Working my way through The Nature Principle I have been struck by thoughts on place. In other posts (here and here), I have blogged about my dissatisfaction with the suburban life I lead. Sometimes I cringe at my surroundings (mainly when I enter “downtown” and the sea of box stores swells up before me). Other times I lament the things that are missing here (adequate public transit, walkable green spaces).
A few days ago, I ran into a family I know who is moving to this town. I caught myself telling them a few of those negatives (I can’t see the ocean, there are not enough trees in our playgrounds…). But, I also realized that I have started to come to terms with my place. Have even started to think of this place as mine. To take some ownership. We have lived here for almost 4 years, and I am just starting to accept it.
What is my reluctance to this place? I live in Langley, British Columbia. A beautiful suburb of Vancouver, in a unique transition between rural and urban. It is still a place where you can find large areas of farmland, and stands of forest and riverfront. It is also a place that has embraced the box store, and the suburban staples of freshly mown lawns and uniform homes. The town’s slogan should probably be, “a great place to raise kids.” It is complete with community centres, activities galore, and lots and lots of families. Until recently, I thought of it as a place Vancouverites went to die. A compromise. A holding place. Not a home.
Reading The Nature Principle has given me a bit of perspective. The author suggests that people don’t necessarily need to retreat to untouched nature to commune with nature. To find happiness in place. That happiness in place is, perhaps, a combination of acceptance and embracing. Acceptance allows a person to truly see what is before them. The Nature Principle, refers to our natural surroundings, things like native plants and features of the land. I would like to expand this to include community and culture. To see a place is to notice the best things about it.
I have started to do this in Langley. For example, I have started to gain an appreciation for Langley’s farm culture. The beauty of the expansive piece of farmland near our home, with the little bird houses on stakes surrounding it. The fact that the food at our farmer’s market comes from our local farms. Farms I can visit, farms I drive by every day. I have also started to enjoy the niche cultures in Langley. The vibrant horse community. The local arts community. My husband has noticed the friendliness of the families here. How strangers will stop and chat with you. Something we didn’t experience nearly as much in the city.
Embrace? I don’t think I have embraced yet. Embracing, I think, involves planting. Growing roots. And becoming involved in change. Devoting oneself to a place, and rather than lamenting its shortcomings, attempting to change them. To love a place as you would a person. Accepting its faults, but loving it just the same. I do not, yet, feel rooted in this place. But, perhaps I am starting to put down tentative feelers.
For one, I am starting to love my social community. The people I know, and the web of community that surrounds me and my children. The fact that we run into people we know wherever we go. The fact that my child can go out into the park in our townhouse complex, and play with all of the neighbourhood kids. The fact that the moms bond out there, too.
What if I do as The Nature Principle suggests, and start to really notice the natural surroundings, too? What if I start to bond with them in the same way? Would I find myself growing roots, by studying the plants in this area? By familiarizing myself with the ecosystem that surrounds me? Would I stop lamenting the lack of planning that goes into new parks, and start actively trying to change that?
The Nature Principle talks about finding your “it.” The place that fills your heart and soul. That just feels right. I don’t know if Langley is my “it.” Right now, I’d have to say, no. But, maybe, just maybe, this is a matter of simply deciding to say, yes?
These are all questions I ask myself, as I wonder, when will I, if ever, begin to truly call this place home?
And you? How do you bond with place? And how long do you think it takes to fall in love with a new community?
Hi! I’m Kelly Woods, writer, mother & librarian. I write about beauty, creativity, green living and lifestyle design to help others live a life of inspiration, too.
I don’t know how it happens for me…but it does happen. I think it’s a heart-decision rather than a head one. I have struggled when I was travelling and living abroad to bond with places. I know bird-song is hugely important, something I didn’t even realise that I noticed – until it wasn’t there.
