From where? - Oklahoma photographer, writer

Why is it that so many of us start a bio or something other mini blip, blurb or intro about ourselves by telling "where we are FROM" instead of where we are at the moment. I happened to be reading an etsy profile and the person started out with where she grew up, you know the usual, "I was raised in Philadelphia and did this and this..." and her spiel went on for about four paragraphs, long ones at that, before she actually told readers that she was living in another state and city, thousands of miles away. Go figure.
Really? Umm...you already had that in your shop profile. And usually it's years ago when we were at the place we were born or raised and it really becomes a blip on the radar.

Unless you are like me and it really does figure into your essence of who you are now.

I was told that I was born in Oakland, but years later, found out that it was really San Francisco. Not sure what that was all about. Well I probably should check the b.c. to make sure what it says. Anyway, without providing the boring deets, I'll say that around 2000 when I went to work at the paper where I have sort of remained (I swear there's a chain around my ankle...ha!), someone asked me to share a little about my life, asked where I originally came from, so I said SF, and they prodded a bit more. Finally I relented and said, offhandedly, Pacifica, since that's where I lived for several childhood years. Mom had a music studio there and I remember moving day which transported us across the country to Oklahoma (which was a brief stay of about five or six years at that time.)

As soon as I said Pacifica, this person lets out a squeal. Tells me that someone in the front office is from there. Seriously?! You have to be joking!

So later on break I go up there to meet this person and she's been working at the paper for at least 20 years or so, but we begin talking about our hometown and of course, I mention my mother's music studio and her deep involvement in Pacifica, San Francisco's music and arts scene.

Here's the kicker, Linda, it turns out, was one of my mother's piano students.

Just crazy. Just goes to show where we're from could affect where we're going and where we are.

And by the way, I also claim Colorado as a homestate, and a few others! It's really a matter of where you want to be. Right?!

And right now I enjoy being in Oklahoma. I know I said above I was only here briefly. That's true. But I ended up back here. Will I ever say I'm 'from Oklahoma', maybe, maybe not, just depends on the conversation and my mood. And I'll say the colors of Oklahoma autumns are just gorgeous this year!