Tuesday, May 29

Are you my mother?

Here is a recent excerpt from my Moms blog that proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I am her daughter. "Where are you from?" is the most difficult question for me to answer to date.
Mom:
That question has become as difficult for me as "Where are you from?" What does that mean? Where was I born? Where have I spent most of my life? What place do I most identify with? Where did I live most recently, before this place where we've just met? I don't know. How do other people answer this question?So...where do I live? I live wherever my little trailer happens to be, which, as you know, is currently on a beach in Mexico. How long will I be here? I don't know. Where will I go next? I don't know. Should I stay here until my savings is gone or go back to the US of A before then and look for a job, do the responsible thing? I don't know."I don't know" has become my mantra. I think that's okay but I really don't know. Would it be better if I were clear about what I want, my intentions, my desires? Maybe, but so far not knowing has worked out pretty darn good. For instance, I ended up here on a whim, "here" being this trailer park on the Sea of Cortes:
Me:
Is it where you were born but never really lived( though your whole family does), where you lived the longest in one place, or accumulative time spent in one place over time, or where I moved here from? I get it Mom.
Here is my answer when there is time. I was born in St.Louis but was raised in Berkeley until I was 7. We then moved to the mountains and coast of Oregon. I went to high school in Portland and then after graduation I immediately moved to Santa Barbara, then to SF. I moved to Hawaii for my the better part of my twenties and then back to SF,Oakland, Berkeley.. I most recently moved to Santa Monica but first started out here in West Hollywood.
Please God, WHERE AM I FROM??

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hola lovely daughter. Yes, indeed, you are your mother's daughter. When I wrote that I remembered that we had had a discussion on this topic before, or maybe I had read your take on it on your myspace page. My answer to that question always changes and I think that's okay.

The pastels in the post below are amazing! I guess there's no doubt that you are also your grandfather's granddaughter, your aunts' niece.