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One of the amazing attributes about America is that you can venture to a variety of locations and find the lifestyle so completely foreign from what you’re accustomed to that you can actually forget that you haven’t left the country. The place may have various customs, language and dialect, diverse people and a completely different landscape. I love that about us! We get the opportunity to experience a world of diversity right in our own back yard. And, like Dorothy, we recognize when we’re not in Kansas anymore…figuratively speaking.

When I relocated to the merry old land of Oz-aka, the big city- I was a young, wide-eyed girl seeking a career. Like Oz, the bright lights, big city held the promise of opportunity. So I packed up my belongings consisting of common sense, a compassionate heart, and courage and eased on down the yellow brick road. I wasn’t at all sure where that road would ultimately lead me but I was willing to follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow brick road. And so I did. And you can follow, follow, follow ME by clicking on the “Follow” tab in the bottom right corner of your screen. But I digress.  🙂

For some reason, people know I’m not originally from the city. It has always been that way and still is despite the fact that I’ve lived here for nearly 3 decades, far longer than anywhere else in my life. But enough people have said it that I would be in denial to think that there isn’t something about me that, in some instances, is being communicated non-verbally.

Still, I can’t help but wonder…what is it about me that I’m saying non-verbally? What are people sensing that I’m not seeing?

It’s in the way that I walk and the way that I talk. It’s my demeanor, my mannerisms. I haven’t been able to shake it and I haven’t tried to nor have I wanted to.

There’s something about the country that says home to me. Perhaps it’s childhood calling. And I miss the mountains that I so took for granted throughout my youth.  Home, a peaceful, serene place where the rat race pace of life is a somewhat slower, more relaxed experience. A place where the weight of the world is seemingly lighter and one can more readily become one with nature. A place with a stillness that I long for.

I realize how much I’ve become subtly acclimated to the city over the years. For the most part, it didn’t happen consciously, which is often the case. But I have necessarily become “citified” over time and therefore am inclined to see the world a bit differently then before I lived in the city and differently then I would if I still lived in the country. It’s all part of the process. I love the city. I love the energy, the diversity, and the opportunities. I am absolutely a city girl with a great big country heart!

Yes, you can take the girl out of the country and she can become acclimated to her surroundings, but you’d be hard-pressed to take the country out of this girl. Dorothy was right. There really is no place like home. And evidently, it shows!