Not Necessarily Geography: Where I Come From.....

I come from the land of malfunctioning birth control: a diaphragm, to be exact. My parents had three young children and were not in the mood for a fourth but apparently there was a different plan to be lived.

I come from a family of creative people. I didn’t know this until I spoke with one of my elder cousins this winter, but my Grandma Jordan was quite a photographer. I was looking at a photo album she brought with her. The compositions were original and the choices made were not the usual family album snapshot poses. “Who took these?” I asked her.

“Grandma!” she said, with a “naturally” engraved underneath. By the time I was a child, Grandma wasn’t taking photos much anymore. I can’t remember a single photo of myself being taken by her. Sometimes in families that happens: what one set of family members experiences is completely different than another family member.

My mother wanted to be an illustrator once upon a time.

My uncle is a landscape architect.

I come from a family where alcoholism, chromosomal abnormalities and separation play key roles, even though these three are understated and often unacknowledged.

I come from a family that I oftentimes think doesn’t “get” me. I would think by this stage in my life I would be “over it.” I am not.

I come from several places, the one where I have spent more years than any other is a dry place, a desert, a land of misplaced people who get sucked in by the vortex that swirls in the center of Bakersfield. Okies, Arkies, Gandydancers, Drillers, and now people who work in the corrections business make their homes here. The part of town I live in includes older homes and people speak in primarily in Spanish or English. A couple miles away, no one has a name that ends in a Z or a vowel. It is a strange place. I also come from a place by the beach which I didn’t appreciate when I lived there. Another place I come from is a barrio in Los Angeles and a suburb of New York City.

The place I am homesick for most often is a place I’ve never lived.

I come from a heart that loves words, color, the smell of lavender and tight harmonies singing acapella.

I walk with feet that take me on some unique paths, craggy and tenacious is my pattern.

I open my arms to most I encounter, including you.

It is so nice to meet you.

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