I am home! Ah but which home, you ask, as I have been known to say that Madison is as much my home as San Diego...now that I repeat this I see it isn't true. Madison is my home away from home...but not completely, not sufficiently. San Diego shall always be my home. I knew this the minute I stepped outside...and breathed the very air that surrounds my home town. The sky was that shade of blue that only California can accomplish, the sun was...well, sunny, and the ocean and downtown of course have remained the astonishing and beautiful creations that they are. Upon arriving I met my dad, and he informed me that, yes indeed, Megan is going to be home this weekend! And I will see Jessie and hopefully others (Jon, Nat, Tara...) tonight. On the ride home I laughed outloud at two memories that flashed into my head. The first was Jeff thinking the Cadillac's trunk wasn't shut completely (when in fact it is automatic and shuts on its own) and getting his fingers stuck underneath!!! The second was a most likely little remembered conversation I had with Mike about where to go for Prom dinner...he suggested this place he knew of that was near the 163-15 split. I was puzzled because there is next to NOTHING at the split for at least two miles either direction (except for Miramar)...ah, so we had a joke about the invisible floating restaurant above the split.

As much as San Diego is still home...my actual house is not. It's changed. I've changed. I can't be a college student there because I was a high school kid in the same physical space; there's too much discrepancy between "was" and "is" that I have trouble adjusting. I figure this is the same type of thing every kid has coming home after long absences. Still, it's remarkable to actually experience the things everyone told you you'd be experiencing at some point or another. So home has become the whole town, the memories, and the fun I know is inherent in these streets I know so well...while reliving old happy memories you create new ones. La Jolla is always La Jolla (even though the squirrels have taken over and declared martial law), the Zoo is always World-Famous, and even my high school has things to offer (going back and making fun of the kids in band camp)...ah San Diego. I am extremely lucky to have grown up in such a place. I am extremely lucky at any rate, and I must never forget it!