Post #78 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing Prompt – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
Memoir Writing: Would the Pull of California Be Too Much?
If I was going to write a memoir about my move to Oregon, I’m thinking the story arc might be the emotional impact of returning to the state that was my home for more than 40 years. On February 3, I flew from Portland to San Diego, my first return to California after leaving there on November 24 for my next life adventure. I wondered how I would feel. Would I suddenly realize how much I missed the state? Would I be like an alcoholic who had fallen off the wagon? Would the sunshine wrap my body in warmth and homesickness? Would I look wistfully at home-for-sale ads and begin to plot my return to the golden state? All of these were real possibilities. After all, I had lived in California for 40 years and the state had become part of my persona, part of who I was.
There was a layover in San Jose, the town I knew so well, the airport I had used hundreds of times. Although I didn’t want to venture outside since it would mean going through security again, I couldn’t help but notice the brilliant sunlight streaming in through the massive windows. Wait. What was that? A little tug at my heart?
Fortunately, I didn’t have to ponder for long because the next flight was announced and I took off for San Diego. I stayed for two days in La Jolla, a small town just north of San Diego. There was time to look at the ocean, see museums at Balboa Park, eat lunch outside, and walk under the towering eucalyptus trees, which had been brought to California (but not Oregon) from Australia. The sights and smells of California surrounded me. The light was brighter than I remembered. I had always been puzzled with visitors would comment, “I couldn’t live here. It’s too bright.” It’s like the fish not knowing its environment is wet. I lived in the brightness and so didn’t think it was bright. Now, I too was the outsider, the person who found the light was almost too bright to take.
So I survived my return. Within a few days, I began to yearn to go home. Sure, it was comforting to see the places and the architecture that was once so familiar to me. But now I felt like Oregon was my home. I was just another visitor to a pretty place, a place where I will continue to go for vacations. And a certain number of days into those vacations, I’ll be ready to turn my back on that oversized sun and return to the gentler sun of my home in Oregon.
MEMOIR WRITING PROMPT:
1. Going back to a place where you used to live is usually a bit of a culture shock. Write for 10 minutes about a trip back to a place you had left years before.
2. If you have always lived in the same town, then write about a time when you went back to an elementary school (noticed how the chairs got smaller?) or even to a high school reunion. Maybe you used to vacation in one place and went back many years later to find it had changed. Write for 10 minutes about your emotions as well as the details of the changes.
