"AngelenA"? Probably more correct, but nobody says that here in the City of the Angels.
Actually, it isn't the city of the angels, it's the city of Mary. Originally it was named after "La Reina de los Angeles." (My friend Jim recently wrote a beautiful and creepy meditation on that name.)
And I've lived here for over twenty years now. That's weird to admit, because I still think of myself as a missionary kid - as the girl who grew up in the sub-Arctic and got only got to visit her home country in the summer.
But even though smelling snow in the air is still enough to bring back a flood of memories, scents that spell home now are jasmine flowers and eucalyptus leaves, arid heat and ocean breeze.
Writing home
The last book I wrote was set here in California, and I loved writing about my adopted home state. The higher my word count got, the more I realized that I love where I live.
It's not an adoring sort of love. I admit that the Los Angeles basin doesn't have the heartbreaking beauty of the New Zealand alps (though you should see the high Sierra) or the comforting green peace of the Oregon coast (though you should walk Carbon Canyon's ridges just after a thunderstorm's cleaned the air).
But it's a love born out of familiarity. In terms of Lewis' "Four Loves", my love for my home is storge, the sort of love you can't help having for someone you've known for years, whether you like him or not.
I know what blooms when. I know we have summer for half the year and squeeze fall, winter, spring down into six short months - and some years only four or five. I know that the sky is boring and smoggy most of the time but that if you catch us on the right day we have a snow-capped mountain view that rivals Denver's. I know that the miles of concrete and asphalt are endless, but not as endless as sea, and you can sit on the beaches here and never tire of the view of grey-green waves pounding the sand.
I love Los Angeles. It's true that I love it because I know it, but there are worse ways than that to love.
Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell
5 comments:
Thanks for linking to Jim's post. I have to admit that, having moved away from LA, I love and hate it. I love that EVERYTHING-YOU-COULD-POSSIBLY-WANT was always within reach. I hate that it is paved within an inch of it's life. I love the mingling of cultures that produces the wild whirlwind of activity. I hate the violence that can breed. I love the weather. I hate that the weather pretty much never changes. I love having the beach right there at one edge and the mountains at the other. I hate that everything in between is filled with the ugliest buildings trillions of dollars can buy. I hate that it seems as real and rooted as the Matterhorn at Disneyland. I love that it is so young and vibrant that almost anything could happen there.
And maybe, those loves and hates (which really are only the start) are part of that storge love you spoke of.
And this is a great example of the biblical command to be content with 'wherever we find ourselves'. mom
I loved this! It has inspired me to put together a list of all the things I love about where we currently live. We never planned on living here long-term and always struggle with having one metaphorical foot out the door (overseas), but there is SO much to love about being here right now. It is good for me to be mindful of the blessings of HERE, TODAY, especially knowing there are countless things I will miss when we do move to a new place.
Very much appreciate your positivity!
I love the graffiti, and the pinata shops, the soaring glass cliffs and the kinetic elegance of the freeway interchanges.
I love LA because it holds together in fierce concentration everything that it means to be human.
Becca and Elena, thanks for your additions; I love them!
Mom and Kate, thanks, and I think you're right on too.
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