When you identify your 'hometown' (or where you're from), what do you identify? Where you were born, or where you grew up? Where you were happiest, or where you live now?
I'm never quite sure how to answer the 'hometown' question. My answer always seems to demand some kind of qualification or additional information.
Here are some of my answers, and some of my reasons. I'd love to hear about yours!
1. Birmingham, England. I was born there.
2. Santa Monica, California. Not the first place I lived in California, but the first of which I have any memory (of a house, which I may not really remember, but only think I remember, after looking at photographs).
3. Mountain View, California. My memories of Mountain View are what I would call 'human' - they involve not just the place, but other people, doing things, emotions, and adventures.
4. Davis, California. High School and College. The first place on this list to which I feel any urge to return and visit. I have parents there. I have friends there. I can still find my way around town (pretty much).
5. Ukiah, California. I lived in four different places in Ukiah, at different times (so it should also be after number 8 on this list, and before number 9). Including my sojourns in the nearby town (Hopland, Redwood Valley, Kelseyville), Ukiah was central to me for almost 25 years. Bonne Chance on Live Oak was the best. Ukiah Players Theatre and dear, dear friends.
6. Hopland, California. Two different homes in Hopland, and my first taste of 'ranch life.' Lots of community bonding for me here. But THEN, really, not NOW. Most of my Hopland community has moved on.
7. Redwood Valley, California. A pretty neat place to live, our Pinecrest home. Rather a lot of poison oak.
8. Kelseyville, California. Some folks thought I lived in Finley (because of my POBox there). DAH's fabulous farming misadventure! Wonderful memories of ranch life here, and terrible ones, too. I sometimes think of the 1990s as my 'lost decade.'
9. San Luis Obispo, California. Where we live now. Still feels a little superficial, but we're settling in, getting ready to dig in deeper.
Which is DAH's 'hometown'? Well, I was born in Birmingham, and I live in SLO, and I feel the strongest ties to Davis and Ukiah. And I'm sure there's more to come!
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