Day 13 - on answering the question "where are you from?"
This is literally one of the hardest questions for me to answer. My standard answer, to alleviate telling a long-winded tale, is Washington D.C. It's technically true - I was born in DC. I grew up within 90 minutes of DC from 0-21 years of age. I attribute my "accent" to DC and being deliciously mixed with all sorts of wonderful people from local and exotic climes. (Fun fact: nearly everywhere I have lived I get asked where my accent is from. The key - I think - is I acclimatize rapidly and imperfectly, so I sound almost like the people where I'm living at the moment, but not quite.)
The thing is, "where you're from" usually defines you and there are so many places that have influenced the woman I've become. So here are a few fun facts about places I've lived and how they've shaped me.
Washington DC: It's fun to be able to say that neither I, nor any member of my nuclear family, was born in a state. While that fun fact makes me feel unique, the reality is that the cultural and truly cosmopolitan aspects of living near the nation's capital have profoundly impacted the way I view the nation and the world. For example, I grew up going to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts regularly and have had a passionate love affair with the arts for over two decades. I grew up with people from many different backgrounds: racial, socioeconomic, political, occupational, and otherwise, and because my parents treated each person with respect and equity, I learned that all humans are valuable and have dignity (I wasn't exposed to explicit racism until my college years - imagine my shock!). I care about and strive to understand our government and I am well aware that there is deep and pervasive corruption. I grew up with a majority of my friends' families being in government or the military in some capacity, so I know the flag rules by heart, cherish tradition, and honor those that serve our countrymen and nation with a special regard for the sacrifice involved in that lifestyle.
Southern Maryland: From 0-9 years old, I grew up in a rural part of southern Maryland characterized by bullfrogs, tobacco fields, Amish communities, rich colonial-era history, and farming tradition. I also grew up with a lot of boys - our closest friends were about five miles down the road and owned a 400-acre farm where I learned to ride horses, stand up for myself, play pool, and run hard. We had a blast and I have no doubt my confidence around both boys and men and my ability to hold my own are largely a result of those wonderful friendships.
Southwest Virginia: Although my first sojourn in southwest Virginia was brief (approximately 9 months), I learned lessons about poverty and class that I will never forget. I made one wonderful friend (for life), but I experienced the cold reality of being an outsider in a largely closed culture.
North Central Virginia: When we moved up to Fauquier (fah-keyr) County, I found myself in a paradise of forest, horse country, farmland, and dirt roads. I loved being able to play in the creek, build forts, have bonfires, play capture the flag, and ride our go-carts all over our 10 acres. It was heaven on earth for children. We lived in a bedroom community for DC and were again embraced by a transient population that understood that if we were to have roots and friends, we had to build them while we were there and build them fast. Living in the farmhouse my parents built was the longest I had ever lived anywhere (if you count that as my primary residence while I was in/at college - I do). It gave me a place to return to, a home base. I loved the framily I found there through our church, the memories we made, and the boy who turned into a man, who asked me to marry him. I also learned how to work hard - even though we weren't technically a working farm, maintaining ten acres, chickens, and a garden, together with the myriad projects mom and dad always had going gave me a real taste of manual labor and sweat equity.
These are the places that built me, but don't define me. They shaped me, but didn't fire me. I am all of them and none of them and if I learned anything in the eight moves we made between 0 and 18, it was that home isn't a place, it's your people.
This is literally one of the hardest questions for me to answer. My standard answer, to alleviate telling a long-winded tale, is Washington D.C. It's technically true - I was born in DC. I grew up within 90 minutes of DC from 0-21 years of age. I attribute my "accent" to DC and being deliciously mixed with all sorts of wonderful people from local and exotic climes. (Fun fact: nearly everywhere I have lived I get asked where my accent is from. The key - I think - is I acclimatize rapidly and imperfectly, so I sound almost like the people where I'm living at the moment, but not quite.)
The thing is, "where you're from" usually defines you and there are so many places that have influenced the woman I've become. So here are a few fun facts about places I've lived and how they've shaped me.
Washington DC: It's fun to be able to say that neither I, nor any member of my nuclear family, was born in a state. While that fun fact makes me feel unique, the reality is that the cultural and truly cosmopolitan aspects of living near the nation's capital have profoundly impacted the way I view the nation and the world. For example, I grew up going to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts regularly and have had a passionate love affair with the arts for over two decades. I grew up with people from many different backgrounds: racial, socioeconomic, political, occupational, and otherwise, and because my parents treated each person with respect and equity, I learned that all humans are valuable and have dignity (I wasn't exposed to explicit racism until my college years - imagine my shock!). I care about and strive to understand our government and I am well aware that there is deep and pervasive corruption. I grew up with a majority of my friends' families being in government or the military in some capacity, so I know the flag rules by heart, cherish tradition, and honor those that serve our countrymen and nation with a special regard for the sacrifice involved in that lifestyle.
Southern Maryland: From 0-9 years old, I grew up in a rural part of southern Maryland characterized by bullfrogs, tobacco fields, Amish communities, rich colonial-era history, and farming tradition. I also grew up with a lot of boys - our closest friends were about five miles down the road and owned a 400-acre farm where I learned to ride horses, stand up for myself, play pool, and run hard. We had a blast and I have no doubt my confidence around both boys and men and my ability to hold my own are largely a result of those wonderful friendships.
Southwest Virginia: Although my first sojourn in southwest Virginia was brief (approximately 9 months), I learned lessons about poverty and class that I will never forget. I made one wonderful friend (for life), but I experienced the cold reality of being an outsider in a largely closed culture.
North Central Virginia: When we moved up to Fauquier (fah-keyr) County, I found myself in a paradise of forest, horse country, farmland, and dirt roads. I loved being able to play in the creek, build forts, have bonfires, play capture the flag, and ride our go-carts all over our 10 acres. It was heaven on earth for children. We lived in a bedroom community for DC and were again embraced by a transient population that understood that if we were to have roots and friends, we had to build them while we were there and build them fast. Living in the farmhouse my parents built was the longest I had ever lived anywhere (if you count that as my primary residence while I was in/at college - I do). It gave me a place to return to, a home base. I loved the framily I found there through our church, the memories we made, and the boy who turned into a man, who asked me to marry him. I also learned how to work hard - even though we weren't technically a working farm, maintaining ten acres, chickens, and a garden, together with the myriad projects mom and dad always had going gave me a real taste of manual labor and sweat equity.
These are the places that built me, but don't define me. They shaped me, but didn't fire me. I am all of them and none of them and if I learned anything in the eight moves we made between 0 and 18, it was that home isn't a place, it's your people.
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