most of my southern drawl (if I work at it, I can turn it back on.)
I can read the seasons of the south, the color of the sky, the mood of the waters. I understand southern food - cooked long and slow - the slower pace of life. Today I return from the south that is the home to my heart, to the home I currently live in. Where I currently live in Virginia just outside of Washington DC, is a clash of cultures, it is where east coast aggression, meets southern gentility. Far enough south to feel a little like home, and far enough north to remind me that it is someplace different.
PA, NJ, VA for me, and I am at home in my birthplace. DC has no soul.
ReplyDeleteHaving lived in SE Michigan until I was 30, and family all there, it is still 'home'.
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