California Dreaming

When I opened my eyes this morning, I felt the sun on my face as I listened to the world waking up around me. On my last day as a California resident (for a while at least) I started thinking about all of the sounds that have defined each city that I’ve lived in. Each home has a distinctive song, and I’ve always enjoyed staying in bed for as long as possible to experience the entire symphony. My San Diego apartment had the soft breezes through the palm trees, the soft hum of the freeway down below, and the incessant stomping up the stairs of my fellow college students getting home from parties at all hours of the night. Our first apartment in Long Beach had the low fog horns rolling in across the bay, the sound of bicycle bells, and the loud clunk as cars drove over the manhole cover in the alley. Our second place in Long Beach brought us the laughter and screams of the school kids, Ventura had the rustling of the leaves in the orange grove. Here at my parents’ house, I can’t help but smile. My sister breathing next to me, the dogs barking in the yard, the roosters crowing next door, the chorus of birds chirping…this is the song of my childhood, the song that I know by heart. For the next few nights, my symphony will consist of the rumbling of the train and the conversation with my love. As I close my eyes to listen for just a few more minutes, I start to think about our New York song and I can’t wait to hear it!

xoxo