I know you can’t, but you should move up here to the Okanagan! I own a full-time Children’s Librarian job in Kelowna *& might soon be shifting the job to Vernon – & I cannot job-share because there is no one to job-share with. I couldn’t offer you anything but a job share, but damn, Vernon (& the many small towns around) are/is gorgeous. What does your husband do? Is his work transferable? We have a beautiful Waldorf school close by & houses are cheap. http://www.realtor.ca/map.aspx?&vs=VEResidential&beds=0-0&baths=0-0&minp=0&maxp=350000&area=vernon+bc&trt=2#acr:false;ac:false;baths:0-0;beds:3-0;fp:false;gar:false;pmin:200000;pmax:350000;rmin:0;rmax:0;openh:false;pool:false;stories:0-0;buildingstyle:;buildingtypeid:1;viewtypeid:;waterfront:false;forsale:true;forrent:false;orderBy:A;sortBy:1;LisStartDate:;mapZ:12;page:1;mapC:50.267014879999984,%20-119.26749230000001;curView:0;curStyle:r;chkSchl:false;chkTran:false;chkPol:false;chkMed:false;chkWrk:false;chkFire:false;chkAll:false
Seriously tempting. What does my husband do… good question. I’ll be able to answer that better soon. I just resigned from my full-time job, in a crazy bid to stay home and become an entrepreneur with him, homeschool my kids, and enjoy their fleeting childhood. Scared sh***less, but never been more excited about life. I also never found anyone I could job share with, and so just made the crazy lovely decision to throw caution to the wind, and run with it.
It can be really hard adjusting to a new place, and it takes more than a few years. Your hometown sounds and looks beautiful. Living in the South for six years, I’d have to readjust to snow though! But not quite being able to see the ocean? Doesn’t sound so bad.
I have just recently posted some thoughts as to how it feels to return to a place you once loved. Has it changed, have you changed for example? I personally enjoy going to new places and attempting to discover them, however there are always difficulties with fitting in and finding those nice people who will help you.
This is a beautiful post — and I can relate to your points.
I find myself both loving and hating my community — and telling newcomers about the pros and cons equally. I have lived here for most of my life and find myself craving change!
Perhaps British Columbia…
🙂
Sometimes I believe that “it” happens wherever you need “it” to be. Like you said, maybe it is just as simple as saying “yes” and letting it fill your heart and soul rather than us trying to fill “it” with our hearts and souls. This way, where ever we go, where ever we are, where ever we land, we could possibly be content. Content enough to call it home for however long that may be.
Great post. I agree with what you’re contemplating: sometimes it’s just a matter of accepting right where you are, because that’s where you are. If it’s not your ‘it’, you’ll get there eventually. Enjoy the farming community; it really is a special way to live.
Yes, the farming community is one of my favorite aspects of this place. I can hardly wait to visit the berry farms, honey bee centres and lavender fields this summer. Maybe it’s my farming roots, but farmland does speak to me.
We moved from Vancouver to Victoria 30 years ago, and then from Victoria to a more rural location about 25 miles outside Victoria. Over the 12 years we’ve been here, I’ve fallen out of love with the place and then back in. The upside is the serenity, privacy, natural beauty. The downside is the isolation, always having to drive to get anywhere, not being able to run out to the grocery store, no distractions – especially problematic during the winter. It’s a state of mind more than it is a “state of place”.
Congrats on being FP! I can relate to your post. I moved from the Midwest to the West (U.S.) 6 years ago and have to come to realize this is home for now. Probably move again within 3 to 5 years and hopefully that will be the “it” place. I find that for the most part I enjoy the community I live in and there are some things I still just tolerate for the time being. I have lived in the country to city living to suburban life – each one has been a different experience with its own set of pros and cons.
Ha! Try moving to AZ after living most of my life in the great Northwest.
Guess you’d have to get used to the heat… and the desert. I can only imagine the burns I would get.
Yes, I have red hair and very fair skin, :).
However, my husband has RA and this was his last chance to live a somewhat normal life in the dry air of the desert. Going to be 116 today.
i like your post 🙂
i always enjoy being in new places, but living somewhere is different… i don’t need much time to love new community but my problem is — i don’t need much time to be bored. now i live in poland but thinking about moving to gb or canada. time will show… for now, everyday i try to look afresh at my place, find some wonder in it. 🙂 a place for living should be stimulative. i’m glad you find your community interesting 🙂
I’ve always been torn between my need of peace in a small town and my thirst for adventure in a city. I live in a small town, and I love the close-knit community and the presence of nature and everything, but I have always wanted to live in a place like New York and be close to culture and entertainment- being in NY is like being at the center of the world, and I crave that too. It’s tough to choose.
-GD
My writing blog: http://shelleddreams.wordpress.com/
*Congrats on being Freshly Pressed! Check out http://www.theburst.wordpress.com for the latest! *
I think the best way to connect to your community is to get involved someway. It has taken me years to convince the husband to do so. Otherwise he is constantly making plans to move away from where we can afford life to other place we cannot. Isn’t the old phrase “bloom where you are planted?” Looks like you are doing that. Congrats on being freshly pressed.
