Anywhere and Nowhere or Somewhere in between

On many occasions, I've been asked the question, "so where did you grow up?" For a long time, this question caused me pause, and sometimes even rendered me silent for a few moments while I'd try to formulate a simple answer to this very simple question. When asked this, most people can answer quickly and confidently. They know what the question means and can easily tell you the name 0f the town they grew up in.

You see, I was an Air Force Brat growing up. We moved many times, living in 5 different states and spending a short time overseas. It had become a family joke that we had moved (some of these moved before I was born) 16 times by the time we had made it to our final stop in Washington State.



I was born in Riverside, CA, but since we lived there for only a matter of months, and I--of course-- have no recollection of this city, it surely can only be thought of as the place I was born, not where I grew up.

Not long after I was born, my family was moved to the Philippines and was stationed at Clark Air Force Base. This would be the first place I have any cognitive memories of a place where we lived. I can remember the sirens going off in the middle of the night as the base was shut down to catch a King Cobra that had gotten in. And I can remember that the windows had no glass, only shutters that you left open at night to allow the lizards in. They ate the bugs.

But we moved again less than 2 years after arriving there. This again, can't really be considered where I grew up, can it? I only lived there until I was 2.

We moved back to the states and settled in Chesapeake VA as my dad went to school at the George Washington University. This too was a short stay; less than 2 years. I have almost no memory of this place except that we had docks behind our back yard where we could feed the ducks. I was attacked by one and it scarred me for life!

After that we moved to Omaha NE. Now I begin to remember a lot more about the places we lived. I remember my brother who was 14 at the time, decided it would be a good idea to tear up the Officer's Greens with some friends. We were kicked of base and had to move to a house in a suburb. We spent almost 3 years here. Though I went to kindergarten and 1st grade in Omaha, I still don't think it constitutes being considered "where I grew up."




My dad finished school and left the military and again we moved. This time to South Dakota. What an experience this was. We lived in a town of 100 people on the Missouri River called Pukwana and had to ride the bus for 45 minutes to go to school "in town." I spent 7 years here and of course, have a multitude of memories from this place. I remember digging up Indian Arrowheads and beads from the back yard and snow that would drift so deep, we would find clothes lines when we dug tunnels in it. But yet again, my family moved after my freshman year in high school.


We ended up in South Bend WA. Of all the places I lived, I disliked this one the most. Actually, I hated it there. My graduating class had just 28 people, and it rained incessantly! Our little harbor town recieved more rain than the Olympia Nat'l Rain Forest. I left 2 weeks after I graduated and moved to where I currently live in Eastern WA. Even if someone was to suggest that this is where I grew up ( I did spend 3 of my 4 high school years there,) I'd refuse to believe it out of sheer hate.




So where did I grew up? Anywhere or Nowhere or Somewhere in between?
Is it true that "home is where the heart is" or maybe "where I grew up," is wherever I was at at any given time in my adolescence. Sure. But how do you answer someone making small talk who askes,
"Where did you grow up?"