I’ll enjoy the journey of being alive, no matter where it leads

Leaving LA on a high to start the next chapter of this grand adventure

On the road again. The view from Northern California, taken by the author.

Nothing makes you love a place quite like leaving it. Everything I own is packed in the car: a couple of boxes full of books and mementos; a few suitcases full of clothes; artwork and photos, and my basketball.

I’ve spent the last couple of months in Los Angeles after returning from my two-and-a-half-year sojourn in Japan. Now, I’m on the road again, leaving Los Angeles and heading north to Oakland.

LA has always been home base.

My immediate and extended family live there, plus a couple of my best friends. It’s home and always will be. But it’s not my home. I’ve grappled with this over the past decade: I want to appreciate LA, but that doesn’t mean I have to feel bad for not wanting to live there.

I was raised in LA, and tried living there after college. Then I traveled. I lived elsewhere. When I’d return to visit, the aspects I didn’t like became more pronounced. What I did like (beach, family and friends), wasn’t enough to make me stay. That, of course, is difficult.

I want to live close to the people I love.