Locals

Locals by debgrant

“…there were always locals and they were never us.” - James Lasdun

This quote got me to thinking about “being a local.”

A brief tour of my residential moves and local status:

• First 17 years: Agawam, Mass. (I was a local youth…one that never came back)

• 4 years: Barrington, R.I. (College student, Not a local)

• 2 years: Augusta, Me. (Father was a native, but that didn’t make me a local)

• 18 months: Northshore of Boston( Western Mass native is not a Boston local)

• 12 months: Pittsburgh, PA (told OFTEN I was not a local)

• 18 months: Columbus, Ohio (seminary student, not a local)

• 7 years: Goodlettsville, Tenn. (beginning of yankee-not-a-local label)

• 5 years: Clemson, S.C. (not a local)

• 14 years: College Station, TX. (not a local)

• 11 years: Dickinson, TX. (not a local)

• 4+ years: Houston, TX. (not a local)

Why it matters:

• I have spent more of my life being “one of them” more often than “one of the locals.”

• Sometimes it feels like I am never home.

• Sometimes it feels like a great adventure every day.

Peace,

Deb