Very interesting post — I like the invitation to comment on the end – the thought provoking question, “how do you bond with a place?”
For me, home will always be Alabama.
I wasn’t born here, I hated moving here 6 years ago, and I kept on hating it til 2 years ago — when I moved to Florida, and realized that I HAD grown roots, that they had settled deeply, and that leaving everything behind — the beautiful greenery, my warm social circle, and my special new friend (who, a year later, became my husband) — was more than I could bear. Bonding with a place: it’s time consumming, and it’s related to your immediate surroundings and your social circle. Also, the state of your mind, and what, at heart, you’re looking for.
Aun Aqui
Great Post. I’ve lamented similar concerns in blog posts as well but looking at it from the angle of why every place I go visit is so much more appealing than where I have chosen to live. I’ve essentially had to re-program myself to look for the unique facets of the place I live on a daily basis. I don’t make the trip to the hardware store along the same path any more. I take a different route just to force myself to look around and SEE what is around me. There are great things there to be discovered.
i have to say that i’ve been guilty of bad mouthing my homeland, but more recently i’m beginning to see the good in it. it’s quite fabulous. i think the more you embrace your place, the happier you become.
It takes me a while before I fall in love with a community because you naturally compare it to your previous place. I like where I currently live, but I’m not yet ‘in love’ with it. I’ve lived here for 3 years now, so I’m not so sure it’s ever going to happen. Hmmm, maybe it’s time to move???
If you move the new place will have exciting new pros and cons. I love the excitment of moving. Except for all the pros Langley sounds like my home. I am hearing the call of west coast seagulls. Loved the post..
Excellent post thanks for sharing this. I enjoy reading your blog very much
I moved to Dubai, nearly 9 years ago, from India. It took me all of seven years to begin to think that Dubai is home… for now. I realised that when I visited India for a break and after two weeks felt like it was to go back home. But is it ‘the’ place? No. I am still searching for that.
Congrats on FP.
I think one reason people bond with a place is if they raise a family there. It’s easier to make associations and friends when you are young. We moved to a completely new place less than three years ago, and I find it hard to think of it as home yet. I love my little courtyard garden, and we’re three miles from the ocean, but because our kids live many states away, it still is hard to think of this as home. I hope it comes. I liked your perspective, though. And congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
A lot of people have mentioned the 3 year mark. I’ve heard it takes at least 5 years to really begin feeling like a place is home. I’m on almost 4. We’ll see…
I moved to Georgia in 1990 and realized in the early 2000s that I really wanted to move…but where!!! I have done research, and first checked out Annapolis, MD and thought I would like to move there…circumstances changed that decision. Then went to California to do research for a book…short story…a year later I ended up moving there to Napa. I really liked it, but ended up getting sick; and while getting better I started getting the quiet whispers every morning for a month that I needed to come back to GA. So, I quit thinking about moving for awhile, especially as my brother and I were dealing with Mother having to put her in assisted living as she was in the later stages of alzheimer’s.
They live in Michigan (mother passed away last year).
I began taking day trips to Greenville, SC as it is a lovely place and only 2 hrs away. I had no thought at all of South Carolina being a place to live. However, I began realizing how happy and peaceful I was when there; and felt bad when i had to end the day coming back here. I found that Greenville is HOME to me, and I have never felt that anywhere else I have lived. I look forward to the day I sell my townhouse here and move HOME to Greenville.
I’m so glad you have found your home. I really do think there are places out there that simply speak to us. I know of at least one myself. It isn’t here, but when the timing is right… I think your comments about the people in a place are spot on. That magical combination of people and place really can be, well, magicial. All the best!
Beautiful post. I’ve been living in Spain in the same city for 10 years, and I still can call it home. I do however miss it when I’m away even for a few days. I guess that means i do have feelings for this place 🙂
You should bond with the natural surroundings.
I guess some places naturally feel right for us and like a home, others we may grow into and some perhaps we will never be able to acclimatise to. I certainly am not at one with the town I have lived in for 22 years, although I can see more pluses about it than when I first moved here.
I think you are wise to aim to get the most out of where you are right now, everything has something to teach us.
i’m stuck in the inner city for now!!!!! nothing green here.
I enjoyed your musings and can relate. Before I left the mainland, I revisited the town where I lived as a child and immediate felt as though I were home – even though I hadn’t lived there for many years and no relatives remained there – something about the trees and the air. Now I live on an island that has a lot to offer – and I do enjoy – but somehow it doesn’t feel like home.
