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Who are you? Who am I? | Week 33

August | Travel and Experience | Week 33 | 8/20/2023
California

Like every kid born in America, I too am drawn to the grand cities of potential and promise - New York City, Miami, and Los Angeles. Vanity and wonder draw one in, and visiting for the first time, we can all appreciate the superposition of that moment. The first time I was in California I was in middle school on a family trip to San Francisco. At that time, in the mid 2000's, California was still the supercenter for dot com and not yet a relic of a once past boom. That meant the surrounding environment was still inviting and not yet hostile. Much changed in the following two decades, particularly during COVID. My first time back to California was January 2020 on the precipice of the death spiral of California. Given my particular political predisposition I was expecting the dichotomy I would soon observe but expecting only one side of the dichotomous emotional spectrum. I expected to witness the haves and the have-nots but only feel disappointed, uninterested and negativity with none of the positive emotion. That was short sighted. 

Getting off the plane in LAX I felt the cool California air I'd missed since 2008. Zach picked me and Daniel up and the rest was history. Perhaps it was the genuine novelty of our activities, perhaps it was the company I'd missed so dearly, whatever it was, I was hooked on LA, in a surprising twist of fate. House parties in Beverly Hills, sunsets on Sunset, mushrooms in Malibu, the whole thing was straight out of a movie and I had a very hard time letting it go. Since then I have been back many times, and it has become something of a second home for me. We've used LA as a base camp for trips to Hawaii, Yosemite, Japan and weekend music festivals. I have friends there now, houses I could stay at or visit, beach spots I know by heart, women who have taken a piece of my heart and others who've tried. 

It should be figured by now, that in this life, the things that we least expect to hold potential for us, lessons for us, are the very things which draw us in the most sometimes. Growth lies behind that which we fear, that which we loathe, and that which we dismiss. California is that for me. Driving up through the winding roads behind Beverly Hills to catch the sunset over the valley, grabbing coffee on a misty morning in Malibu, or taking the Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica to Santa Barbara, these activities have left an imprint on me, one which does not discount Skid Row, Gavin Newsom at the French Laundry and the death of the Comedy Store, but rather selects that which is positive and memorable to fill a piece of my conscious capacity. I will likely return to California for the foreseeable future, to a home away from home, for more positive and novel memories, for more growth and change, as that kid drawn to the grand cities of potential and promise. 








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