California Dreaming

So I'm about to go back to CA for the first time in five years. I'd been having strong Monterey cravings over the past year, and I am super-excited to be visiting again.

Something I've always remembered from the treacly Life's Little Instruction Books is:

"Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard."

I've done the NorCal thing, and I get what he means. I led a very cushy life. Very comfortable. An embarrassing wealth of pleasures. And I'd love to live in New York - sort of almost kind of did once - but I get by with visiting regularly.

Whenever I mention to people where I used to live, the question I get is "...why did you move to Florida??" I always mention the cost of living difference, and, to some, the divine direction. Sure, there is a lot of stuff to love about the Central Coast of California. I miss the contrast in topography - the mountains diving down into the ocean. That just can't be found here, in the Land of One Contour Line. But I do enjoy that I can get in the ocean here. I miss the food - the freshness and the culture. I miss the intellectualism (though it borders on snobbery - oh, who am I kidding? even though it often trampled right into snobbery) - at least, the greater value of education, even if sometimes it was misguided.

If only I could take my friends and my work and my students and export them to California. Or, like the backdrop of a movie set, switch out Florida for California behind us all. But, maybe there's something to the discomfort of Florida. I've had to work a lot harder to find the things that brought me pleasure that were found so easily in California - the farmer's market, the art supplies, the beauty, the wineries (okay, not the wineries - just checking that you were still reading). And as a result, I appreciate them more. I don't take my discoveries for granted as much as I otherwise would. And it's also a useful reminder that this world is far from what it was designed to be. And a further challenge to be content in my surroundings, no matter the circumstances.