It varies so much, feeling at home in a place I mean… depends on each person, the moment is living and how much actually wants to feel fin, me thinks.
For me it’s about the people. I’ve lived in a number of different places over the past few years, and now I’m preparing to head back “home” — where my family is. I’ve felt rootless for years–while living in cities or the country, no matter how many plants I put in the garden — because I was still an hour away from home… making seeing the people I care about most a bigger undertaking than I wanted it to be. I can’t wait to get back.
I was in the same boat as you. i moved from California and it took me a while to accept that I’m now Texan. If we focus in the positives, it makes a totally different perspective. I think every place we leave behind will always have a special place in our hearts and memory. Very heartwarming post that most of us can relate to. congrats.
Thanks everyone for your insightful replies. “Home” appears to be a slippery word to define. Since writing this post, I’ve been looking at things with a different eye. And I really do feel more positive about this place. Even excited. Anyways, thanks WP for Freshly Pressed, and thanks again to everyone for reading. What a grand surprise!
You know what?
I vote for embrace in your heart & move on physically and mentally.
Be fueled by precious or warm memories. Otherwise, how will we be able to handle the *crazy* world these days without setting an eternal sanctuary somewhere as our base? 🙂
This post is so timely for me. I just moved back to suburban Kentucky after living in New York City for six years. I moved there when I was 18 and created a life I was in love with. Now I’m back home without a job, without familiar resources, without transportation, and feeling pretty lost. I’m willing to embrace my temporary surroundings, but I need a way around town so I can make this place mine.
Thanks for the read…
I have lived in a variety of locations and enjoyed parts of each of them. But only in the last few years did I find THE special place/city where I truly feel at home. It started with visits there and every time encountering all the amazingly wonderful friendly people.
I just tonight got the reply you posted yesterday to my comment. It IS wonderful that I found that special place, and will be so glad when I am able to actually move and live there.
I’ve struggled badly with this issue. My husband and I moved to central Virginia to be closer to our child. But I gave up living close to my sister and mother and also having a great dog park that I could walk in. My child is not down the street – she’s still a 10 hour drive away, which is better than the previous 22 hour drive (flying wasn’t much of an option). We’re wedged onto a tiny lot, way close to neighbors. http://dogear6.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/add-a-trumpet-vine-for-privacy/
There are good things here – it’s not shabby by any stretch of the imagination and our neighbors are good people – but I wonder if I ever will get used to it. It’s been over 3 years and I’ve gotten used to it. But somedays I wonder if I wouldn’t rather be somewhere else.
Congratulations on being freshly pressed!
Nancy
http://dogear6.wordpress.com/
I too search for nature in my surroundings, as I grew up in the country and have always felt most at home in a rural environment. I moved to a small but very busy town three weeks ago and am struggling to connect with it. I know I’m meant to be in the country, but job prospects and my boyfriend tie me to a more urban life right now. It makes me feel empty, and I wish so badly that I could adapt like most people, but I have an intense pull to the country that won’t go away. :o(
It took me 7 years to realize I loved living in Fort Worth, about 6 years to love Indianapolis. Now I live in a small town (pop. @ 6,000 when all the students are in town) between to small cities of about 150,000. I’ve been here 4 years and while there are things I really like, I can’t say I love this place either. It’s been a tough transition to go from major metro areas to the backwoods and farm country. I just might have to read the book you are reading…
I think I bond with place when I get that feeling of “ah, home” when I drive in areas that are familiar to me. In putting around areas that I haven’t explored completely, or roads I’m not familiar with I feel a sense of anxiety, but in the areas I call home I’m relaxed, I can think. It’s my “zone.”
i love nature and like to be close to nature.Currently my only connection to nature is the jogging park since i have moved form my bunglaw to 2 room apartment.. I am learning to adjust to this new place
first let me say, you have tons of replies and thoughtful ones at that and that is cool. I have a blog too, rather new, but no good discussions going like yours. Hooray for you! and for those who read your literature, its thoughtful and thought provoking.
second, i am traveling right now in my work, moving from place to place so I can decide where I want to live and then find a job in that community. I just started this endeavor. I am just now learning what rural is and I like it. I grew up in a moderate size city and lived in the burbs most of my life.
I work in a clinic that is based in a hospital and built for a specific community. I was asked today if I wanted to stay and really make a difference. My ideas and knowledge could really change things around the area,but i would have to settle down for a while to make it happen. So your blog today really hit home.
