This week’s What’s Your Ecotone? comes from Maggie Glover.
I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and educated in Ohio and West Virginia, but have lived for the past six years in California—first in San Francisco, and now in the Los Angeles area. I’m the only person in my family to ever wander so far away from PGH, and then to stay away. One of my sisters briefly moved to a few other places on the East Coast during her twenties, but now lives within thirty minutes of the rest of the Glover family.
Despite this proximity, my family is not as close as you might think. Financial problems, alcoholism, mental illness, verbal abuse, and years’ worth of unresolved conflicts have always made going home less than idyllic. To be honest, when I was living in San Francisco with my fiance (who became my husband and then ex-husband two years later), I felt more comfortable than I ever had in Pittsburgh.
However, now that I’ve relocated again, just last spring, to the LA area, I once more feel like a wanderer. But I’m not complaining. I have finally realized that living in ecotones suits me—that it is during these periods of transition that I am most happy. Each morning, I jog on the shore of Alamitos Beach, watching the waves wash against the sand, and witnessing the special beauty of ocean and land coming together again and again, before gracefully pulling apart.
Maggie Glover is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, though she has also lived in Ohio, West Virginia, and San Francisco. This year, she found a home in Long Beach, California. You can read more of her work at www.maggieglover.com.