Where I'm from
I am from little debbie snack-cakes that felt like the poor man's cousin of hostess, planter's peanuts and blue diamond almonds that my father gnoshed with his scotch before dinner, dehydrated milk and vegetables to tide us through the vagaries of communist agrarian supplies, new horizon organic milk that is an increasingly lonesome relic in the kitchen from my life-altering diet, and welch's fruit snacks that i indulge my dauther with.
I am from the a large, but inconspicuous, house nestled in the center of arlington, virginia that is perpetually subject to the strangest neighbors on the planet.
I am from pine trees that shaded our driveway, birch trees in berlin that sheltered my brother in and me in our own private world, and crab apple trees in moscow that my mother made into jams.
I am from an overly practical and detached world; another that is continually in the clouds in reality-defying euphoria; the mute acceptance of my pop-pop who says almost nothing and soaks it all in; and my own, which i am just beginning to know and understand. I am the first son, the first cousin, and the first grandson in the family-- the first born of the next generation (as my daughter is now). My uncle told me what that meant once-- the love, hopes, and cares are on me for the family.
I am from Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, New York, Texas, California, Florida, Germany, and the Soviet Union.
From my mother and father who i am trying to find my way back to again, my brother who thinks it is hard to be me. From an agnostic background that preached a secular humanism, the good in people, and tolerance, but masked a deep skepticism toward religion. From a catholic boy scout troop, catholic mass with a nanny, protestant services at camp-outs where you had to go to something, muslim friends, judaism from my mother's relatives and discovering it when i went to college, and the understanding philosophy of buddhism and daoism.
I'm from jewish immigrants that lived somewhere in eastern europe, the wife of general philip sheridan, a supposed duke in the ukraine, and who knows what else as our genealogy has been forever closed by a divisive split and the death of great grandparents too eager to leave the past.
I am from the a large, but inconspicuous, house nestled in the center of arlington, virginia that is perpetually subject to the strangest neighbors on the planet.
I am from pine trees that shaded our driveway, birch trees in berlin that sheltered my brother in and me in our own private world, and crab apple trees in moscow that my mother made into jams.
I am from an overly practical and detached world; another that is continually in the clouds in reality-defying euphoria; the mute acceptance of my pop-pop who says almost nothing and soaks it all in; and my own, which i am just beginning to know and understand. I am the first son, the first cousin, and the first grandson in the family-- the first born of the next generation (as my daughter is now). My uncle told me what that meant once-- the love, hopes, and cares are on me for the family.
I am from Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, New York, Texas, California, Florida, Germany, and the Soviet Union.
From my mother and father who i am trying to find my way back to again, my brother who thinks it is hard to be me. From an agnostic background that preached a secular humanism, the good in people, and tolerance, but masked a deep skepticism toward religion. From a catholic boy scout troop, catholic mass with a nanny, protestant services at camp-outs where you had to go to something, muslim friends, judaism from my mother's relatives and discovering it when i went to college, and the understanding philosophy of buddhism and daoism.
I'm from jewish immigrants that lived somewhere in eastern europe, the wife of general philip sheridan, a supposed duke in the ukraine, and who knows what else as our genealogy has been forever closed by a divisive split and the death of great grandparents too eager to leave the past.
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