Kinship

I have traveled a lot in my life (thanks Dad!) and been to many great places. New York, Boston, Savannah, Hilton Head Island, Los Angeles, Charleston, Las Vegas. I've even been to Budapest, Vienna, and Berlin. I LOVE traveling and visiting new places.

But there is one place that I've gone and thought, "This is where I belong." It isn't a very big or particularly amazing city. But when I went to San Diego, I never wanted to leave.

In this picture I am standing on the deck of the Carnival Elation with the skyline of San Diego behind me. I have spent approximately 16 hours in San Diego in my life. 8 of these hours were in the airport (thanks to the airlines who don't let you drop off your bags until a couple hours before your flight), and the other 8 were a tour of the city in a trolley car. I loved it. It made me so sad to leave. I just felt like this was the place I could be for the rest of my life and be thrilled.

Utah is fine and I've lived here nearly my whole life. I'm glad I have because I've stayed close to my family and met my husband, who I wouldn't trade for the world. But I wish I moved far away and experienced something different. I don't know where I would have gone or if I would have liked it, but as soon as I stepped off the plane in San Diego, I felt like I had a kinship with the city.

How I'd love to live there. I love the climate, the atmosphere, the ocean. I was meant to be a California girl.

I'll probably be a Utah girl for the rest of my life (if Skyler has anything to say about it), but a part of my will always long for San Diego.

Sigh. At least there's vacations.