wish they could all could be....

why does california have commercials? doesn't everyone live there? doesn't everyone want to go there? maybe it's the fires, or the riots, or the mudslides, or the other fires, or maybe it's the earthquakes? hmmm... still, it's such as awesome place to live. i don't understand the commercials.

coming here from there at 9 was hard. california was my fairytale. i was i minor celebrity because what's bigger than texas? california. i had also been in the '89 earthquake. that's right, i survived. here to tell you about it today. needless to say texas is a helluva a lot different than cali.

we lived in nocal... redwood city. we all went to peninsula school. best school ever. ever! it's a very different "learning environment" than texas public school. dramatically, horribly, wrenchingly different. i still remember dropping my older brother off at middle school right after we moved and he was bawling. the worst look ever on his face. she took him out of there and put him in a private school here in texas until high school. i had to go to that very middle school 3 years after the incident. my mother claims she asked if i wanted to go to the private school as well and i had said no. psh.

northern california is imprinted on my mind. every detail, everyday. we had a blackberry vine in the backyard and in what we called the secret garden. i used to stand in front of it and just eat all i could. on the other side of the yard, we had a plum tree that would bring swarms of bees, which i later found out i am allergic to (i wonder if that's related?). we had an awesome pool in the middle of the yard that i spent entire summers just swimming. my best friend lived down the street. he had a whole garden in his backyard. including a fig tree. one of my two very favorite foods. jelly coconuts and figs.

on the other side of the house there was some grass and we shared a fence with a neighbor who had cats. we found several of the kittens in our yard and we still have the pictures up in my parent's house. that time is magical in my mind. i yearned to go back for such a long time, still do sometimes.

i wonder, i remember my friends so well. they're frozen in time in my mind. i wonder if any of them remember me?