#29 -- Hometown Roots

It's hard to say where you will call your "hometown" someday. In my case, I was born in one place and then moved to a few other places before I landed in the spot that I will always call my hometown -- Michigan City, Indiana. The name is a contradiction in itself (Why is it called Michigan City, if it's in Indiana?) and it is true that of all the cities I've lived so far, it is the most challenging place to classify.

Is it a stereotypical Indiana town, with one stoplight and cows grazing in the fields?? No, but it has it's share of cornfields. Is it a small town? In the 30,000-range, it is neither small nor big, but yet you can always find someone that you know at the grocery store. And while Indiana is not the most diverse state in the union, being situated so close to Chicago, and Gary, Indiana, brings a mixture of cultures to my hometown. There are the "Cityzens" who call MC home year-round, and there are the FOPs (ah-hem...Friendly Illinois People) who own million-dollar second homes on Lake Michigan that are visited only on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day.

It's gray and covered in snow from November to March, and scorching hot on the beaches in July and August. The public schools struggle with low ratings, but churn out exceptional students, athletes and performers every year. The one-way streets around the old downtown area frustrate unseasoned visitors to the outlet mall and riverboat casino. If you want to move somewhere and be totally confused for the first few years, give good ole' MC a try...

The point is this: Someday there will be place that you can analyze like I just did. A place that gives you butterflies in your stomach every time you visit, and your high school friends' parents want to know everything about your life when they run into you at a restaurant. A place where you read the local newspaper online, just to keep up on the changes, and then feel an unexpected twinge of sadness when a new building or parking lot has sprouted up since the last time you visited.

Will you call Orlando your hometown? Or St. Cloud? Chicago? L.A.?

Or maybe even Michigan City?

In the words of Dr. Seuss, "Oh, the places you'll go...."

But always remember L. Frank Baum's even more notorious ones...

"There's no place like home."

There really isn't.