Never Quite Home To Me

Not all of my family and friends that grew up there would AGREE. They remember all the pleasantries and being happy and FREE. This tale regards the place where I was born and once ROAMED. Let it be known that this is my personal feelings and mine ALONE. I was born in a small town just off Highway 49, sometime between world war 2 and the Vietnam war. I shall not unveil the specifics of the place of my birth, except to say that it lies on planet earth in the Western Hemisphere. It was acceptable and tolerable at best but never home to ME. It was a sheltering place but never a place of PERMANENCY. It had the feel of a place I was passing THROUGH but never a delightful destination to be going TO. I must say that family, friends, and relatives were GREAT, but beyond that, everything else was up for DEBATE. My memories, like those of most, were mixtures of BITTER-SWEET. The bad and the ugly tried to DEFEAT, but the good kept me on my FEET. Although my school facilities and buses were far less than the BEST, my teachers were caring, passionate, and more special than all the REST. It was a rural area of extreme poverty where despair filled the AIR. I tell you, all the king's horses and all the king's men could never hold me THERE. It felt like a holding cell of scattered dreams and social NIGHTMARES. Hopes and dreams could be born THERE, but fulfillment was unlikely and RARE. It has been said that home is where your story BEGINS, but my place of origin was not where I wanted my story to END. I believe that home is where the heart is, and although I once came to San Francisco to STAY, unlike the song, I did not leave my heart there. But it feels more like home where I am TODAY. 31220PoSpCtest, Strand Choice K, Brian Strand;2nd Contest92720= Second chances N-A from contests only Part 1, Chantelle Anne Cooke