I Want it All

Last week I got to visit the Bay Area and had some real good times. I dabbled in Oakland, San Francisco and Half Moon Bay. And it made me really miss living in California.

 

Side note: My co-worker visited Oakland just a few days after me. And completely by coincidence, stayed really close to where I stayed and went to the same mac and cheese restaurant Homeroom for dinner. She loved it too. (Thanks for taking me there, E!)

sorry, it's a lil blurry!

My mom came up to hang with me for one of those days. At one point she asked me the ever-pertinent and prevalent question: "If you could have one house either on the beach or in the mountains, which would you choose?" Every time I hear that question, I have to answer: "a house on a mountainous coast." I just want both. I haven't scoped out the perfect coast for this yet. However, I was impressed by the cliffs along the coast in Half Moon Bay. I am sure I would be happy living anywhere along the northern coast of California.

But then...whenever I think of settling down somewhere, I get really uncomfortable. I want to move and see the world. I want to live in many places and experience different paces of life. I want to freeze in Siberia and blister under the sun in Cairo. I want to live abroad for long spans of time, but be able to return to a familiar home base in the U.S. I want to stay at the Plaza in New York and sleep in a hut in a developing country.

I always thought of myself as a patriotic person. I even majored in American Studies. I am an American through and through. However, I always intended to use my studies to learn how to best represent America--for better or for worse--outside of the U.S. I've been working post-college for the last five years and didn't go abroad until this last summer. My priorities have somehow directed my actions and funds elsewhere. I intend to rectify that problem.

So, don't worry about me. I have plans. They just take some preparation. Because I know that one day, I will have it all. In the meantime, I will do my best to be content with the present. I will continue to work really hard. I will be grateful for the incredible gifts and opportunities I have right now in the incredible (and somewhat shutdown) city of Washington, DC.

beck

P.S. I read some blogs today that inspired me to take action and record my thoughts on this. But it was a conversation about this TED talk last night that got me really thinking about what I want in life--where I want to be and what I want to be doing. I watched the TED talk tonight and thought I'd share. I think I still fall into the category of "loyalty to a nation state," because I still want roots somewhere, preferably in the U.S. We'll see.