Lansing is not my hometown. I moved here with the idea of saving money for my even bigger move to New York. I was a musician traveling with a guitar covered in stickers and a suitcase empty of socks. I was used to the desert scenes of the Franklin Mountains and how the yellow poppies decorated the paths that started the hike at the base. My cuisine went from elotes to paczkis. I was tremendously homesick and I wanted to tell everyone in espanol.
Everything is bigger in Texas — especially when you leave everyone and every place you grew up with behind. Objects in the mirror are as large as they appear. I am an easy going girl who was raised kissing my friends’ parents on the cheeks in salutation. The northern chill in response to my PDA tendencies made it hard for me to find a sweet spot in my new home.
The door to my old home was closed and locked behind me the moment I met my husband. We bought our first home, gave life to a few children and opened a business. My roots stretched down into this new place. I figured out that Oakland and Saginaw are the same street going different directions. I began to take my children to Potter Park Zoo on Tuesdays when the admission was free.
As far as I know, Michigan is still worse off than Texas. Owning a small business does not make our family an easily repotted one. We have worked for many years to build the reputation of Heritage Flooring in the Mid-Michigan area. To start over would be like rolling the stone all the way back down the hill to the starting line for Atlas.
There is good news for us. We adore Lansing. We love our neighborhood and the neighbors that live around us. We use our local library like it's going out of style. The river trail is the only gym I pay membership to. Our little community garden plot is growing alongside new friends made over the pushing of soil. Our business is still growing through hard work and determination. This city is something special.
The recession, as awful as it has been, has afforded a new outlook for many of our residents. Our focus has shifted from complete reliance on what our State Government could provide for us to what we can provide for each other as a community. We no longer rush to spend our money on low cost, low quality items hawked at big box stores without considering how much of our money will find it's way back into our own pockets. We are not only open to shopping local for locally made products, we are vigilant in seeking those products out.
I have never looked forward to lessons learned in hard times. I'd rather enjoy the feast and push the famine as far from my table as possible. The American story includes immigrants, slaves, innovators and welfare recipients. These titles hang over the heads of members of my family and so does hard-earned wisdom. I can call my grandmother for both her recipe for bread pudding to save the last bits of nearly bad bread and to celebrate the first black president. That's what the depression and Civil Right's Movement paid forward for my family. I am not grateful for the recession, but I do hope the lessons are branded into our collective minds for years to come.
Technically, in a few years, I will no longer be able to claim that El Paso, Texas is my hometown. Lansing will have been my home for over 10 years. When I travel and locals ask me where I am from, I will say Lansing, Michigan, and it will be true. I will tell them about Lansing Live, Old Town and the St. Casimir Corn Roast with the enthusiasm of a five year old child sharing important secrets.
I can guarantee I won’t be telling them about the Wal-Mart. (note: The absence of linkage.)
For a list of all of my favorite local spots, visit http://mother-flippin.blogspot.com/2010/07/discover-lansing.html
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