My idea has been to act like a tourist everywhere I go. Exploring the area, the culture, the climate, the habits of those who live there. Its a good way to look at things. Be a tourist then delve in. It may or may not fit, but you won’t know till you really jump in. I like to walk the streets of a city and feel it. Every street, or area, is different. Each neighborhood has a different feel. I am learning that rural areas are very different too. The energy is different and greatly dependent on nature and then on those who live there.
sit and be present, listen, feel, with your eyes closed, then with your eyes open…your children will be able to “feel” very quickly, get their opinions on a place. One playground will feel different from another.
thanks for the insightful blog.
So true about children. They are certainly more in tune with their intuition. A good reminder to listen to their own brand of wisdom, too. When we first moved here, I thought of it as a season in life. Just one stage. Still not knowing if we’ll stay “forever”, it has helped me feel good about being here, and embracing it, knowing nothing is saying it’s permanent. However, as many people here have commented, the more roots you put down, the more you bond with place. The ability to really make a difference sounds fantastic to me.
I really enjoyed reading this post.
It’s always a struggle to accept and adapt to a new environment… I’ve been forced to move from a quiet rented room to a friendly neighbourhood to the noisy city and, finally, to my current home in the suburbs. Wish you the best of luck, and thanks for sharing this great post.
I can totally relate. Africa, New Mexico, St. Lewis, New York, Florida, Texas. In every place I have been there are a few things that are always there. Blue skys, stars at night, birds, air to breath, people with problems and dogs.
I bond with places, even the ones I’ve rented. There is something about putting down roots that makes life’s pace seem tollerable. No roots makes life seem rather scattered and unfocused.
As an expat, it’s great to read these sorts of posts as it normalises my life for me. I’ve been living overseas for 12 years now and have started blogging to explore what place or as I call it “home” means to me. Even in all this time, there are still things I miss about HOME that I cannot find at home. I too find solace in walking around outside and taking it all in. I wonder though if I was HOME would it feel like it and would I start to miss things about home after I’ve been away from there? Hmmm…
I appreciate, cause I found exactly what I was looking for. You have ended my four day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a great day. Bye
Thanks for posting. nice post. i really enjoy reading this post.
Great post…I’ve driven past Langley on my way to the Victoria ferry and it looked lovely. Interesting to hear your perspective.
I live in a town of 10,000 that is a 40-minute drive north of NYC. Technically, I live in the suburbs. Horror! And yet…there is s string of historic towns on steep hills here on the edge of the Hudson river and it does not feel suburban at all, but has a sense of scale and age I love. The minute I saw this town I knew it could be a place I could be happy in, and 22 years later I still am. The town has changed and has become more upscale and younger, which has has made it a more fun place for me.
The basics I enjoy here: a great little downtown; a cafe; a gourmet store; a reservoir filled with swans with great walks; the river…and NYC within an hour’s travel. I don’t have kids and am not deeply involved with the community in that way, but this does feel very much like home — I tried 18 months in a small NH town and thought I would lose my mind. It was too far from a city (2 hours) and we were broke and there were no jobs and people were extremely unfriendly. They say a writer can live anywhere — no, you need to live somewhere you feel valued. My books are on the library shelves here. That makes it feel like home!
Oh yes! I don’t think anywhere would feel like home to me without book-lined shelves.
Thanks for your comments. Checking out your blog, I see you mean “your” books, as in the ones you write! Anyways, I’ve checked out your blog before, and loved your post on The Creative Habit. It is currently on my home library shelf, ready to be read, on your recommendation. Thx.
I have been struggling with those for about half of the 12 years I’ve lived in my present location (Perth, Australia). I came here from Asia to escape a settled suburban existence. And somehow fell into exactly that. I fight this mentally everyday. It isn’t home. I don’t want to be somewhere else in particular, I just think I don’t want to be stuck somewhere for the rest of my life, and have no permanent dwelling to come back to for a few years.
A lot of your post expresses what I feel about Perth most days. But once in a while I appreciate it with my immigrant’s eyes again and think, yes, it could be a helluva lot worse. I guess it’s learning to appreciate that until the exit strategy comes to fruition.
Great post, and congratulations on being Freshly Pressed 🙂
The moment I stepped out of the train station in Lyon, France, I knew I was in love. The architecture is old and impressive, the smell of fresh-baked bread wafts out of a boulangerie on every corner and a bottle of excellent wine costs 7€.
Over the course of the year though, I have started to realize the less-than perfect qualities of this city: the impolite citizens, the smell of urine whenever I stray too far into the side streets and the broken glass everywhere thanks to their sorry recycling program and laissez-faire attitude toward drinking in public.
