It’s sometimes amazing to me that I never moved to Southern California because there was a time in my life I couldn’t get enough of the place. In fact, a select few of you know that I sometimes answer to the nickname “L.A.” and I remember getting a Dodger baseball cap for one birthday.
I traveled to California many times as a young guy but never could quite pull the trigger on moving. For me, it’s the road not taken.
I was thinking about all of this while I watched the sun literally set over the Pacific while standing on the beach in Santa Monica. How many times have I done that? I even remember sleeping in my car on this beach and reluctantly watching the sunrise! (That was a night I’d like to forget.)
In the end, it’s probably a good thing I never got aound to moving. I have a pretty great life in NYC and, while the city at times drives me nuts, I also embrace the energy of the non-stop streetlife. I think I finally made up my mind not to move because, in my heart, I thought everywhere else would seem too boring — even L.A. I’m the living embodiment of that famous New Yorker cartoon where there’s Manhattan, the Hudson River and then California, nothing in between. Of course, I know better but, for me, it’s always been either NYC or California.
Back to the beach and that setting sun. It’s breath-taking but would I love this beach so much if I actually lived here? Would I ever even venture down to Santa Monica or would the dreaded Los Angeles traffic keep me away. And would I have acheived half as much or would I have become just another locust in a land full of them?
Great introspection, Paul!