I’ve begun to long for Toronto, the city I left to come here and the city I now know I took for granted. Anywhere I go I’m sure I will have complaints, but the idea of going back to Toronto gives me such a warm, fuzzy feeling that I know it’s home.
David Sobel wrote a powerful book on nurturing a child’s sense of place called Mapmaking with Children: Sense of Place Education for the Elementary Years. Here’s a review:
http://artfulbeing.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/nurturing-graphicacy/
It takes great courage to feel as if we belong some place! Not only do we need to accept the place, but we want to know it embraces us as well. Maybe this is the bigger challenge?!
It’s the same as building any other relationship, isn’t it? We can date casually for a long time – or we can delve in deep, with a wide open heart.
Great relationship analogy. Never thought about wanting a place to embrace me. Food for thought.
Yogibootcamp, thank you so much for your thoughts on this subject as it truly spoke to me about why I feel so much at HOME in the place I long to be (as soon as circumstances allow). It is because the place and the people have embraced me, and I them. I wrote this piece some time ago as I realized something else as well … http://amarquette333.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/i-thought-it-was-you/
Ann. That was beautiful, and perhaps what I needed to hear myself! I love how the world spins us around, gently setting us down where we didn’t even realize we needed to be. Thank you!
yogibookcamp, you are welcome. I am working on a piece about finding that place – that place which feels like home and the journey for one person who found it after many years and many tries 🙂
I’ve lived in Los Angeles for almost all of my life, and living here shows me stuff that tourists don’t see. LA’s always pictured as a glamorous and glitzy city, full of people who live the high life. Full of A-List parties, etc, etc, yada, yada, yada, yada, ya. But it’s not. It’s full of life, vibrant and energetic, yes, but not only because of Hollywood buzz. We’re humble, here, we love our homes, we learn to love what we have. I live in a great neighborhood, filled with awesome people. Granted, you won’t see every stranger coming and smiling and chatting with you, but there are very nice people here. I wouldn’t leave LA for the world.
Oh, and I can see the ocean. =D
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed!
Ashley
I have often written about wanting to love a place as much as could love a person. The first time I experienced this was when I went to Seattle.
I think you could definitely “embrace” a place, but I don’t think it’s the same thing. I embrace that Houston is my hometown, even though I wasn’t even born in Texas. That’s where my parents are. It’s where I went to high school. It’s where I went to college. That’s where my roots are. But my leaving Houston, even though I was able to make do there for a few years, was inevitable.
I think it depends on the person whether you can make love happen with a place or if you need to find something else. I once read that many years ago in Greek culture the term “making love” came from marriages where the husband and wife didn’t know each other before the wedding, but through making a marriage, learned to love each other over time. That could apply just as much to places.
Me though? I just want love as much as I can have it in my life. I didn’t want to just love a place; I wanted to be in love with it, and that is how I found myself in my new city, San Francisco.
Some places, you don’t have to do anything at all to be happy. You can walk down the street. You can look up at the buildings. The sky. There are places where even upon first stepping on the ground you immediately feel a sense of belonging, a sense of wholeness, a sense of home. My wish is for everybody to find such a place.
Thank you for posting. Very thought-provoking!
Thanks for this. It seems to fit just right. In The Nature Principle, Louv finds himself feeling the same way about San Diego (that you do with Houston). He embraces it, but it doesn’t seem to be his “place.” I think I feel the same about Langley. I guess I’m making love to it… =) Of course, I started out reluctant, so it takes more time that way, I’m sure. If one partner is reluctant to love, it’s hard to make it work. But, with persistence, it can. Sometimes. Still, there are places (islands off the coast of Vancouver, here, for one) that speak to me loud and clear. No romancing necessary. I can see how San Francisco is that for you. It’s a wonderful city. A little bittersweet. Knowing that as much as I can learn to love this place (and I really am), I may never truly be in love with it.
That’s interesting. I might like to read that book! I’ve often been fascinated with the idea of home in the first place.
Dying to go to Vancouver! My husband is Canadian — hasn’t been there either, though.
You know, on second thought, it took me a long time to get to that point with Houston, and even then, it was love-hate. I think it’s great that you are taking steps to learn to find ways to appreciate Langley, though. Always good to take a positive view of things, and you never know over time what you may find out about yourself. People change. Priorities change. So, there’s always room for that, too.
Thanks again, and have a great weekend!